We extend certain homomorphisms defined on the higher Torelli subgroups of the mapping class group to crossed homomorphisms defined on the entire mapping class group. In particular, for every $k\geq 2$, we construct a crossed homomorphism $ε_k$ which extends Morita's homomorphism $\tilde τ_k$ to the entire mapping class group. From this crossed homomorphism we also obtain a crossed homomorphism extending the $k$th Johnson homomorphism $τ_k$ to the mapping class group.
D. Johnson and S. Morita obtained their respective homomorphisms by considering the action of the mapping class group on the nilpotent truncations of the surface group; our approach is to mimic Morita's construction topologically by using nilmanifolds associated to these truncations. This allows us to take the ranges of these crossed homomorphisms to be certain finite-dimensional real vector spaces associated to these nilmanifolds.
We extend each higher Johnson homomorphism to a crossed homomorphism from the automorphism group of a finite-rank free group to a finite-rank abelian group. We also extend each Morita homomorphism to a crossed homomorphism from the mapping class group of once-bounded surface to a finite-rank abelian group. This improves on the author's previous results [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 7 (2007):1297-1326]. To prove the first result, we express the higher Johnson homomorphisms as coboundary maps in group cohomology. Our methods involve the topology of nilpotent homogeneous spaces and lattices in nilpotent …
The Johnson filtration of the mapping class group of a compact, oriented surface is the descending series consisting of the kernels of the actions on the nilpotent quotients of the fundamental group of the surface. Each term of the Johnson filtration admits a Johnson homomorphism, whose kernel is the next term in the filtration. In this paper, we consider a general situation where a group acts on a group with a filtration called an "extended N-series". We develop a theory of Johnson homomorphisms in this general setting, including many known variants of the original Johnson homomorphisms as we…
Johnson has defined a surjective homomorphism from the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group of the surface of genus $g$ with one boundary component to $\wedge^3 H$, the third exterior product of the homology of the surface. Morita then extended Johnson's homomorphism to a homomorphism from the entire mapping class group to ${1/2} \wedge^3 H \semi \sp(H)$. This Johnson-Morita homomorphism is not surjective, but its image is finite index in ${1/2} \wedge^3 H \semi \sp(H)$. Here we give a description of the exact image of Morita's homomorphism. Further, we compute the image of the handlebo…
We give a new proof of a celebrated theorem of Dennis Johnson that asserts that the kernel of the Johnson homomorphism on the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group is generated by separating twists. In fact, we prove a more general result that also applies to "subsurface Torelli groups". Using this, we extend Johnson's calculation of the rational abelianization of the Torelli group not only to the subsurface Torelli groups, but also to finite-index subgroups of the Torelli group that contain the kernel of the Johnson homomorphism.
We consider two mod-p central series of the free group given by Stallings and Zassenhaus. Applying these series to definitions of Dennis Johnson's filtration of the mapping class group we obtain two mod-p Johnson filtrations. Further, we adapt the definition of the Johnson homomorphisms to obtain mod-p Johnson homomorphisms. We calculate the image of the first of these homomorphisms. We give generators for the kernels of these homomorphisms as well. We restrict the range of our mod-p Johnson homomorphisms using work of Morita. We finally prove the announced result of Perron that a rational hom…
The Johnson-Morita theory for the handlebody group
Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Tokyo（东京大学大学院数学系研究科）；Université Bourgogne Europe, CNRS, IMB (UMR 5584)（勃艮第欧洲大学，法国国家科学研究中心，IMB（UMR 5584））
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…
The Johnson kernel is the subgroup of the mapping class group of a surface generated by Dehn twists along bounding simple closed curves, and has the second Johnson homomorphism as a free abelian quotient. In terms of the representation theory of the symplectic group, we give a complete description of cup products of two classes in the first rational cohomology of the Johnson kernel obtained by the rational dual of the second Johnson homomorphism.
