Equivariant group presentations and the second homology group of the Torelli group (Q2290802)

The Torelli group \(\mathcal{T}_g^b\) of a surface of genus \(g\) with \(b\) boundary components is the subgroup of the mapping class group \(\mathrm{Mod}_g^b\) acting trivially on the homology of the surface, or the kernel of the canonical map from \(\mathrm{Mod}_g^b\) to the symplectic group \(\mathrm{Sp}_{2g}(\mathbb{Z})\). It is known that the Torelli group \(\mathcal{T}_g^b\) is finitely generated for \(g \ge 3\) but not for \(g = 2\); it is not known whether \(\mathcal{T}_g^b\) is finitely presentable for \(g \ge 3\). The second homology \(H_2(G)\) of a finitely presentable group \(G\) is a finitely generated abelian group. In the present paper, the authors prove that the second homology \(H_2(\mathcal{T}_g^b)\) of the Torelli group is finitely generated as a \(\mathbb{Z}(\mathrm{Sp}_{2g} (\mathbb{Z}))\)-module, for \(g \ge 3\) and \(b = 0\) and \(b = 1\). For the proof, the authors define the notion of a \(\Gamma\)-equivariant presentation of a group \(G\) with an action of a group \(\Gamma\). They prove that, under some technical conditions, for a group \(G\) with a finite \(\Gamma\)-equivariant presentation, the second homology \(H_2(G)\) is a finitely generated \(\mathbb{Z}(\Gamma)\)-module. Since \(\mathcal{T}_g^b\) has such a finite \(\mathrm{Mod}_g^b\)-equivariant presentation for \(g \ge 3\) and \(b = 0\) and 1, this implies the result stated above (which is the case \(k = 2\) of a conjecture of Church and Farb that \(H_k(\mathcal{T}_g^b)\) is a finitely generated \(\mathbb{Z}(\mathrm{Sp}_{2g} (\mathbb{Z}))\)-module for large \(k\)). An analogous result for the Torelli subgroup of the automorphism group \(\mathrm{Aut}(F_n)\) of a free group \(F_n\) is proved in a paper by \textit{M. Day} and \textit{A. Putman} [Geom. Topol. 21, No. 5, 2851--2896 (2017; Zbl 1429.20035)].