Lectures on the Madsen-Weiss theorem (Q2848314)

This paper contains the revised lecture notes for the author's four lectures given at the IAS/Park City Institute program in July 2011. As the author points out, these lectures form a direct continuation of the foregoing lectures by \textit{N. Wahl} [in: Moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS); Princeton, NJ: Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). IAS/Park City Mathematics Series 20, 109--138 (2013; Zbl 1281.14022)], which he refers to as for context and motivation. Actually, the author's aim is here to give a precise statement of the Madsen-Weiss theorem, on the one hand, and to provide a nearly complete proof of this spectacular result on the other.NEWLINENEWLINE The Madsen-Weiss theorem is a recent homological isomorphism result relating the stable (co)homology of mapping class groups of Riemann surfaces and of certain infinite loop spaces.NEWLINENEWLINE This theorem was first proved by \textit{I. Madsen} and \textit{M. Weiss} [Ann. Math. (2) 165, No. 3, 843--941 (2007; Zbl 1156.14021)], and finally led to a proof of a long-standing conjecture by D. Mumford on the rational cohomology ring of the moduli space \(M_g\) of compact Riemann surfaces of genus \(g\geq 2\). However, the present lectures concern the more recent proof of the Madsen-Weiss theorem due to the author himself and \textit{O. Randal-Williams} [Geom. Topol. 14, No. 3, 1243--1302 (2010; Zbl 1205.55007)], and the reader is referred to their original paper for more details. Also, as the author points out, the exposition is influenced by a related survey article of \textit{A. Hatcher} [A short exposition of the Madsen-Weiss theorem. Preprint, \url{arxiv:1103.5223v1}].NEWLINENEWLINE As for the contents of the paper under review, the four lectures treat the following topics:NEWLINENEWLINE 1. Spaces of submanifolds (of \(\mathbb{R}^n\)) and the Madsen-Weiss theorem.NEWLINENEWLINE 2. Cutline of the steps in the proof of the Madsen-Weiss theorem.NEWLINENEWLINE 3. Topological monoids and the first part of the proof.NEWLINENEWLINE 4. Final step of the proof of the Madsen-Weiss theorem.NEWLINENEWLINE Each lecture ends with a number of related exercises complementing the main text by additional facts and results. These exercises forman integral part of the course, thereby serving the purpose of both the reader's creative, self-reliant work and better understanding of the material.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 1272.30002].