Classifying spaces of Kač-Moody groups

We study the structure of classifying spaces of Kač-Moody groups from a homotopy theoretic point of view. They behave in many respects as in the compact Lie group case. The mod p cohomology algebra is noetherian and Lannes'T functor computes the mod p cohomology of classifying spaces of centralizers of elementary abelian p-subgroups. Also, spaces of maps from classifying spaces of finite p-groups to classifying spaces of Kač-Moody groups are described in terms of classifying spaces of centralizers while the classifying space of a Kač-Moody group itself can be described as a homotopy colimit of classifying spaces of centralizers of elementary abelian p-subgroups, up to p-completion. We show that these properties are common to a larger class of groups, also including parabolic subgroups of Kač-Moody groups, and centralizers of finite p-subgroups. Received: 15 June 2000 / in final form: 20 September 2001 / Published online: 29 April 2002     

The dualizing spectrum of a topological group

To a topological group G, we assign a naive G-spectrum , called the dualizing spectrum of G. When the classifying space BG is finitely dominated, we show that detects Poincaré duality in the sense that BG is a Poincaré duality space if and only if is a homotopy finite spectrum. Secondly, we show that the dualizing spectrum behaves multiplicatively on certain topological group extensions. In proving these results we introduce a new tool: a norm map which is defined for any G and for any naive G-spectrum E. Applications of the dualizing spectrum come in two flavors: (i) applications in the theory of Poincaré duality spaces, and (ii) applications in the theory of group cohomology. On the Poincaré duality space side, we derive a homotopy theoretic solution to a problem posed by Wall which says that in a fibration sequence of fini the total space satisfies Poincaré duality if and only if the base and fiber do. The dualizing spectrum can also be used to give an entirely homotopy theoretic construction of the Spivak fibration of a finitely dominated Poincaré duality space. We also include a new proof of Browder's theorem that every finite H-space satisfies Poincaré duality. In connection with group cohomology, we show how to define a variant of Farrell-Tate cohomology for any topological or discrete group G, with coefficients in any naive equivariant cohomology theory E. When E is connective, and when G admits a subgroup H of finite index such that BH is finitely dominated, we show that this cohomology coincides with the ordinary cohomology of G with coefficients in E in degrees greater than the cohomological dimension of H. In an appendix, we identify the homotopy type of for certain kinds of groups. The class includes all compact Lie groups, torsion free arithmetic groups and Bieri-Eckmann duality groups. Received July 14, 1999 / Revised May 17, 2000 / Published online February 5, 2001     

Torus Bundles over Locally Symmetric Varieties Associated to Cocycles of Discrete Groups

 We construct torus bundles over locally symmetric varieties associated to cocycles in the cohomology group , where Γ is a discrete subgroup of a semisimple Lie group and L is a lattice in a real vector space. We prove that such a torus bundle has a canonical complex structure and that the space of holomorphic forms of the highest degree on a fiber product of such bundles is isomorphic to the space of mixed automorphic forms of a certain type. (Received 4 September 1998)     

Some examples of homotopy Π-algebras

The homotopy Π-algebra of a pointed topological space, X, consists of the homotopy groups of X together with the additional structure of the primary homotopy operations. We extend two well-known results for homotopy groups to homotopy Π-algebras and look at some examples illustrating the depth of structure on homotopy groups; from graded group to graded Lie ring, to Π-algebra and beyond. We also describe an abstract Π-algebra and give three abstract Π-algebra structures on the homotopy groups of the loop space of X which can be realized as the homotopy Π-algebras of three different spaces.     

André–Quillen cohomology of algebras over an operad

We study the André–Quillen cohomology with coefficients of an algebra over an operad. Using resolutions of algebras coming from the Koszul duality theory, we make this cohomology theory explicit and we give a Lie theoretic interpretation. For which operads is the associated André–Quillen cohomology equal to an Ext-functor? We give several criteria, based on the cotangent complex, to characterize this property. We apply it to homotopy algebras, which gives a new homotopy stable property for algebras over cofibrant operads.     

The de rham homotopy theory of complex algebraic varieties I

In this paper we use Chen's iterated integrals to put a mixed Hodge structure on the homotopy Lie algebra of an arbitrary complex algebraic variety, generalizing work of Deligne and Morgan. Similar techniques are used to put a mixed Hodge structure on other topological invariants associated with varieties that are accessible to rational homotopy theory such as the cohomology of the free loopspace of a simply connected variety.Supported in part by the National Science Foundation through grants MCS-8201642, DMS-8401175 and MCS-8108814(A04).     

