Bowden's bounded acyclicity conjecture for the stable mapping class group

Let Γ\Gamma_\infty denote the stable mapping class group, formed as the direct union of the groups of isotopy classes of diffeomorphisms of Σg,1\Sigma_{g,1} with compact support in the interior under stabilization by attaching a two-holed torus. A group is boundedly acyclic if its bounded cohomology with real coefficients vanishes in every positive degree:

Hbn(Γ;R)=0for every n>0.H_b^n(\Gamma_\infty;\mathbb{R})=0\qquad\text{for every }n>0.

Bowden's conjecture. The stable mapping class group Γ\Gamma_\infty is boundedly acyclic.

Bowden's conjecture extends the known vanishing of stable commutator length and of Hb2(Γ;R)H_b^2(\Gamma_\infty;\mathbb{R}) to all positive degrees. Its status is not resolved in the supplied source.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Caterina Campagnolo, Francesco Fournier-Facio, Yash Lodha and Marco Moraschini, “An algebraic criterion for the vanishing of bounded cohomology”, arXiv:2311.16259 (2025).

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