Abelianization and Nielsen realization problem of the mapping class group of a handlebody (Q2429478)

Let \(H_g\) be the handlebody of genus \(g\), \(\text{Diff}_+(H_g)\) the group of orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms on \(H_g\), and \(M(H_g)\) the mapping class group of \(H_g\). In this paper the author shows that for \(g \geq 5\), there is no section for the natural projection \(\pi : \text{Diff}_+(H_g) \to M(H_g)\) over \(M(H_g)\); that is, there is no homomorphism \(s : M(H_g) \to \text{Diff}_+(H_g)\) such that \(\pi \circ s = id\). To prove this result, the author first shows that \(H_1(M(H_g);\mathbb R) = 0\) when \(g \geq 3\), which is used to show that for the mapping class group \(M(H_g, D)\) of \(H_g\) rel a disk \(D\) on the boundary of \(H_g\), \(H_1(M(H_g,D);\mathbb R) = 0\) for \(g \geq 3\).