Bounded cohomology of subgroups of mapping class groups (Q1811522)

By the so called Tits-alternative for the surface mapping class group proved by \textit{John McCarthy} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 291, No. 2, 583-612 (1985; Zbl 0579.57006)] and by \textit{Nikolai Ivanov} [Sov. Math., Dokl. 29, 288-291 (1984; Zbl 0586.20026)], a subgroup of the mapping class group is either virtually solvable or contains a nonabelian free group. Bounded cohomology groups of virtually abelian groups are trivial, because they are amenable. The main result of this paper proves that the second bounded cohomology of a subgroup of the mapping class group containing a free group is infinite dimensional. As an application, the authors give another proof of the Farb-Kaimanovich-Masur rigidity theorem which states that any homomorphism from a higher rank lattice in a semisimple Lie group to the mapping class group has a finite image. For the proof of the main result, the authors first prove a general result on quasi homomorphisms of a group acting on a Gromov hyperbolic space by isometries. Then they use the hyperbolicity of the complex of curves on a surface and the action of the mapping class group on it.