Prym Representations and Twisted Cohomology of the Mapping Class Group with Level Structures

We compute the twisted cohomology of the mapping class group with level structures, with coefficients in the $r$-tensor powers of the Prym representations for any positive integer $r$. When $r\ge 2$, we show that the cohomology exhibits instability for large genus, whereas it remains stable for $r=0$ or $r=1$. As a corollary, we prove that the symplectic Prym representation associated with any finite abelian regular cover of a non-closed finite-type surface is infinitesimally rigid.