Low-dimensional linear representations of the mapping class group of a nonorientable surface (Q740547)

The author deals with homomorphisms of mapping class groups of non-orientable compact surfaces \(N_{g,n}\) of genus \(g\) with \(n\) boundary components into other mapping class groups and \(\mathrm{GL}(m,\mathbb{C})\). He shows that under certain restrictions on the parameters involved, including an upper bound on \(m\), the image of a homomorphism from \(\mathrm{MCG}(N_{g,n})\) into \(\mathrm{GL}(m,\mathbb{C})\) is abelian, and thus either trivial, \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) or \(\mathbb{Z}_2^2\). The same is true for the image of a homomorphism \(\mathrm{MCG}(N_{g,0})\to \mathrm{MCG}(N_{h,0})\) with \(g>h\). Moreover, for \(g\geq 7\) the classification of representations of \(\mathrm{MCG}(N_{g,0})\) in \(\mathrm{GL}(g-1,\mathbb{C})\) is given.