The high-dimensional cohomology of the moduli space of curves with level structures. II: Punctures and boundary (Q6561665)

Let \(\Sigma_{g,n}^b\) be an oriented surface of genus \(g\), with \(n\) punctures and \(b\) boundary components. Let \(\textrm{PMod}_{g,n}^b\) be the \emph{pure} mapping class group of \(\Sigma_{g,n}^b\), that is, the isotopy classes of orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms of \(\Sigma_{g,n}^b\) that fix the boundary point-wise and do not permute the punctures. The authors analyse the rational cohomology of this group in the unstable range. To this end, they compare the cohomology with that of the level \(\ell\)-subgroup, this is the kernel of the action of \(\textrm{PMod}_g\) on \(H_1(\Sigma_g;\mathbb{Z}/\ell)\), with \(\ell\geq 2\). The authors extend these \(\ell\)-level subgroups to the case of punctures and boundary as the kernel, \(\textrm{PMod}_{g,n}^b[\ell]\), of the action of \(\textrm{PMod}_{g,n}^b\) on \(H_1(\Sigma_{g,n}^b;\mathbb{Z}/\ell)\). The authors obtain an estimate of the rational cohomology of \(\textrm{PMod}_{g,n}^b\) in degree equal to its virtual cohomological dimension: \N\N\textbf{ Theorem A} Let \(g\geq 1\) be fixed and \(n,b\geq0\) such that \(n+b\geq 1\). Let \(\nu\) be the virtual cohomological dimension of \(\textrm{PMod}_{g,n}^b\) and \(\ell\geq 2\). Then (a) if \(n+b=1\) and \(p\) is a prime number dividing \(\ell\), then the dimension of \(H^{\nu}(\textrm{PMod}_{g,n}^b[\ell];\mathbb{Q})\) is at least \N\[\N\frac{1}{g}p^{2g-1}\prod_{i=1}^{g-1}(p^{2k}-1)p^{2k-1}.\N\]\N(b) If \(n+b\geq 2\) and \(\nu'\) is the virtual cohomological dimension of \(\textrm{PMod}_{g,1}\) then the dimension of \(H^{\nu}(\textrm{PMod}_{g,n}^b[\ell];\mathbb{Q})\) is at least \N\[\N(\prod_{k=1}^{b+n-1}(k\ell^{2g}-1))\cdot dim_\mathbb{Q}H^{\nu'}(\textrm{PMod}_{g,1}[\ell];\mathbb{Q}).\N\]\NThe authors also give a description of the Steinberg module in terms of the curve complex and a related subcomplex. They also give a bound of the dimension of the coherent cohomological dimension of the quasi-projective complex variety \(\mathcal{M}_{g,n}\), the moduli space of finite-volume hyperbolic metrics on \(\Sigma_{g,n}^d\).