arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Shigeyuki Morita.
We explicitly determine the first Galois obstruction in the cokernel of the Johnson homomorphism of the mapping class group of a surface of genus $g$, for every genus $g \ge 2$. It is described as a sum of two terms which are considerably different in character. One lies in the kernel of the Enomoto-Satoh trace map, whereas the other belongs to a certain ideal which vanishes upon passage to the closed surface case.
Thurston constructed codimension one foliations on $S^3$ thereby proved that the homomorphism $gv: π_3(B\overlineΓ^\infty_1)\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ induced by the Godbillon-Vey invariant is surjective. By another real analytic construction, he proved that the homomorphism $gv: H_3(B\overlineΓ^ω_1)\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ is also surjective where $B\overlineΓ^ω_1$ is a $K(π,1)$ space by Haefliger. Tsuboi proved that the former surjection splits so that $π_3(B\overlineΓ^\infty_1)= \mathbb{R}\oplus \mathrm{Ker}\,gv$. He further showed that the subgroup of $H_3(B\overlineΓ^\infty_1;\mathbb{Z})$ generated by all the Thurston's constructions coincides with his direct summand $\mathbb{R}$. In this paper, we prove that Thurston's second surjection splits and also that the subgroup of $H_3(B\overlineΓ^ω_1;\mathbb{Z})$ generated by all the Thurston's cycles is equal to our direct summand $\mathbb{R}$ which is a lift of Tsuboi's one. To show this, we modify the arguments of Thurston and Tsuboi by replacing Reeb components with a real analytic construction. We prove certain {\it uniqueness} of them by showing acyclicity of the affine group in the Haefliger group $π_1(B\overlineΓ^ω_1)$. We also prove the existence of a new kind of characteristic class of foliations in $H^4(B\overlineΓ^ω_1;\mathbb{Z})$.
We describe low dimensional homology groups of $\mathrm{Diff}^δ_+S^1$ in terms of Haefliger's classifying space $B\overlineΓ_1$ by applying a theorem of Thurston. Then we consider the question whether some power of the rational Euler class vanishes for real analytic flat $S^1$-bundles. We show that if it occurs, then the homology group of $\mathrm{Diff}_+^{ω,δ} S^1$ should contain two kinds of many torsion classes which vanish in $\mathrm{Diff}^δ_+S^1$. This is an informal note on our discussions about the above question.
In the late 1980's, it was shown that the Casson invariant appears in the difference between the two filtrations of the Torelli group: the lower central series and the Johnson filtration, and that its core part was identified with the secondary characteristic class $d_1$ associated with the fact that the first $\mathrm{MMM}$ class vanishes on the Torelli group (however it turned out that Johnson proved the former part highly likely prior to the above, see Remark 1.1). This secondary class $d_1$ is a rational generator of $H^1(\mathcal{K}_g;\mathbb{Z})^{\mathcal{M}_g}\cong\mathbb{Z}$ where $\mathcal{K}_g$ denotes the Johnson subgroup of the mapping class group $\mathcal{M}_g$. Hain proved, as a particular case of his fundamental result, that this is the only difference in degree $2$. In this paper, we prove that no other invariant than the above gives rise to new rational difference between the two filtrations up to degree $6$. We apply this to determine $H_1(\mathcal{K}_g;\mathbb{Q})$ explicitly by computing the description given by Dimca, Hain and Papadima. We also show that any finite type rational invariant of homology $3$-spheres of degrees up to $6$, including the second and the third Ohtsuki invariants, can be expressed by $d_1$ and lifts of Johnson homomorphisms.
We show that a certain symmetry exists in the stable irreducible decomposition of the Lie algebra consisting of symplectic derivations of the free Lie algebra generated by the first homology group of compact oriented surfaces.
We construct an abelian quotient of the symplectic derivation Lie algebra $\mathfrak{h}_{g,1}$ of the free Lie algebra generated by the fundamental representation of $\mathrm{Sp}(2g,\mathbb{Q})$. More specifically, we show that the weight $12$ part of the abelianization of $\mathfrak{h}_{g,1}$ is $1$-dimensional for $g \ge 8$. The computation is done with the aid of computers.
By analyzing how the Borel regulator classes vanish on various groups related to $\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathrm{Z})$, we define three series of secondary characteristic classes for subgroups of automorphism groups of free groups. The first case is the $\mathrm{IA}$-automorphism groups and we show that our classes coincide with higher $\mathrm{FR}$ torsions due to Igusa. The second case is the mapping class groups and our classes also turn out to be his higher torsions which are non-zero multiples of the Mumford-Morita-Miller classes of even indices. Our construction gives new group cocycles for these still mysterious classes. The third case is the outer automorphism groups of free groups of specific ranks. Here we give a conjectural geometric meaning to a series of unstable homology classes called the Morita classes. We expect that certain unstable secondary classes would detect them.
