Hyperbolicity of the graph of nonseparating multicurves (Q2453737)

The vertices of the \textit{curve graph} of an orientable surface of genus \(g\) with \(m \geq 0\) punctures are isotopy classes of essential simple closed curves on the surface; two such curves are connected by an edge if they can be realized disjointly. By a result of \textit{H. A. Masur} and \textit{Y. N. Minsky} [Invent. Math. 138, No. 1, 103--149 (1999; Zbl 0941.32012)] the curve graph is a locally infinite hyperbolic geodesic metric space of infinite diameter. In the present paper instead it is shown that the \textit{graph of nonseparating \(k\)-multicurves} of a surface is hyperbolic if \(g \geq 2\) and \(k < g/2 + 1\); now the vertices are curves with \(k\) components whose complement is connected, and two multicurves are connected by an edge if they differ by a single component and can be realized disjointly (so for \(k=1\) this is just the complete subgraph of the curve graph whose vertices correspond to nonseparating closed curves). Moreover an example of Aougab and Schleimer shows that the bound \(k < g/2 + 1\) is sharp. As noted by the author, the mapping class group of the surface acts coarsely transitively (the quotient is a finite graph) by simplicial isometries on both the curve graph and the graph of nonseparating \(k\)-multicurves which hence become important tools for the investigation of the geometry of the mapping class group.