On the cohomology of the hyperelliptic mapping class group (Q1880707)

The mapping class group of an orientable surface of genus \(g\) is well-known to be of finite virtual cohomological dimension and hence so is its subgroup \(\Delta_g\), the hyperelliptic mapping class group. The paper under review studies the torsion subgroups in \(\Delta_g\) for \(g> 1\) and their cohomological invariants. For finite groups, Tate cohomology is a powerful tool. Farrell cohomology is its generalisation to groups with finite virtual cohomological dimension. The author shows here that the hyperelliptic mapping class group \(\Delta_g\) has \(p\)-periodic Farrell cohomology for any odd prime \(p\), and determines the \(p\)-period. At \(p= 2\), the Farrell cohomology is not periodic. In this situation the \(\text{mod\,} p\) Yagita invariant, a generalization of the \(p\)-period, is defined. The author also determines the \(\text{mod\,}2\) Yagita invariant of \(\Delta_g\). Our knowledge here is thus more complete for the hyperelliptic mapping class group than for the mapping class group [\textit{H. H. Glover}, \textit{G. Mislin} and \textit{Y. Xia}, Invent. Math. 109, No. 3, 535--545 (1992; Zbl 0766.57001); Topology 33, No. 3, 557--574 (1994; Zbl 0828.57011)]. The methods used are fairly elementary but non-trivial. A careful analysis of fixed point data is applied and a powerful braid calculus for \(\Delta_g\) developed.