On the nonexistence of Einstein metrics on 4-manifolds

By using the gluing formulae of the Seiberg–Witten invariant, we show the nonexistence of Einstein metrics on manifolds obtained from a 4-manifold with a nontrivial Seiberg–Witten invariant by performing sufficiently many connected sums or appropriate surgeries along circles or homologically trivial 2-spheres with closed oriented 4-manifolds with negative-definite intersection form.     

Geometry of Batalin-Vilkovisky quantization

The geometry ofP-manifolds (odd symplectic manifolds) andSP-manifolds (P-manifolds provided with a volume element) is studied. A complete classification of these manifolds is given. This classification is used to prove some results about Batalin-Vilkovisky procedure of quantization, in particular to obtain a very general result about gauge independence of this procedure.Research supported in part by NSF grant No. DMS-9201366     

Internal symmetry groups of quantum geons

In canonical quantum gravity asymptotically trivial diffeomorphisms not deformable to the identity can act nontrivially on the quantum state space. We show that for many 3-manifolds, the inequivalent diffeomorphisms comprise coverings in SU(2) of crystallographic groups. When the diffeomorphism R_2π associated with 2π-rotation is nontrivial, state vectors can have half-integral angular momentum; we list all 3-manifolds with R_2π trivial.     

Random tilings of spherical 3-manifolds

A set of random tilings for the compact Euclidean 3-manifolds have been considered recently. In this paper, non-deterministic triangulations of spherical 3-manifolds based on recursive procedures are introduced. Simplicial structures for lens, prism and Poincaré spherical dodecahedron spaces are described. The configurational entropies for the random structures depend only on the information in 2D and are consistent with the Bekenstein–Hawking bound.     

Group structures on some families of 6-manifolds

We consider abelian groups formed by simply connected closed oriented smooth 6-manifolds with given 2-dimensional homology and given 2-dimensional Stiefel-Whitney class. In particular, an effective presentation of these groups is given.     

Self-dual metrics on non-simply connected 4-manifolds

We construct self-dual (SD) but not locally conformally flat (LCF) metrics on families of non-simply connected 4-manifolds with small signature. We construct various sequences with bounded or unbounded Betti numbers and Euler characteristic. These metrics have negative scalar curvature. As an application, this is used to address Remark 4.79 of [1].     

Contact Spheres and Hyperkähler Geometry

A taut contact sphere on a 3-manifold is a linear 2-sphere of contact forms, all defining the same volume form. In the present paper we completely determine the moduli of taut contact spheres on compact left-quotients of SU(2) (the only closed manifolds admitting such structures). We also show that the moduli space of taut contact spheres embeds into the moduli space of taut contact circles.This moduli problem leads to a new viewpoint on the Gibbons-Hawking ansatz in hyperkähler geometry. The classification of taut contact spheres on closed 3-manifolds includes the known classification of 3-Sasakian 3-manifolds, but the local Riemannian geometry of contact spheres is much richer. We construct two examples of taut contact spheres on open subsets of \({\mathbb{R}^3}\) with nontrivial local geometry; one from the Helmholtz equation on the 2-sphere, and one from the Gibbons-Hawking ansatz. We address the Bernstein problem whether such examples can give rise to complete metrics.     

Computer calculation of Witten's 3-manifold invariant

Witten's 2+1 dimensional Chern-Simons theory is exactly solvable. We compute the partition function, a topological invariant of 3-manifolds, on generalized Seifert spaces. Thus we test the path integral using the theory of 3-manifolds. In particular, we compare the exact solution with the asymptotic formula predicted by perturbation theory. We conclude that this path integral works as advertised and gives an effective topological invariant.The first author is supported by NSF grant DMS-8805684, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and a Presidential Young Investigators award. The second author is supported by NSF grant DMS-8902153     

Remarks on the entropy of 3-manifolds

We give a simple combinatoric proof of an exponential upper bound on the number of distinct 3-manifolds that can be constructed by successively identifying nearest neighbour pairs of triangles in the boundary of a simplicial 3-ball and show that all closed simplicial manifolds that can be constructed in this manner are homeomorphic to S3. We discuss the problem of proving that all 3-dimensional simplicial spheres can be obtained by this construction and give an example of a simplicial 3-ball whose boundary triangles can be identified pairwise such that no triangle is identified with any of its neighbours and the resulting 3-dimensional simplicial complex is a simply connected 3-manifold.     

Topology of the Universe: Background and recent observational approaches

Is the Universe (a spatial section thereof) finite or infinite? Knowing the global geometry of a Friedmann-Lemaître (FL) universe requires knowing both its curvature and its topology. A flat or hyperbolic (‘open’) FL universe is not necessarily infinite in volume. Multiply connected flat and hyperbolic models are, in general, as consistent with present observations on scales of 1–20 h^?1 Gpc as are the corresponding simply connected flat and hyperbolic models. The methods of detecting multiply connected models (MCM’s) are presently in their pioneering phase of development and the optimal observationally realistic strategy is probably yet to be calculated. Constraints against MCM’s on ～1–4 h^?1 Gpc scales have been claimed, but relate more to inconsistent assumptions on perturbation statistics rather than just to topology. Candidate 3-manifolds based on hypothesised multiply imaged objects are being offered for observational refutation. The theoretical and observational sides of this rapidly developing subject have yet to make any serious contact, but the prospects of a significant detection in the coming decade may well propel the two together.     

On equivalence of spin and field pictures of lattice systems

We investigate the spin and field systems on a lattice connected by the Kac-Siegert transform. It is shown that the structures of corresponding theories are equivalent (in the sense of isomorphy of space of Gibbs states and order parameters). Using the idea of equivalence of spin and field pictures, we exhibit a class of lattice systems possessing infinitely uncountably many ground states. The systems of this type with infinite-range, slow-decaying interactions are expected to have a spin-glass phase transition.     

