Abelian quotients of the \(Y\)-filtration on the homology cylinders via the LMO functor (Q2138593)

Let \(\Sigma\) be an oriented surface with one boundary component and \(\mathcal{M}\) the mapping class group of \(\Sigma\). The Torelli group \(\mathcal{I}\) is the subgroup of \(\mathcal{M}\) consisting of elements which act trivially on homology. \(\mathcal{I}_n\) denotes the \(n\)-th subgroup of the lower central series of \(\mathcal{I}\). In other words, \(\mathcal{I}(1)= \mathcal{I}\) and \(\mathcal{I}(n+1)= [\mathcal{I}(n),\mathcal{I}]\). The authors are interested in the torsion subgroup of the graded quotient \(\mathcal{I}(n)/\mathcal{I}(n+1)\). A key element in their work is the LMO functor, regarded as an invariant of 3-dimensional cobordisms. They use this functor for the construction of abelian quotients. In particular, they study a monoid \(\mathcal{IC}\) whose elements are homology cylinders over \(\Sigma\). They construct a series of homomorphisms from the \(Y\)-filtration on this monoid to torsion modules via the mod \(\mathbb{Z}\) reduction of the LMO functor. They show that the abelianization of the Johnson kernel of a closed surface has torsion elements. They also determine the third graded quotient \(Y_3\mathcal{IC}/Y_4\) of the \(Y\)-filtration. Besides the results proved, the paper contains a very informative introduction which puts this work in context and which gives a good summary of the work already done on this interesting subject.