Graph homology: Koszul and Verdier duality

We show that Verdier duality for certain sheaves on the moduli spaces of graphs associated to differential graded operads corresponds to the cobar-duality of operads (which specializes to Koszul duality for Koszul operads). This in particular gives a conceptual explanation of the appearance of graph cohomology of both the commutative and Lie types in computations of the cohomology of the outer automorphism group of a free group. Another consequence is an explicit computation of dualizing sheaves on spaces of metric graphs, thus characterizing to which extent these spaces are different from oriented orbifolds. We also provide a relation between the cohomology of the space of metric ribbon graphs, known to be homotopy equivalent to the moduli space of Riemann surfaces, and the cohomology of a certain sheaf on the space of usual metric graphs.     

Smoothly parameterized Čech cohomology of complex manifolds

A Stein covering of a complex manifold may be used to realize its analytic cohomology in accordance with the Čech theory. If however, the Stein covering is parameterized by a smooth manifold rather than just a discrete set, then we construct a cohomology theory in which an exterior derivative replaces the usual combinatorial Cech differential. Our construction is motivated by integral geometry and the representation theory of Lie groups.     

Borel-Weil-Bott theory on the moduli stack of G-bundles over a curve

Let G be a semi-simple group and M the moduli stack of G-bundles over a smooth, complex, projective curve. Using representation-theoretic methods, I prove the pure-dimensionality of sheaf cohomology for certain “evaluation vector bundles” over M, twisted by powers of the fundamental line bundle. This result is used to prove a Borel-Weil-Bott theorem, conjectured by G. Segal, for certain generalized flag varieties of loop groups. Along the way, the homotopy type of the group of algebraic maps from an affine curve to G, and the homotopy type, the Hodge theory and the Picard group of M are described. One auxiliary result, in Appendix A, is the Alexander cohomology theorem conjectured in [Gro2]. A self-contained account of the “uniformization theorem” of [LS] for the stack M is given, including a proof of a key result of Drinfeld and Simpson (in characteristic 0). A basic survey of the simplicial theory of stacks is outlined in Appendix B. Oblatum 17-XII-1996 & 26 VI-1997     

Topological methods for complex-analytic Brauer groups

Using methods from algebraic topology and group cohomology, I pursue Grothendieck's question on equality of geometric and cohomological Brauer groups in the context of complex-analytic spaces. The main result is that equality holds under suitable assumptions on the fundamental group and the Pontrjagin dual of the second homotopy group. I apply this to Lie groups, Hopf manifolds, and complex-analytic surfaces.     

A sufficient condition for nonrigidity of Carnot groups

In this article we consider contact mappings on Carnot groups. Namely, we are interested in those mappings whose differential preserves the horizontal space, defined by the first stratum of the natural stratification of the Lie algebra of a Carnot group. We give a sufficient condition for a Carnot group G to admit an infinite dimensional space of contact mappings, that is, for G to be nonrigid. A generalization of Kirillov’s Lemma is also given. Moreover, we construct a new example of nonrigid Carnot group. This research was partly supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The author would like to thank H. M. Reimann for the helpful advices and the constant support.     

The group of homotopy equivalences of products of spheres and of Lie groups

We investigate the group of self homotopy equivalences of a space X which induce the identity homomorphism on all homotopy groups. We obtain results on the structure of provided the p-localization of X has the homotopy type of a p-local product of odd-dimensional spheres. In particular, we show that is a semidirect product of certain homotopy groups . We also show that has a central series whose successive quotients are , which are direct sums of homotopy groups of p-local spheres. This leads to a determination of the order of the p-torsion subgroup of and an upper bound for its p-exponent. These results apply to any Lie group G at a regular prime p. We derive some general properties of and give numerous explicit calculations. Received: 14 April 2001; in final form: 10 September 2001 / Published online: 17 June 2002     

Intersection theory of incidence varieties and polygon spaces

In this paper smooth parameterizing spaces for polygons in projective space are introduced and their intersection theory is studied. In particular we give an expression for the Chow ring as a quotient of a polynomial ring. In addition the Chow cohomology rings of various incidence varieties are computed.     