On dips, structures and eikonalization

We have investigated several models of Pomeron and Odderon contributions to high energy elastic pp and scattering. The questions we address concern their role in this field, the behavior of the scattering amplitude (or of the total cross-section) at high energy, and how to fit all high energy elastic data. The data are quite well reproduced by our approach at all momenta and for sufficiently high energies. The relative virtues of Born amplitudes and of different kinds of eikonalizations are considered. An important point in this respect is that secondary structures are predicted in the differential cross-sections at increasing energies and these phenomena appear to be quite directly related to the procedure of eikonalizing the various Born amplitudes. We conclude that these secondary structures arise naturally within the eikonalized procedure (although their precise localization turns out to be model dependent). The fitting procedure naturally predicts the appearance of a zero at small in the real part of the even amplitude as anticipated by general theorems. We would like to stress, once again, how important it would be to have at LHC both pp and options for many questions connected to the general properties of high energy hadronic physics and for a check of our predictions. Received: 20 January 2000 / Revised version: 28 February 2000 / Published online: 6 July 2000     

A TQFT from Quantum Teichmüller Theory

By using quantum Teichmüller theory, we construct a one parameter family of TQFTs on the categroid of admissible leveled shaped 3-manifolds.     

Fusion of Symmetric D-Branes and Verlinde Rings

We explain how multiplicative bundle gerbes over a compact, connected and simple Lie group G lead to a certain fusion category of equivariant bundle gerbe modules given by pre-quantizable Hamiltonian LG-manifolds arising from Alekseev-Malkin-Meinrenken’s quasi-Hamiltonian G-spaces. The motivation comes from string theory namely, by generalising the notion of D-branes in G to allow subsets of G that are the image of a G-valued moment map we can define a ‘fusion of D-branes’ and a map to the Verlinde ring of the loop group of G which preserves the product structure. The idea is suggested by the theorem of Freed-Hopkins-Teleman. The case where G is not simply connected is studied carefully in terms of equivariant bundle gerbe modules for multiplicative bundle gerbes.     

Walker 4-manifolds with proper almost complex structures

It is shown that a Walker 4-manifold, endowed with a canonical neutral metric depending on three arbitrary functions, admits a specific almost complex structure (called proper) and an associated opposite almost complex structure. We study when these two almost complex structures are integrable and when the corresponding Kähler forms are symplectic. The conditions for the canonical neutral metric to be Kähler imply that the three arbitrary functions in the metric are all harmonic with respect to two coordinate variables, and we obtain a useful method of constructing indefinite Kähler 4-manifolds. Petean’s example of a nonflat indefinite Kähler–Einstein 4-manifold is a special case of this construction.     

Strong homotopy Lie algebras,homotopy Poisson manifolds and Courant algebroids

We study Maurer–Cartan elements on homotopy Poisson manifolds of degree n. They unify many twisted or homotopy structures in Poisson geometry and mathematical physics, such as twisted Poisson manifolds, quasi-Poisson \(\mathfrak g\)-manifolds, and twisted Courant algebroids. Using the fact that the dual of an n-term \(L_\infty \)-algebra is a homotopy Poisson manifold of degree \(n-1\), we obtain a Courant algebroid from a 2-term \(L_\infty \)-algebra \(\mathfrak g\) via the degree 2 symplectic NQ-manifold \(T^*[2]\mathfrak g^*[1]\). By integrating the Lie quasi-bialgebroid associated to the Courant algebroid, we obtain a Lie-quasi-Poisson groupoid from a 2-term \(L_\infty \)-algebra, which is proposed to be the geometric structure on the dual of a Lie 2-algebra. These results lead to a construction of a new 2-term \(L_\infty \)-algebra from a given one, which could produce many interesting examples.     

Cosmic Censorship of Smooth Structures

It is observed that on many 4-manifolds there is a unique smooth structure underlying a globally hyperbolic Lorentz metric. For instance, every contractible smooth 4-manifold admitting a globally hyperbolic Lorentz metric is diffeomorphic to the standard ${\mathbb{R}^4}$ . Similarly, a smooth 4-manifold homeomorphic to the product of a closed oriented 3-manifold N and ${\mathbb{R}}$ and admitting a globally hyperbolic Lorentz metric is in fact diffeomorphic to ${N\times \mathbb{R}}$ . Thus one may speak of a censorship imposed by the global hyperbolicty assumption on the possible smooth structures on (3 + 1)-dimensional spacetimes.     

Three-Dimensional Quantum Gravity,Chern-Simons Theory,and the A-Polynomial

We study three-dimensional Chern-Simons theory with complex gauge group SL(2,), which has many interesting connections with three-dimensional quantum gravity and geometry of hyperbolic 3-manifolds. We show that, in the presence of a single knotted Wilson loop in an infinite-dimensional representation of the gauge group, the classical and quantum properties of such theory are described by an algebraic curve called the A-polynomial of a knot. Using this approach, we find some new and rather surprising relations between the A-polynomial, the colored Jones polynomial, and other invariants of hyperbolic 3-manifolds. These relations generalize the volume conjecture and the Melvin-Morton-Rozansky conjecture, and suggest an intriguing connection between the SL(2,) partition function and the colored Jones polynomial.     

The Holst Action by the Spectral Action Principle

We investigate the Holst action for closed Riemannian 4-manifolds with orthogonal connections. For connections whose torsion has zero Cartan type component we show that the Holst action can be recovered from the heat asymptotics for the natural Dirac operator acting on left-handed spinor fields.