English

The handlebody group is a virtual duality group

Geometric Topology 2026-05-15 v3 Algebraic Topology Group Theory

Abstract

We show that the mapping class group of a handlebody is a virtual duality group, in the sense of Bieri and Eckmann. In positive genus we give a description of the dualising module of any torsion-free, finite-index subgroup of the handlebody mapping class group as the homology of the complex of non-simple disc systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2405.15515,
  title  = {The handlebody group is a virtual duality group},
  author = {Dan Petersen and Richard D. Wade},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.15515},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

17 pages. Final version to appear in Journal de l'\'Ecole polytechnique - Math\'ematiques

R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:38:52.560Z