Big Torelli groups: generation and commensuration (Q2286355)

Summary: For any surface \(\Sigma\) of infinite topological type, we study the \textit{Torelli subgroup} \(\mathcal J(\Sigma)\) of the mapping class group MCG \((\Sigma)\), whose elements are those mapping classes that act trivially on the homology of \(\Sigma \). Our first result asserts that \({\mathcal J}(\Sigma)\) is topologically generated by the subgroup of MCG \((\Sigma)\) consisting of those elements in the Torelli group which have compact support. Next, we prove the abstract commensurator group of \({\mathcal J}(\Sigma)\) coincides with MCG \((\Sigma)\). This extends the results for finite-type surfaces [9, 6, 7, 16] to the setting of infinite-type surfaces.