Let G be a real semisimple Lie group with no compact factors and finite centre, and let $Λ$ be a lattice in G. Suppose that there exists a homomorphism from $Λ$ to the outer automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group $A_Γ$ with infinite image. We give an upper bound to the real rank of G that is determined by the structure of cliques in $Γ$. An essential tool is the Andreadakis-Johnson filtration of the Torelli subgroup $\mathcal{T}}(A_Γ)$ of $Aut(A_Γ)$. We answer a question of Day relating to the abelianisation of $\mathcal{T}}(A_Γ)$, and show that $\mathcal{T}}(A_Γ)$ and its image in $…
Let $Σ$ be a compact connected oriented surface with one boundary component and let $\mathcal{M}$ denote the mapping class group of $Σ$. By considering the action of $\mathcal{M}$ on the fundamental group of $Σ$ it is possible to define different filtrations of $\mathcal{M}$ together with some homomorphisms on each term of the filtration. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly we study a filtration of $\mathcal{M}$ introduced recently by Habiro and Massuyeau, whose definition involves a handlebody bounded by $Σ$. We shall call it the "alternative Johnson filtration", and the corresponding h…
Let S be a compact connected oriented surface with one boundary component. We extend each of Johnson's and Morita's homomorphisms to the Ptolemy groupoid of S. Our extensions are canonical and take values into finitely generated free abelian groups. The constructions are based on the 3-dimensional interpretation of the Ptolemy groupoid, and a chain map introduced by Suslin and Wodzicki to relate the homology of a nilpotent group to the homology of its Malcev Lie algebra.
Let F_n be the free group on n generators. Define IA_n to be group of automorphisms of F_n that act trivially on first homology. The Johnson homomorphism in this setting is a map from IA_n to its abelianization. The first goal of this paper is to determine how much this map contributes to the second rational cohomology of IA_n. A descending central series of IA_n is given by the subgroups K_n^(i) which act trivially on F_n/F_n^(i+1), the free rank n, degree i nilpotent group. It is a conjecture of Andreadakis that K_n^(i) is equal to the lower central series of IA_n; indeed K_n^(2) is known to…
We prove that every trivalent marked bordered fatgraph comes equipped with a canonical generalized Magnus expansion in the sense of Kawazumi. This Magnus expansion is used to give canonical lifts of the higher Johnson homomorphisms $τ_m$, for $m\geq 1$, to the Torelli groupoid, and we provide a recursive combinatorial formula for tensor representatives of these lifts. In particular, we give an explicit 1-cocycle in the dual fatgraph complex which lifts $τ_2$ and thus answer affirmatively a question of Morita-Penner. To illustrate our techniques for calculating higher Johnson homomorphisms in g…
This paper surveys work on generalized Johnson homomorphisms and tools for studying them. The goal is to unite several related threads in the literature and to clarify existing results and relationships among them using Hodge theory. We survey the work of Alekseev, Kawazumi, Kuno and Naef on the Goldman--Turaev Lie bialgebra, and the work of various authors on cohomological methods for determining the stable image of generalized Johnson homomorphisms. Various open problems and conjectures are included.
We propose an approach to study non-Abelian Iwasawa theory, using the idea of Johnson homomorphisms in low dimensional topology. We introduce arithmetic analogues of Johnson homomorphisms/maps, called the p-Johnson homomorphisms/maps, associated to the Zassenhaus filtration of a pro-p Galois group over a Z_p-extension of a number field. We give their cohomological interpretation in terms of Massey products in Galois cohomology.
A homology cylinder of a surface induces an automorphism of the completed group ring of the fundamental group of the surface. We introduce a new method of computing the automorphism by using the Goldman Lie algebra of the surface or some skein algebra. In particular, we give a refinement of a formula by Kuno and Massuyeau.
On a closed symplectic surface Sigma of genus two or more, we give a new construction of an extended flux map (a crossed homomorphism from the symplectomorphism group Symp(Sigma) to the cohomology group H^1(Sigma;R) that extends the flux homomorphism). This construction uses the topology of the Jacobian of the surface and a correction factor related to the Johnson homomorphism. For surfaces of genus three or more, we give another new construction of an extended flux map using hyperbolic geometry.
