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Operads of genus zero curves and the Grothendieck-Teichmüller group (1703.05143v1)
Published 15 Mar 2017 in math.AT, math.AG, and math.QA
Abstract: We show that the group of homotopy automorphisms of the profinite completion of the genus zero surface operad is isomorphic to the (profinite) Grothendieck-Teichm\"{u}ller group. Using a result of Drummond-Cole, we deduce that the Grothendieck-Teichm\"{u}ller group acts nontrivially on $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{0,\bullet+1}$, the operad of stable curves of genus zero. As a second application, we give an alternative proof that the framed little 2-disks operad is formal.