Torelli space (in genus g) is the moduli space of compact Riemann surfaces of genus g together with a symplectic basis of their first homology group. It is the quotient of the genus g Teichmuller space by the Torelli group T_g and is a model of the classifying space of T_g. It is known that almost all T_g are not finite complexes. The goal of this note is to present a suite of problems designed to probe the infinite topology of Torelli spaces. Some background is given and a few new results are proved.
We examine groups whose resonance varieties, characteristic varieties and Sigma-invariants have a natural arithmetic group symmetry, and we explore implications on various finiteness properties of subgroups. We compute resonance varieties, characteristic varieties and Alexander polynomials of Torelli groups, and we show that all subgroups containing the Johnson kernel have finite first Betti number, when the genus is at least four. We also prove that, in this range, the $I$-adic completion of the Alexander invariant is finite-dimensional, and the Kahler property for the Torelli group implies t…
The Torelli group $\mathcal T(X)$ of a closed smooth manifold $X$ is the subgroup of the mapping class group $π_0(\mathrm{Diff}^+(X))$ consisting of elements which act trivially on the integral cohomology of $X$. In this note we give counterexamples to Theorem 3.4 of Verbitsky's paper "Mapping class group and a global Torelli theorem for hyperkähler manifolds" (Duke Math.~J.~162 (2013), no.~15, 2929-2986) which states that the Torelli group of simply connected Kähler manifolds of complex dimension $\ge 3$ is finite. This is done by constructing under some mild conditions homomorphisms $J: \mat…
Infinite presentations are given for all of the higher Torelli groups of once-punctured surfaces. In the case of the classical Torelli group, a finite presentation of the corresponding groupoid is also given, and finite presentations of the classical Torelli groups acting trivially on homology modulo N are derived for all N. Furthermore, the first Johnson homomorphism, which is defined from the classical Torelli group to the third exterior power of the homology of the surface, is shown to lift to an explicit canonical 1-cocycle of the Teichmueller space. The main tool for these results is the …
We examine the Johnson filtration of the (outer) automorphism group of a finitely generated group. In the case of a free group, we find a surprising result: the first Betti number of the second subgroup in the Johnson filtration is finite. Moreover, the corresponding Alexander invariant is a non-trivial module over the Laurent polynomial ring. In the process, we show that the first resonance variety of the outer Torelli group of a free group is trivial. We also establish a general relationship between the Alexander invariant and its infinitesimal counterpart.
Genus $g$ Torelli space is the moduli space of genus $g$ curves of compact type equipped with a homology framing. The hyperelliptic locus is a closed analytic subvariety consisting of finitely many mutually isomorphic components. We use properties of the hyperelliptic Torelli group to show that when $g\geq 3$ these components do not have the homotopy type of a finite CW complex. Specifically, we show that the second rational homology of each component is infinite-dimensional. We give a more detailed description of the topological features of these components when $g=3$ using properties of genu…
We define a compactification of symmetric spaces of noncompact type, seen as spaces of isometry classes of marked lattices, analogous to the Thurston compactification of the Teichmüller space, and we show that it is equivariantly isomorphic to a Satake compactification. We then use it to define a new compactification of the Torelli space of a hyperbolic surface with marked points, and we show that it is equivariantly isomorphic to the Satake compactification of the image of the period mapping. Finally, we describe the natural stratification of a subset of the boundary.
We prove that the hyperelliptic Torelli group is generated by Dehn twists about separating curves that are preserved by the hyperelliptic involution. This verifies a conjecture of Hain. The hyperelliptic Torelli group can be identified with the kernel of the Burau representation evaluated at t=-1 and also the fundamental group of the branch locus of the period mapping, and so we obtain analogous generating sets for those. One application is that each component in Torelli space of the locus of hyperelliptic curves becomes simply connected when curves of compact type are added.
For $g>3$, we give two proofs of the fact that the \emph{Birman exact sequence} for the Torelli group \[ 1\to π_1(S_g)\to {\cal I}_{g,1}\to {\cal I}_g\to 1 \] does not split. This result was claimed by G. Mess in \cite{mess1990unit}, but his proof has a critical and unrepairable error which will be discussed in the introduction. Let ${\cal UI}_{g,n}\xrightarrow{Tu'_{g,n}} {\cal BI}_{g,n}$ (resp. ${\cal UPI}_{g,n}\xrightarrow{Tu_{g,n}}{\cal BPI}_{g,n}$) denote the universal surface bundle over the Torelli space fixing $n$ points as a set (resp. pointwise). We also deduce that $Tu'_{g,n}$ has no…
We determine the action of the Torelli group on the equivariant cohomology of the space of flat SL(2,C) connections on a closed Riemann surface. We show that the trivial part of the action contains the equivariant cohomology of the even component of the space of flat PSL(2,C) connections. The non-trivial part consists of the even alternating products of degree two Prym representations, so that the kernel of the action is precisely the Prym-Torelli group. We compute the Betti numbers of the ordinary cohomology of the moduli space of flat SL(2,C) connections. Using results of Cappell-Lee-Miller …
Proving a conjecture of Dennis Johnson, we show that the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group has a finite generating set whose size grows cubically with respect to the genus of the surface. Our main tool is a new space called the handle graph on which the Torelli group acts cocompactly.