We first develop a general theory of Johnson filtrations and Johnson homomorphisms for a group $G$ acting on another group $K$ equipped with a filtration indexed by a "good" ordered commutative monoid. Then, specializing it to the case where the monoid is the additive monoid $\mathbb{N}^2$ of pairs on nonnegative integers, we obtain a theory of double Johnson filtrations and homomorphisms. We apply this theory to the mapping class group $\mathcal{M}$ of a surface $Σ_{g,1}$ with one boundary component, equipped with the normal subgroups $\bar{X}$, $\bar{Y}$ of $π_1(Σ_{g,1})$ associated to a sta…
Two references added and the introduction slightly expanded. We show that the tree-level part of a recent theory of invariants of 3-manifolds (due, independently, to Goussarov and Habiro) is essentially given by classical algebraic topology in terms of the Johnson homomorphism and Massey products, for arbitrary 3-manifolds. A key role of our proof is played by the notion of a homology cylinder, viewed as an enlargement of the mapping class group, and an apparently new Lie algebra of graphs colored by the first homology of a closed surface, closely related to deformation quantization on a surfa…
Let S be a compact connected oriented surface with one boundary component, and let P be the fundamental group of S. The Johnson filtration is a decreasing sequence of subgroups of the Torelli group of S, whose k-th term consists of the self-homeomorphisms of S that act trivially at the level of the k-th nilpotent quotient of P. Morita defined a homomorphism from the k-th term of the Johnson filtration to the third homology group of the k-th nilpotent quotient of P. In this paper, we replace groups by their Malcev Lie algebras and we study the "infinitesimal" version of the k-th Morita homomorp…
Let $π: {\mathbb C}_g \to {\mathbb M}_g$ be the universal family of compact Riemann surfaces of genus $g \geq 1$. We introduce a real-valued function on the moduli space ${\mathbb M}_g$ and compute the first and the second variations of the function. As a consequence we relate the Chern form of the relative tangent bundle $T_{{\mathbb C}_g/{\mathbb M}_g}$ induced by the Arakelov-Green function with differential forms on ${\mathbb C}_g$ induced by a flat connection whose holonomy gives Johnson's homomorphisms on the mapping class group.
Let M denote the mapping class group of S, a compact connected oriented surface with one boundary component. The action of M on the nilpotent quotients of the fundamental group of S allows to define the so-called Johnson filtration and the Johnson homomorphisms. J. Levine introduced a new filtration of M, called the Lagrangian filtration. He also introduced a version of the Johnson homomorphisms for this new filtration. The first term of the Lagrangian filtration is the Lagrangian mapping class group, whose definition involves a handlebody bounded by S, and which contains the Torelli group. Th…
Morita introduced in 2008 a 1-cocycle on the group of homology cobordisms of surfaces with values in an infinite-dimensional vector space. His 1-cocycle contains all the "traces" of Johnson homomorphisms which he introduced fifteen years earlier in his study of the mapping class group. In this paper, we propose a new version of Morita's 1-cocycle based on a simple and explicit construction. Our 1-cocycle is proved to satisfy several fundamental properties, including a connection with the Magnus representation and the LMO homomorphism. As an application, we show that the rational abelianization…
The period for a compact Riemann surface, defined by the integral of differential 1-forms, is a classical complex analytic invariant, strongly related to the complex structure of the surface. In this paper, we treat another complex analytic invariant called the pointed harmonic volume. As a natural extension of the period defined using Chen's iterated integrals, it captures more detailed information of the complex structure. It is also one of a few explicitly computable examples of complex analytic invariants. We obtain its new value for a certain pointed hyperelliptic curve. An application of…
Let $Σ_g \to E \to Σ_h$ be a surface bundle over a surface with monodromy representation $ρ: π_1 Σ_h \to \operatorname{Mod}(Σ_g)$ contained in the Torelli group $\mathcal{I}_g$. In this paper we express the cup product structure in $H^*(E, \mathbb{Z})$ in terms of the Johnson homomorphism $τ: \mathcal{I}_g \to \wedge^3 (H_1 (Σ_g, \mathbb{Z}))$. This is applied to the question of obtaining an upper bound on the maximal $n$ such that $p_1: E \to Σ_{h_1}, ..., p_n: E \to Σ_{h_n}$ are fibering maps realizing $E$ as the total space of a surface bundle over a surface in $n$ distinct ways. We prove t…
We construct a series of homomorphisms from the $Y$-filtration on the monoid of homology cylinders to torsion modules via the mod $\mathbb{Z}$ reduction of the LMO functor. The restriction of our homomorphism to the lower central series of the Torelli group does not factor through Morita's refinement of the Johnson homomorphism. We use it to show that the abelianization of the Johnson kernel of a closed surface has torsion elements. We also determine the third graded quotient $Y_3\mathcal{IC}_{g,1}/Y_4$ of the $Y$-filtration.