Multiplicity-free actions and the geometry of nilpotent orbits

Let G be a reductive Lie group. Take a maximal compact subgroup K of G and denote their Lie algebras by and respectively. We get a Cartan decomposition . Let be the complexification of , and the complexified decomposition. The adjoint action restricted to K preserves the space , hence acts on , where denotes the complexification of K. In this paper, we consider a series of small nilpotent -orbits in which are obtained from the dual pair ([R. Howe, Transcending classical invariant theory. J. Amer. Math. Soc. 2 (1989), no. 3, 535–552]). We explain astonishing simple structures of these nilpotent orbits using generalized null cones. For example, these orbits have a linear ordering with respect to the closure relation, and acts on them in multiplicity-free manner. We clarify the -module structure of the regular function ring of the closure of these nilpotent orbits in detail, and prove the normality. All these results naturally comes from the analysis on the null cone in a matrix spaceW , and the double fibration of nilpotent orbits in and . The classical invariant theory assures that the regular functions on our nilpotent orbits are coming from harmonic polynomials on W with repspect to or . We also provide many interesting examples of multiplicity-free actions on conic algebraic varieties. Received November 1, 1999 / Published online October 30, 2000     

Torus Actions, Equivariant Moment-Angle Complexes, and Coordinate Subspace Arrangements

We show that the cohomology algebra of the complement of a coordinate subspace arrangement in the m-dimensional complex space is isomorphic to the cohomology algebra of the StanleyReisner face ring of a certain simplicial complex on m vertices. (The face ring is regarded as a module over the polynomial ring on m generators.) After that we calculate the latter cohomology algebra by means of the standard Koszul resolution of a polynomial ring. To prove these facts, we construct a homotopy equivalence (equivariant with respect to the torus action) between the complement of a coordinate subspace arrangement and the moment-angle complex defined by a simplicial complex. The moment-angle complex is a certain subset of the unit polydisk in the m-dimensional complex space invariant with respect to the action of the m-dimensional torus. This complex is a smooth manifold provided that the simplicial complex is a simplicial sphere; otherwise, the complex has a more complicated structure. Then we investigate the equivariant topology of the moment-angle complex and apply the EilenbergMoore spectral sequence. We also relate our results with well-known facts in the theory of toric varieties and symplectic geometry. Bibliography: 23 titles.     

INTERSECTION COHOMOLOGY AND LIE ALGEBRA HOMOLOGY

For a semisimple algebraic group G over C, we try to make a comparative study between intersection cohomology of Schubert varieties and Lie algebra homology of certain nilpotent Lie algebras. We prove that when all simple factors of G are simply laced, these two are the same as vector spaces over C at the first homology level. We give counter-examples in the general case and state a conjecture as a possible direction for generalisation.     

Dolbeault cohomology of G /( P,P )

Let G be a complex connected semi-simple Lie group, with parabolic subgroup P. Let (P,P) be its commutator subgroup. The generalized Borel-Weil theorem on flag manifolds has an analogous result on the Dolbeault cohomology . Consequently, the dimension of is either 0 or . In this paper, we show that the Dolbeault operator has closed image, and apply the Peter-Weyl theorem to show how q determines the value 0 or . For the case when P is maximal, we apply our result to compute the Dolbeault cohomology of certain examples, such as the punctured determinant bundle over the Grassmannian. Received: September 2, 1997; in final form February 9, 1998     

The universality of equivariant complex bordism

We show that if A is an abelian compact Lie group, all A-equivariant complex vector bundles are orientable over a complex orientable equivariant cohomology theory. In the process, we calculate the complex orientable homology and cohomology of all complex Grassmannians. Received: 14 February 2000; in final form: 4 August 2000 / Published online: 19 October 2001     

Rational isomorphisms between K-theories and cohomology theories

The well known isomorphism relating the rational algebraic K-theory groups and the rational motivic cohomology groups of a smooth variety over a field of characteristic 0 is shown to be realized by a map (the Segre map) of infinite loop spaces. Moreover, the associated Chern character map on rational homotopy groups is shown to be a ring isomorphism. A technique is introduced that establishes a useful general criterion for a natural transformation of functors on quasi-projective complex varieties to induce a homotopy equivalence of semi-topological singular complexes. Since semi-topological K-theory and morphic cohomology can be formulated as the semi-topological singular complexes associated to algebraic K-theory and motivic cohomology, this criterion provides a rational isomorphism between the semi-topological K-theory groups and the morphic cohomology groups of a smooth complex variety. Consequences include a Riemann-Roch theorem for the Chern character on semi-topological K-theory and an interpretation of the topological filtration on singular cohomology groups in K-theoretic terms.