Hyperelliptic graphs and the period mapping on outer space

Abstract: The period mapping assigns to each rank n, marked metric graph Gamma a positive definite quadratic form on H_1(Gamma). This defines maps Phi* and Phi on Culler--Vogtmann's outer space CV_n, and its Torelli space quotient T_n, respectively. The map Phi is a free group analog of the classical period mapping that sends a marked Riemann surface to its Jacobian. In this paper, we analyze the fibers of Phi in T_n, showing that they are aspherical, pi_1-injective subspaces. Metric graphs admitting a 'hyperelliptic involution' play an important role in the structure of Phi, leading us to define the hyperelliptic Torelli group, ST(n) < Out(F_n). We obtain generators for ST(n), and apply them to show that the connected components of the locus of 'hyperelliptic' graphs in T_n become simply-connected when certain degenerate graphs at infinity are added.