We study the structure of the symplectic invariant part $\mathfrak{h}_{g,1}^{\mathrm{Sp}}$ of the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{h}_{g,1}$ consisting of symplectic derivations of the free Lie algebra generated by the rational homology group of a closed oriented surface $Σ_{g}$ of genus $g$. First we describe the orthogonal direct sum decomposition of this space which is induced by the canonical metric on it and compute it explicitly up to degree $20$. In this framework, we give a general constraint which is imposed on the $\mathrm{Sp}$-invariant component of the bracket of two elements in $\mathfrak{h}_{g,1}$. Second we clarify the relations among $\mathfrak{h}_{g,1}$ and the other two related Lie algebras $\mathfrak{h}_{g,*}$ and $\mathfrak{h}_{g}$ which correspond to the cases of a closed surface $Σ_g$ with and without base point $*\inΣ_g$. In particular, based on a theorem of Labute, we formulate a method of determining these differences and describe them explicitly up to degree $20$. Third, by giving a general method of constructing elements of $\mathfrak{h}_{g,1}^{\mathrm{Sp}}$, we reveal a considerable difference between the two submodules of it, one is the $\mathrm{Sp}$-invariant part of a certain ideal $\mathfrak{j}_{g,1}$ and the other is that of the Johnson image. Finally we combine these results to determine the structure of $\mathfrak{h}_{g,1}$ completely up to degree $6$ including the unstable cases where the genus $1$ case has an independent meaning. In particular, we see a glimpse of the Galois obstructions explicitly from our point of view.
Let $Σ_g$ be a closed oriented surface of genus g and let $H_\mathbb{Q}$ denote $H_1(Σ_g;\mathbb{Q})$ which we understand to be the standard symplectic vector space over $\mathbb{Q}$ of dimension $2g$. We introduce a canonical metric on the space $(H_\mathbb{Q}^{\otimes 2k})^{\mathrm{Sp}}$ of symplectic invariant tensors by analyzing the structure of the vector space $\mathbb{Q}\mathcal{D}^{\ell}(2k)$ generated by linear chord diagrams with $2k$ vertices. This space, equipped with a certain inner product, serves as a universal model for $(H^{\otimes 2k})^{\mathrm{Sp}}$ for any $g$. We decompose $\mathbb{Q}\mathcal{D}^\ell(2k)$ as an orthogonal direct sum of eigenspaces $E_λ$ where $λ$ is indexed by the set of all the Young diagrams with $k$ boxes. We give a formula for the eigenvalue $μ_λ$ of $E_λ$ and thereby we obtain a complete description of how the spaces $(H_\mathbb{Q}^{\otimes 2k})^{\mathrm{Sp}}$ degenerate according as the genus decreases from the stable range $g\geq k$ to the last case $g=1$ with the largest eigenvalue $2g(2g+1) \cdots (2g+k-1)$. As an application of our canonical metric, we obtain certain relations among the Mumford-Morita-Miller tautological classes, in a systematic way, which hold in the tautological algebra in cohomology of the moduli space of curves. We also indicate other possible applications such as characteristic classes of transversely symplectic foliations and a project with T. Sakasai and M. Suzuki where we study the structure of the symplectic derivation Lie algebra.
We make explicit computations in the formal symplectic geometry of Kontsevich and determine the Euler characteristics of the three cases, namely commutative, Lie and associative ones, up to certain weights.From these, we obtain some non-triviality results in each case. In particular, we determine the integral Euler characteristics of the outer automorphism groups Out F_n of free groups for all n <= 10 and prove the existence of plenty of rational cohomology classes of odd degrees. We also clarify the relationship of the commutative graph homology with finite type invariants of homology 3-spheres as well as the leaf cohomology classes for transversely symplectic foliations. Furthermore we prove the existence of several new non-trivalent graph homology classes of odd degrees. Based on these computations, we propose a few conjectures and problems on the graph homology and the characteristic classes of the moduli spaces of graphs as well as curves.
We show that the integral Euler characteristic of the outer automorphism group of the free group of rank 11 is -1202.
We determine the abelianizations of the following three kinds of graded Lie algebras in certain stable ranges: derivations of the free associative algebra, derivations of the free Lie algebra and symplectic derivations of the free associative algebra. In each case, we consider both the whole derivation Lie algebra and its ideal consisting of derivations with positive degrees. As an application of the last case, and by making use of a theorem of Kontsevich, we obtain a new proof of the vanishing theorem of Harer concerning the top rational cohomology group of the mapping class group with respect to its virtual cohomological dimension.
We consider the Lie algebra consisting of all derivations on the free associative algebra, generated by the first homology group of a closed oriented surface, which kill the symplectic class. We find the first non-trivial abelianization of this Lie algebra and discuss its relation to unstable cohomology classes of the moduli space of curves via a theorem of Kontsevich.
In this paper, we briefly review some of the known results concerning the cohomological structures of the mapping class group of surfaces, the outer automorphism group of free groups, the diffeomorphism group of surfaces as well as various subgroups of them such as the Torelli group, the IA outer automorphism group of free groups, the symplectomorphism group of surfaces. Based on these, we present several conjectures and problems concerning the cohomology of these groups. We are particularly interested in the possible interplays between these cohomology groups rather than merely the structures of individual groups. It turns out that, we have to include, in our considerations, two other groups which contain the mapping class group as their core subgroups and whose structures seem to be deeply related to that of the mapping class group. They are the arithmetic mapping class group and the group of homology cobordism classes of homology cylinders.
In this paper, we survey recent works on the structure of the mapping class groups of surfaces mainly from the point of view of topology. We then discuss several possible directions for future research. These include the relation between the structure of the mapping class group and invariants of 3-manifolds, the unstable cohomology of the moduli space of curves and Faber's conjecture, cokernel of the Johnson homomorphisms and the Galois as well as other new obstructions, cohomology of certain infinite dimensional Lie algebra and characteristic classes of outer automorphism groups of free groups and the secondary characteristic classes of surface bundles. We give some experimental results concerning each of them and, partly based on them, we formulate several conjectures and problems.