Let A denote either the automorphism group of the free group of rank n>=4 or the mapping class group of an orientable surface of genus n>=12 with at most 1 boundary component, and let G be either the subgroup of IA-automorphisms or the Torelli subgroup of A, respectively. For a natural number N denote by G_N the Nth term of the lower central series of G. We prove that (i) any subgroup of G containing [G,G] (in particular, the Johnson kernel in the mapping class group case) is finitely generated; (ii) if N=2 or n>=8N-4 and K is any subgroup of G containing G_N (for instance, K can be the Nth te…
After results by the author (1980, 1981), and by Vinberg (1981), finiteness of the number of maximal arithmetic reflection groups in Lobachevsky spaces was not known in dimensions $2\le n\le 9$ only. Recently (2005), the finiteness was proved in dimension 2 by Long, Maclachlan and Reid, and in dimension 3 by Agol. Here we use these results in dimensions 2 and 3 to prove finiteness in all remaining dimensions $4\le n\le 9$. Methods of the author (1980, 1981) are strong enough to complete this in few lines by simple considerations.
These are the lecture notes for my course at the 2011 Park City Mathematics Graduate Summer School. The first two lectures covered the basics of the Torelli group and the Johnson homomorphism, and the third and fourth lectures discussed the second cohomology group of the level p congruence subgroup of the mapping class group, following my papers "The second rational homology group of the moduli space of curves with level structures" and "The Picard group of the moduli space of curves with level structures".
Let T_n be the kernel of the natural map from Out(F_n) to GL(n,Z). We use combinatorial Morse theory to prove that T_n has an Eilenberg-MacLane space which is (2n-4)-dimensional and that H_{2n-4}(T_n,Z) is not finitely generated (n at least 3). In particular, this recovers the result of Krstic-McCool that T_3 is not finitely presented. We also give a new proof of the fact, due to Magnus, that T_n is finitely generated.
In the 1970s, Birman-Craggs-Johnson used Rochlin's invariant for homology 3-spheres to construct a remarkable surjective homomorphism sigma:I_{g,1}->B_3, where I_{g,1} is the Torelli group and B_3 is a certain F_2-vector space of Boolean (square-free) polynomials. By pulling back cohomology classes and evaluating them on abelian cycles, we construct 16g^4 + O(g^3) dimensions worth of nontrivial elements of H^2(I_{g,1}, F_2) which cannot be detected rationally. These classes in fact restrict to nontrivial classes in the cohomology of the subgroup K_{g,1} < I_{g,1} generated by Dehn twists about…
Mess showed that the genus 2 Torelli group $T_2$ is isomorphic to a free group of countably infinite rank by showing that genus 2 Torelli space is homotopy equivalent to an infinite wedge of circles. As an application of his computation, we compute the homotopy type of the zero locus of any classical genus 2 theta function in $\mathfrak{h}_2 \times \mathbb{C}^2$, where $\mathfrak{h}_2$ denotes rank 2 Siegel space. Specifically, we show that the zero locus of any such function is homotopy equivalent to an infinite wedge of 2-spheres.
A closed 4-manifold (or, more generally, a finite $PD_4$-space) has a finitely dominated infinite regular covering space if and only if either its universal covering space is finitely dominated or it is finitely covered by the mapping torus of a self homotopy equivalence of a $PD_3$-complex.
We prove a version of the well-known Denjoy-Ahlfors theorem about the number of asymptotic values of an entire function for properly immersed minimal surfaces of arbitrary codimension in R^N. The finiteness of the number of ends is proved for minimal submanifolds with finite projective volume. We show, as a corollary, that a minimal surface of codimensionn meeting any n-plane passing through the origin in at most k points has no more c(n,N)k ends.
In this article we prove that the set of torsion-free groups acting by isometries on a hyperbolic metric space whose entropy is bounded above and with a compact quotient is finite. The number of such groups can be estimated in terms of the hyperbolicity constant and of an upper bound of the entropy of the space and of an upper bound of the diameter of its quotient. As a consequence we show that the set of non cyclic torsion-free $δ$-hyperbolic marked groups whose entropy is bounded above by a number $H$ is finite with cardinality depending on $δ$ and $H$ alone. From these results, we draw homo…
The main theorem shows that if M is an irreducible compact connected orientable 3-manifold with non-empty boundary, then the classifying space BDiff(M rel dM) of the space of diffeomorphisms of M which restrict to the identity map on boundary(M) has the homotopy type of a finite aspherical CW-complex. This answers, for this class of manifolds, a question posed by M Kontsevich. The main theorem follows from a more precise result, which asserts that for these manifolds the mapping class group H(M rel dM) is built up as a sequence of extensions of free abelian groups and subgroups of finite index…
We prove that there exists a positive, explicit function $F(k, E)$ such that, for any group $G$ admitting a $k$-acylindrical splitting and any generating set $S$ of $G$ with $\mathrm{Ent}(G,S)<E$, we have $|S| \leq F(k, E)$. We deduce corresponding finiteness results for classes of groups possessing acylindrical splittings and acting geometrically with bounded entropy: for instance, $D$-quasiconvex $k$-malnormal amalgamated products acting on $δ$-hyperbolic spaces or on $CAT(0)$-spaces with entropy bounded by $E$. A number of finiteness results for interesting families of Riemannian or metric …
We construct Kähler groups with arbitrary finiteness properties by mapping products of closed Riemann surfaces holomorphically onto an elliptic curve: for each $r\geq 3$, we obtain large classes of Kähler groups that have classifying spaces with finite $(r-1)$-skeleton but do not have classifying spaces with finitely many $r$-cells. We describe invariants which distinguish many of these groups. Our construction is inspired by examples of Dimca, Papadima and Suciu.
We give bordism-finiteness results for manifolds with semi-simple group action. Consider the class of oriented manifolds which admit a circle action with isolated fixed points such that the action extends to an $S^3$-action with fixed point. We exhibit various subclasses, characterized by an upper bound for the Euler characteristic and properties of the first Pontrjagin class, which contain only finitely many oriented bordism types in any given dimension. Also we show finiteness results for homotopy complex projective spaces and complete intersections with $S^3$-action as above.
