Geometric Analysis and Topology Seminar

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Stable Homology of Aut(F_N)

Speaker: Soren Galatius, Stanford

Location: Warren Weaver Hall 813

Date: Friday, April 28, 2006, 4 p.m.

Synopsis:

Let \(\mathrm{Aut}(F_n)\) denote the automorphism group of a free group on \(n\) generators. It is known that \(H_k(\mathrm{Aut}(F_n))\) is independent of \(n\) as long as \(n >> k\). There is a natural homomorphism from the symmetric group \(S_n\) to \(\mathrm{Aut}(F_n)\), I will sketch a proof that it induces an isomorphism from \(H_k(S_n)\) to \(H_k(\mathrm{Aut}(F_n))\) for \(n >> k\). An important point of view here is that the classifying space \(B \mathrm{Aut}(F_n)\) can be thought of as a moduli space of metric graphs, i.e. graphs equipped with metrics, considered up to isometry.