English

Sections of surface bundles

Geometric Topology 2018-07-10 v4 Group Theory

Abstract

A bundle with base BB and fibre FF aspherical closed surfaces has a section if and only if the action :π1(B)Out(π1(F)):\pi_1(B)\to{Out}(\pi_1(F)) factors through Aut(π1(F))Aut(\pi_1(F)) and a cohomology class is 0. We simplify and make more explicit the latter condition. We also show that the transgression d2,02d^2_{2,0} in the homology LHS spectral sequence of a central extension is evaluation of the extension class. Examples with hyperbolic fibre and no section (based on ideas of Endo) added.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1309.3803,
  title  = {Sections of surface bundles},
  author = {Jonathan A. Hillman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1309.3803},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

Some new background material. Section on flat fibred case rewritten. In v3, details of Endo's example corrected and commentary added to final section on questions

R2 v1 2026-06-22T01:27:27.926Z