Vanishing powers of the Euler class (Q5954105)

Let \(\text{Homeo}^{+} {S^1}\) be the discrete group of orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of the circle \(S^1\). For circle bundles with discrete structure group \(G\subset \text{Homeo}^{+} {S^1}\), one has the (universal) discrete Euler class of \(G\), \([e(G)]\in \text{Hom}(H_2(BG),\mathbb Z)\). In this context, the author studies the problem of determining those \(k\) for which the \(k\)th power of the Euler class, \([e^k(G)]\in \text{Hom}(H_{2k}(BG),\mathbb Z)\), vanishes. He introduces a new invariant, the orbit class of \(G\). To the orbit class he associates another invariant, its (integer-valued) holonomy. Then the lowest \(k\) such that \([e^k(G)]\) is zero is determined by the non-vanishing of the holonomy of the orbit class, while the highest \(k\) such that \([e^k(G)]\) is nonzero is determined by the vanishing of the holonomy. The results on the problem mentioned above are mainly applied to the based mapping class group \(M_{g,\ast}\) associated to a closed oriented surface of genus \(g>1\). More precisely, the author uses Shigeyuki Morita's representation of \(M_{g,\ast}\) in \(\text{Homeo}^{+} {S^1}\), denoting its image by \(\mathcal M_g\), and he proves that the \(k\)th power of the Euler class, \([e^k(\mathcal M_g)]\), is zero for \(k\geq g\). As pointed out by the author, this result can also be deduced from \textit{E. Looijenga}'s results on the tautological ring of the moduli space of complex curves of genus \(g\) [Invent. Math. 121, No. 2, 411-419 (1995; Zbl 0851.14017)].