Arithmetic group symmetry and finiteness properties of Torelli groups (Q1947634)

In the paper under review, the authors prove several general results concerning the representation theory of finitely generated groups and apply them to the study of the Torelli groups and Johnson kernels of closed mapping class groups. The general setup is as follows: \(G\) is a finitely generated group and \(G\to D\) is a surjective map with kernel \(T\). \(D\) is naturally a subgroup of the outer automorphism group of \(T\). The authors consider the action of \(D\) on various algebraic varieties associated to the representation theory of \(T\), which then admit an action of \(D\). The authors call this setup \(D\)-symmetry. When \(D\) is an arithmetic group, the various varieties associated to \(T\) are said to have arithmetic symmetry. The authors prove several finiteness results about finitely generated groups in the context of arithmetic symmetry. The authors deduce two important corollaries from their general setup in the setting of mapping class groups. First, they show that for \(g\geq 4\), any subgroup of the Torelli group which contains the Johnson kernel \(K_g\) has finite first Betti number. Then, they show the conditional result that if the Torelli group is a Kähler group then the Johnson kernel is finitely generated.