Minimal number of singular fibers in a nonorientable Lefschetz fibration (Q2071808)

Let \(X\) be a closed nonorientable 4-manifold, and \(\Sigma\) a closed orientable surface. A (nonorientable) Lefschetz fibration \(f\colon X\to\Sigma\) is admissible if it has at least one singular fiber and all the vanishing cycles of \(f\) are nontrivial. In a nonorientable Lefschetz fibration, the regular fiber is a nonorientable surface. A Lefschetz fibration is said to be of genus \(g\) if the regular fiber is of genus \(g\). For any closed nonorientable surface \(S\) of genus \(g\), if a product of \(m\) nontrivial Dehn twists is equal to a product of \(h\) commutators in the mapping class group of \(S\), then there is an admissible (nonorientable) genus \(g\) Lefschetz fibration with \(m\) singular fibers over a closed orientable surface of genus \(h\). In the present paper, it is proved that there exists an admissible nonorientable genus \(g\) Lefschetz fibration with one singular fiber over a closed orientable surface of genus \(h\) if and only if \(g\ge 4\) and \(h\ge 1\). The authors explicitly express a nontrivial Dehn twist about a separating curve as a single commutator in the mapping class group of a closed nonorientable surface \(S\) of genus \(g=4,5\) and \(6\). For \(g\ge 7\) they apply a similar result of this reviewer [\textit{B. Szepietowski}, C. R., Math., Acad. Sci. Paris 348, No. 15--16, 923--926 (2010; Zbl 1195.57044)]. They also show that if \(S\) is a closed nonorientable surface of genus \(2\) or \(3\), then no nontrivial Dehn twist belongs to the commutator subgroup of the mapping class group of \(S\).