Madsen-Weiss for geometrically minded topologists (Q631340)

The authors give an alternative proof of the so-called Madsen-Weiss generalized Mumford conjecture. The original Mumford conjecture states that the stable rational cohomology of the moduli space is a polynomial algebra generated by the Mumford-Morita-Miller cohomology classes of even degrees. The conjecture can also be formulated in terms of the cohomology of a classifying space defined using mapping class groups. The Madsen-Weiss result generalizing Mumford's conjecture states that a certain map between some classifying spaces which a priori have different natures induces an isomorphism at the level of integral homology. The result was published in [\textit{I. Madsen} and \textit{M. Weiss}, Ann. Math. (2) 165, No.~3, 843--941 (2007; Zbl 1156.14021)]. This solution of Mumford's conjecture is considered as spectacular progress in the question of understanding the homotopy type of moduli space. The title of the paper under review indicates that this proof of the generalized Mumford conjecture is more geometrical than the original one. It uses Madsen and Weiss's original ideas, together with a new version of Harer's stability result which the authors formulate in terms of folded maps. The authors attribute the idea of such a geometrical proof to \textit{I. Madsen} and \textit{U. Tillmann}, who suggested it in their paper [Invent. Math. 145, No.~3, 509--544 (2001; Zbl 1050.55007)].