The complex of pant decompositions of a surface (Q2378306)

The authors study the pant decompositions complex \(\mathcal R_{g,n}\) of \(\Sigma_{g,n}\), a connected, compact, oriented surface of genus \(g\) with \(n\) boundary components and prove that \(\mathcal R_{g,n}\) is simply connected, filling out the gaps of the proof given in \textit{G. Moore} and \textit{N. Seiberg} [Commun. Math. Phys. 123, 177--254 (1989; Zbl 0694.53074)]. The complex \(\mathcal R_{g,n}\) is a two dimensional complex whose vertices are pant decompositions of \(\Sigma_{g,n}\), that is collections \(\alpha=\{\alpha_1,\ldots\alpha_k\}\) of isotopy classes of pairwise disjoint simple closed loops on \(\Sigma_{g,n}\) such that each connected component of \(\Sigma_{g,n}- \bigcup \{\alpha_i\}_{i=1,\dots,k}\) is homeomorphic to the interior of a pant (i.e. \(\Sigma_{0,3}\)). Two vertices of \(\mathcal R_{g,n}\) are connected by an edge if the corresponding decompositions are related to one another by either a Dehn twist along a simple closed curve or a so called \(F\) move. Moreover, there are three different types of 2-cells: the combinatorial, the topological and the mixed ones. The proof of the simply connectedness of \(\mathcal R_{g,n}\) is achieved in two steps. Initially the authors quotient out the action of the mapping class groups \(\mathcal M_{g,n}\) of \(\Sigma_{g,n}\) on \(\mathcal R_{g,n}\), that is, they study a complex whose vertices are \(\mathcal M_{g,n}\)-equivalence classes of pant decompositions, proving that it is simply connected. Then, they build up a presentation of \(\mathcal M_{g,n}\) starting from the presentations of the sporadic cases \(\mathcal M_{0,4}\), \(\mathcal M_{0,5}\), \(\mathcal M_{1,1}\) and \(\mathcal M_{1,2}\) as explained in \textit{S. Benvenuti} [Adv. Geom. 1, 291--321 (2001; Zbl 0983.57015)], and use it to complete the proof. In this way they also prove that the pant complex satisfies the Grothendieck reconstruction principle (see \textit{F. Luo} [Commun. Contemp. Math. 1, 125--153 (1999; Zbl 0947.57012)]) since \(\mathcal R_{g,n}\) turns out to have a presentation with generator (edges) and relations (2-cells) supported in subsurfaces homoeomorphic to sporadic surfaces which belong to the first and second Grothendieck floor (i.e. such that \(3g-3+n=1,2\)).