Rigidity of mapping class groups MOD powers of twists

Abstract We study quotients of mapping class groups of punctured spheres by suitable large powers of Dehn twists, showing an analogue of Ivanov’s theorem for the automorphisms of the corresponding quotients of curve graphs. Then we use this result to prove quasi-isometric rigidity of these quotients, answering a question of Behrstock, Hagen, Martin, and Sisto in the case of punctured spheres. Finally, we show that the automorphism groups of our quotients of mapping class groups are “small”, as are their abstract commensurators. This is again an analogue of a theorem of Ivanov about the automorphism group of the mapping class group. In the process, we develop techniques to extract combinatorial data from a quasi-isometry of a hierarchically hyperbolic space, and use them to give a different proof of a result of Bowditch about quasi-isometric rigidity of pants graphs of punctured spheres.