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 …
In this article, we define and study the total Milnor invariant and the infinitesimal Morita-Milnor homomorphism as punctured disk analogues of the total Johnson map and the infinitesimal Morita homomorphism studied by Kawazumi and Massuyeau in the case of surface of positive genus with one boundary component.
We define new bordism and spin bordism invariants of certain subgroups of the mapping class group of a surface. In particular, they are invariants of the Johnson filtration of the mapping class group. The second and third terms of this filtration are the well-known Torelli group and Johnson subgroup, respectively. We introduce a new representation in terms of spin bordism, and we prove that this single representation contains all of the information given by the Johnson homomorphism, the Birman-Craggs homomorphism, and the Morita homomorphism.
We generalize the notion of a Magnus expansion of a free group in order to extend each of the Johnson homomorphisms defined on a decreasing filtration of the Torelli group for a surface with one boundary component to the whole of the automorphism group of a free group $\operatorname{Aut}(F_{n})$. The extended ones are {\it not} homomorphisms, but satisfy an infinite sequence of coboundary relations, so that we call them {\it the Johnson maps}. In this paper we confine ourselves to studying the first and the second relations, which have cohomological consequences about the group $\operatorname{…
The Torelli group, I(S_g), is the subgroup of the mapping class group consisting of elements that act trivially on the homology of the surface. There are three types of elements that naturally arise in studying I(S_g): bounding pair maps, separating twists, and simply intersecting pair maps (SIP-maps). Historically the first two types of elements have been the focus of the literature on I(S_g), while SIP-maps have received relatively little attention until recently, due to an infinite presentation of I(S_g) introduced by Andrew Putman that uses all three types of elements. We will give a topol…
The contraction of the image of the Johnson homomorphism is called the Chillingworth class. In this paper, we derive a combinatorial description of the Chillingworth class for Putman's subsurface Torelli groups. We also prove the naturality and uniqueness properties of the map whose image is the dual of the Chillingworth classes of the subsurface Torelli groups. Moreover, we relate the Chillingworth class of the subsurface Torelli group to the partitioned Johnson homomorphism.
We define trace-like operators on a subspace of the space of derivations of the free Lie algebra generated by the first homology group $H$ of a surface $Σ$. This definition depends on the choice of a Lagrangian of $H$, and we call these operators the \emph{Lagrangian traces}. We suppose that $Σ$ is the boundary of a handlebody with first homology group $H'$, and we show that the Lagrangian traces corresponding to the Lagrangian $\operatorname{Ker} (H \rightarrow H')$ vanish on the image by the Johnson homomorphisms of the elements of the Johnson filtration that extend to the handlebody.
In the present paper, we study the Sp-module structure of the cokernel of the Johnson homomorphism of the mapping class groups of surfaces. We detect the Sp-irreducible components with highest weight [1^k] (and [k]) in the cokernel. We also show that the multiplicities of them is equal to one.
