A stability conjecture for the unstable cohomology of SL_n Z, mapping class groups, and Aut(F_n)

Abstract

In this paper we conjecture the stability and vanishing of a large piece of the unstable rational cohomology of SL_n Z, of mapping class groups, and of Aut(F_n).

18 pages. v2: final version, to appear in Algebraic Topology: Applications and New Directions, AMS Contemporary Mathematics Series