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Hierarchically cocompact classifying spaces for mapping class groups of surfaces (1712.00496v1)
Published 1 Dec 2017 in math.GR and math.AT
Abstract: We define the notion of a hierarchically cocompact classifying space for a family of subgroups of a group. Our main application is to show that the mapping class group $\mbox{Mod}(S)$ of any connected oriented compact surface $S$, possibly with punctures and boundary components and with negative Euler characteristic has a hierarchically cocompact model for the family of virtually cyclic subgroups of dimension at most $\mbox{vcd} \mbox{Mod}(S)+1$. When the surface is closed, we prove that this bound is optimal. In particular, this answers a question of L\"{u}ck for mapping class groups of surfaces.