Combinatorial aspects of the Torelli-Johnson-Morita theory of surface automorphisms are extended to certain subgroups of the mapping class groups. These subgroups are defined relative to a specified homomorphism from the fundamental group of the surface onto an arbitrary group $K$. For $K$ abelian, there is a combinatorial theory akin to the classical case, for example, providing an explicit cocycle representing the first Johnson homomophism with target $Λ^3 K$. Furthermore, the Earle class with coefficients in $K$ is represented by an explicit cocyle.
In [ES2], the first and the third authors introduced new classes in the Johnson cokernels of the mapping class groups of surfaces by a representation theoretic approach based on some previous results for the Johnson cokernels of the automorphism groups of free groups. On the other hand, in [KK1], Kawazumi and the second author introduced another type of classes by a topological consideration of self-intersections of curves on a surface. In this paper, we show that the classes found in [KK1] are contained in the classes found in [ES2] in a stable range. Furthermore, we prove that the anti-Morit…
The homology cobordism group of homology cylinders is a generalization of both the mapping class group of surfaces and the string link concordance group. We consider extensions of Johnson homomorphisms of a mapping class group, Milnor invariants and Orr invariants of links to homology cylinders, all of which are related to free nilpotent groups. We establish a combined filtration via kernels of extended Johnson homomorphisms and extended Milnor invariants. We determine its image under the three invariants, and investigate relations among the invariants, and relations of the filtration to autom…
We consider the action of symplectic monodromy on chain-level enhancements of quantum cohomology. First, we construct a family version of $A_\infty$-structure on quantum cohomology (this should morally correspond to Hochschild cohomology of a "family of Fukaya categories over the circle"). Following Kaledin, we look at the obstruction class of this structure, and argue that it can be related to a quantum version of Massey products on the one hand (which, in nice cases, can be related to actual counts of rational curves) and to the classical Andreadakis-Johnson theory of the Torelli group on th…
An orientation is defined on a family of curve graphs on which the Torelli group acts. It is shown that the resulting signed stable length of an element of the Torelli group is a cohomology class. This cohomology class is half the dual of the contraction of the Johnson homomorphism, the socalled "Chillingworth class".
In the study of the relation between the mapping class group M of a surface and the theory of finite-type invariants of homology 3-spheres, three subgroups of the mapping class group play a large role. They are the Torelli group, the Johnson subgroup K and a new subgroup L, which contains K, defined by a choice of a Lagrangian subgroup of the homology of the surface. In this work we determine the quotient L/K, in terms of the precise description of M/K given by Johnson and Morita. We also study the lower central series of L and K, using some natural imbeddings of the pure braid group in L and …
We apply mapping class group techniques and trisections to study intersection forms of smooth 4-manifolds. Johnson defined a well-known homomorphism from the Torelli group of a compact surface. Morita later showed that every homology 3-sphere can be obtained from the standard Heegaard decomposition of $S^3$ by regluing according to a map in the kernel of this homomorphism. We prove an analogous result for trisections of 4-manifolds. Specifically, if $X$ and $Y$ admit handle decompositions without 1- or 3-handles and have isomorphic intersection forms, then a trisection of $Y$ can be obtained f…
We introduce an operation that measures the self intersections of paths on a surface. As applications, we give a criterion of the realizability of a generalized Dehn twist, and derive a geometric constraint on the image of the Johnson homomorphism.
For S a compact connected oriented surface, we consider homology cylinders over S: these are homology cobordisms with an extra homological triviality condition. When considered up to Y_2-equivalence, which is a surgery equivalence relation arising from the Goussarov-Habiro theory, homology cylinders form an Abelian group. In this paper, when S has one or zero boundary component, we define a surgery map from a certain space of graphs to this group. This map is shown to be an isomorphism, with inverse given by some extensions of the first Johnson homomorphism and Birman-Craggs homomorphisms.
