\(E_2\)-cells and mapping class groups (Q2335502)

Let \(\Gamma_{g,1}\) denote the mapping class group of a surface \(\Sigma_{g,1}\) of genus \(g\) with one boundary component, i.e the group of isotopy classes of diffeomorphisms of \(\Sigma_{g,1}\) that fix the boundary. The inclusion \(\Sigma_{g-1,1}\hookrightarrow \Sigma_{g,1}\) induces a group homomorphism \(s: \Gamma_{g-1,1}\rightarrow \Gamma_{g,1}\) often called the {stabilization map}. \textit{J. L. Harer} [Ann. Math. (2) 121, 215--249 (1985; Zbl 0579.57005)] proved that \(\Gamma_{g,1}\) satisfies homological stability: the stabilization map \(s\) induces an isomorphism in homology in a range of degrees increasing with \(g\) (the {stable range}). \textit{I. Madsen} and \textit{M. Weiss} [ibid. 165, No. 3, 843--941 (2007; Zbl 1156.14021)] computed the limiting homology groups \(\text{colim}_{g\to\infty} H_{d} (\Gamma_{g,1};\mathbb{Z})\), obtaining as a consequence the homology groups of \(\Gamma_{g,1}\) in the stable range. The paper under review introduces a new stabilization result which the authors refer to as ``secondary homological stability'' and describe qualitatively as ``the failure of homological stability is itself stable''. The failure for the stabilization map \(s\) to induce a homological isomorphism in degree \(d\) is measured by the relative homology group \(H^d (\Gamma_{g,1},\Gamma_{g-1,1};\mathbb{Z})\). The main result of the paper establishes that these relative homology groups exhibit themselves a form of stability: there are maps \[\varphi_* : H_{d-2} (\Gamma_{g-3,1},\Gamma_{g-4,1};\mathbb{Z})\rightarrow H_{d} (\Gamma_{g,1},\Gamma_{g-1,1};\mathbb{Z})\] which are isomorphisms for \(d\leq{\frac{3g-5}{4}}\) (for rational coefficients the upper bound can be improved to \(d\leq{\frac{4g-6}{5}}\)). The second main result of the paper addresses the question of computing the limiting homology groups \(\text{colim}_{k\to\infty} H_{d+2k} (\Gamma_{g+3k,1},\Gamma_{g-1+3k,1};\mathbb{Z})\). The authors give several explicit computations, including the first computation of a non-vanishing relative homology group in every genus except for \(g=7\). They also improve slightly the best known stable range for homological stability [\textit{S. K. Boldsen}, Math. Z. 270, No. 1--2, 297--329 (2012; Zbl 1271.57052)]. As a consequence, new non-trivial unstable homology classes are obtained. To prove their results, the authors consider a model of the space \(\bigsqcup_{g\geq 1} B\Gamma_{g,1}\) which is an algebra over the little \(2\)-cubes operad, so that its singular chains will have the structure of an \(E_2\)-algebra \(\mathbf{R}\). The main theorems are obtained by applying the theory of cellular \(E_2\) -algebras (as developed by the authors in [``Cellular \(E_k\)-algebras'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1805.07184}]) to \(\mathbf{R}\).