Infinite topology of curve complexes and non-Poincare duality of Teichmueller modular groups

Abstract

In this note, we fill in a gap in the literature by proving that the Teichmueller modular groups (mapping class groups) are not Poincare duality groups and the complexes of curves of surfaces have infinite homotopy type (i.e. are not homotopy equivalent to a finite CW-complex).