Configuration spaces, moduli spaces and 3-fold covering spaces (Q2326789)

There is an embedding of the braid group \(B_{2g}\) into the mapping class group \(\Gamma_g\) of a surface of genus \(g\) which maps the standard generators of \(B_{2g}\) to consecutive Dehn twists in \(\Gamma_g\). Harer conjectured that the induced homomorphism on the homology of the direct limits of these groups (with coefficients in \(\mathbb Z_2\)) is trivial, and this is proved in a paper by \textit{Y. Song} and \textit{U. Tillmann} [Math. Ann. 339, No. 2, 377--393 (2007; Zbl 1167.55004)]; another approach, considering 2-fold branched coverings of the unit disk, is given in a paper by \textit{G. Segal} and \textit{U. Tillmann} [Adv. Stud. Pure Math. 52, 469--477 (2008; Zbl 1165.32003)]. Considering 3-fold branched coverings of the unit disk instead, in the present paper the authors construct a new, non-geometric embedding of braid groups into mapping class groups. ``In this paper, we give a concrete description of this homomorphism and show that it is injective by Birman-Hilden theory. Furthermore, we show that this map on the level of classifying spaces of groups is compatible with the action of little 2-cube operad so that it induces a trivial homomorphism on the stable homology.''