An infinite genus mapping class group and stable cohomology (Q5962371)

The authors construct a finitely generated group \({\mathcal M}\) which contains all pure mapping class groups of compact surfaces with nonempty boundary components. The group \({\mathcal M}\) is defined as a certain mapping class group of a surface \(S_\infty\), where \(S_\infty\) is an infinite genus surface obtained from the boundary of a regular neighborhood of a regular \(3\)-valent tree by removing a small open disk for each edge of the tree and by gluing a one-holed torus along each resulting boundary component. The rational cohomology of \({\mathcal M}\) is isomorphic to the rational stable cohomology of the mapping class group. The group \({\mathcal M}\) maps onto the Thompson group \(V\). By generalizing the standard symplectic representation of the mapping class group of a compact surface, a representation of \({\mathcal M}\) into the restricted symplectic group \(\roman{Sp}_{\roman{res}}(\mathcal{H}_r)\) of the real Hilbert space generated by the homology classes of nonseparating simple closed curves on \(S_\infty\) is constructed. It is also shown that the first universal Chern class in \(H^2({\mathcal M},{\mathbb Z})\) is the pull-back of the Pressley-Segal class on the restricted linear group \(\roman{GL}_{\roman{res}}(\mathcal{H})\) via the inclusion \(\roman{Sp}_{\roman{res}}(\mathcal{H}_r) \subset \roman{GL}_{\roman{res}}(\mathcal{H})\).