Nilpotency and triviality of mod <i>p</i> Morita-Mumford classes of mapping class groups of surfaces (Q4545202)

Let \(\Sigma_g\) be a closed connected oriented surface of genus \(g\geq 2\) and let \(\Gamma_g\) be the mapping class group of \(\Sigma_g\), the group of isotopy classes of orientation preserving diffeomorphisms \(\Sigma_g \to \Sigma_g\). The cohomology of \(\Gamma_g\) is of interest both in topology and in algebraic geometry. The rational cohomology of \(\Gamma_g\) is isomorphic to that of the moduli space of compact Riemann surfaces. There are classes \(e_n\in H^{2n} (\Gamma_g, {\mathbb{Z}})\) known as Morita-Mumford classes. The natural map \({\mathbb{Q}} [e_1,e_2,e_3,\ldots]\rightarrow H^* (\Gamma_g, {\mathbb{Q}})\) is an isomorphism in dimensions less than \((g-1)/2\) [see \textit{I. Madsen} and \textit{M. Weiss}, arXiv:math.AT/0212321 (2002)]. The injectivity of this map in dimensions less than \(2g/3\) was proved earlier [\textit{E. Y. Miller}, J. Differ. Geom. 24, 1--14 (1986; Zbl 0618.57005)] and [\textit{S. Morita}, Invent. Math. 90, 551--577 (1987; Zbl 0608.57020)], and it was conjectured that it was an isomorphism. On the other hand, not much is known about the mod~\(p\) Morita-Mumford classes. The paper under review investigates the nilpotency and the triviality of the mod~\(p\) Morita-Mumford classes \(e_n^{(p)}\in H^{2n} (\Gamma_g, {\mathbb{F}}_p)\). The main result of this paper says that if \(n\equiv -1\) mod~\(p-1\), then \(e_n^{(p)}\) is nilpotent. In particular, \(e_n^{(2)}\) is nilpotent for all \(n\geq 0\). The converse is also shown to be true: if \(n\equiv -1\) mod~\(p-1\), then \(e_n^{(p)}\in H^{2n} (\Gamma_{\bullet}, {\mathbb{F}}_p)\) is nontrivial and not nilpotent. Here, \(H^{*} (\Gamma_{\bullet}, {\mathbb{F}}_p) =\lim_{g\to\infty} H^{*} (\Gamma_{g}, {\mathbb{F}}_p)\) is the stable mod~\(p\) cohomology of the mapping class group. Then the author makes two conjectures regarding the classes \(e_n^{(p)}\) and gives some evidence for them. Finally, some applications to surface bundles over surfaces are discussed.