On the Farrell cohomology of mapping class groups (Q1803382)

Let \(\Gamma_ g\) denote the mapping class group \(\pi_ 0(\text{Diff}_ +S_ g)\) of a closed oriented surface \(S_ g\) of genus \(g\). For an odd prime \(p\) the Farrell cohomology \(\widehat H^*(\Gamma_ g)\) is \(p\)- periodic for many values of \(g\), for instance, whenever \(g\not\equiv 1 \pmod p\). We show that, in the \(p\)-periodic case, the \(p\)-period is given by \(\text{lcm}\{2[N(\pi): C(\pi)]\mid \pi\in S\}\) where \(\pi<\Gamma_ g\) ranges over \(S\), a set of representatives of conjugacy classes of subgroups of order \(p\) in \(\Gamma_ g\), and \(N(\pi)\) (respectively \(C(\pi)\)) denote the normalizer (respectively centralizer) of \(\pi\) in \(\Gamma_ g\). We also establish an explicit formula for the \(p\)-period, which permits to show that if \(\Gamma_ g\) is \(p\)-periodic and contains a subgroup of order \(p\), then for all sufficiently large values of \(g\) the \(p\)-period equals \(2(p-1)\).