Abstract
We exhibit a finitely generated group \({\mathcal {M}}\) whose rational homology is isomorphic to the rational stable homology of the mapping class group. It is defined as a mapping class group associated to a surface \({\mathcal {S}_\infty}\) of infinite genus, and contains all the pure mapping class groups of compact surfaces of genus g with n boundary components, for any g ≥ 0 and n > 0. We construct a representation of \({\mathcal {M}}\) into the restricted symplectic group \({{\rm Sp_{\rm res}}(\mathcal {H}_r)}\) of the real Hilbert space generated by the homology classes of non-separating circles on \({\mathcal {S}_\infty}\) , which generalizes the classical symplectic representation of the mapping class groups. Moreover, we show that the first universal Chern class in \({H^2(\mathcal {M}, \mathbb {Z})}\) is the pull-back of the Pressley-Segal class on the restricted linear group \({{\rm GL_{\rm res}}(\mathcal {H})}\) via the inclusion \({{\rm Sp_{\rm res}}(\mathcal {H}_r) \subset {\rm GL_{\rm res}}(\mathcal {H})}\) .
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Communicated by Y. Kawahigashi
L. F. was partially supported by the ANR Repsurf:ANR-06-BLAN-0311.
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Funar, L., Kapoudjian, C. An Infinite Genus Mapping Class Group and Stable Cohomology. Commun. Math. Phys. 287, 787–804 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-009-0728-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-009-0728-1