Reidemeister–Turaev torsion of 3-dimensional¶Euler structures with simple boundary tangency¶and pseudo-Legendrian knots

We generalize Turaev's definition of torsion invariants of pairs (M,&\xi;), where M is a 3-dimensional manifold and &\xi; is an Euler structure on M (a non-singular vector field up to homotopy relative to ∂M and modifications supported in a ball contained in Int(M)). Namely, we allow M to have arbitrary boundary and &\xi; to have simple (convex and/or concave) tangency circles to the boundary. We prove that Turaev's H ₁(M)-equivariance formula holds also in our generalized context. Using branched standard spines to encode vector fields we show how to explicitly invert Turaev's reconstruction map from combinatorial to smooth Euler structures, thus making the computation of torsions a more effective one. Euler structures of the sort we consider naturally arise in the study of pseudo-Legendrian knots (i.e.~knots transversal to a given vector field), and hence of Legendrian knots in contact 3-manifolds. We show that torsion, as an absolute invariant, contains a lifting to pseudo-Legendrian knots of the classical Alexander invariant. We also precisely analyze the information carried by torsion as a relative invariant of pseudo-Legendrian knots which are framed-isotopic. Received: 3 October 2000 / Revised version: 20 April 2001     

Geometry of Euclidean tetrahedra and knot invariants

We construct knot invariants on the basis of ascribing Euclidean geometric values to a triangulation of the sphere S ³, where the knot lies. Edges of the triangulation along which the knot goes are distinguished by a nonzero deficit angle, in the terminology of the Regge calculus. __________ Translated from Fundamentalnaya i Prikladnaya Matematika, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 105–117, 2005.     

Geometric torsions and an Atiyah-style topological field theory

We generalize the construction of invariants of three-dimensional manifolds with a triangulated boundary that we previously proposed for the case where the boundary consists of not more than one connected component to any number of components. These invariants are based on the torsion of acyclic complexes of geometric origin. An adequate tool for studying such invariants turns out to be Berezin’s calculus of anticommuting variables; in particular, they are used to formulate our main theorem, concerning the composition of invariants under a gluing of manifolds. We show that the theory satisfies a natural modification of Atiyah’s axioms for anticommuting variables. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 158, No. 3, pp. 405–418, March, 2009.     

Boundary Problems for Dirac-Type Operators on Manifolds with Multi-Cylindrical End Boundaries

The goal of this paper is to establish a geometric program to study elliptic pseudodifferential boundary problems which arise naturally under cutting and pasting of geometric and spectral invariants of Dirac-type operators on manifolds with corners endowed with multi-cylindrical, or b-type, metrics and ‘b-admissible’ partitioning hypersurfaces. We show that the Cauchy data space of a Dirac operator on such a manifold is Lagrangian for the self-adjoint case, the corresponding Calderón projector is a b-pseudodifferential operator of order 0, characterize Fredholmness, prove relative index formulæ, and solve the Bojarski conjecture. Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000): 58J28, 58J52.     

On the splitting problem for manifold pairs with boundaries

The problem of splitting a homotopy equivalence along a submanifold is closely related to the surgery exact sequence and to the problem of surgery of manifold pairs. In classical surgery theory there exist two approaches to surgery in the category of manifolds with boundaries. In the rel ∂ case the surgery on a manifold pair is considered with the given fixed manifold structure on the boundary. In the relative case the surgery on the manifold with boundary is considered without fixing maps on the boundary. Consider a normal map to a manifold pair (Y, ∂Y) ⊂ (X, ∂X) with boundary which is a simple homotopy equivalence on the boundary∂X. This map defines a mixed structure on the manifold with the boundary in the sense of Wall. We introduce and study groups of obstructions to splitting of such mixed structures along submanifold with boundary (Y, ∂Y). We describe relations of these groups to classical surgery and splitting obstruction groups. We also consider several geometric examples.     

Heat Content Asymptotics for Riemannian Manifolds with Zaremba Boundary Conditions

The existence of a full asymptotic expansion for the heat content asymptotics of an operator of Laplace type with classical Zaremba boundary conditions on a smooth manifold is established. The first three coefficients in this asymptotic expansion are determined in terms of geometric invariants; partial information is obtained about the fourth coefficient.      

A Morse complex on manifolds with boundary

Given a compact smooth manifold M with non-empty boundary and a Morse function, a pseudo-gradient Morse-Smale vector field adapted to the boundary allows one to build a Morse complex whose homology is isomorphic to the (absolute or relative to the boundary) homology of M with integer coefficients. Our approach simplifies other methods which have been discussed in more specific geometric settings.     

Curvature and distance function from a manifold

This paper is concerned with the relations between the differential invariants of a smooth manifold embedded in the Euclidean space and the square of the distance function from the manifold. In particular, we are interested in curvature invariants like the mean curvature vector and the second fundamental form. We find that these invariants can be computed in a very simple way using the third order derivatives of the squared distance function. Moreover, we study a general class of functionals depending on the derivatives up to a given order γ of the squared distance function and we find an algorithm for the computation of the Euler equation. Our class of functionals includes as particular cases the well-known area functional (γ = 2), the integral of the square of the quadratic norm of the second fundamental form (γ = 3), and the Willmore functional.     

Invariants of Isospectral Deformations and Spectral Rigidity

We introduce a notion of weak isospectrality for continuous deformations. Consider the Laplace–Beltrami operator on a compact Riemannian manifold with Robin boundary conditions. Given a Kronecker invariant torus Λ of the billiard ball map with a Diophantine vector of rotation we prove that certain integrals on Λ involving the function in the Robin boundary conditions remain constant under weak isospectral deformations. To this end we construct continuous families of quasimodes associated with Λ. We obtain also isospectral invariants of the Laplacian with a real-valued potential on a compact manifold for continuous deformations of the potential. These invariants are obtained from the first Birkhoff invariant of the microlocal monodromy operator associated to Λ. As an application we prove spectral rigidity of the Robin boundary conditions in the case of Liouville billiard tables of dimension two in the presence of a (?/2?)² group of symmetries.     

A note on nonstable monomorphisms¶of vector bundles

In this paper we consider the question of the existence of a nonstable vector bundle monomorphism u:α→β over a closed, connected and smooth manifold M, when dimension of α= 3, dimension of β= dimension of M=n≡ 0(4). The singularity method provides the full obstruction to this problem and under some homological hypothesis we can compute it in terms of well known invariants. Received: 31 May 1999     

Heat Content of a Riemannian Manifold with a Perfect Conducting Boundary

Let M be a compact smooth Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary. We establish the existence of an asymptotic series for the heat content of M with a perfect conducting boundary and show that the coefficients in the series are non-local invariants which are recursively determined by the coefficients for the series with corresponding zero Dirichlet boundary condition.     

On the behavior of quasi-local mass at the infinity along nearly round surfaces

In this article, we study the limiting behavior of the Brown–York mass and Hawking mass along nearly round surfaces at infinity of an asymptotically flat manifold. Nearly round surfaces can be defined in an intrinsic way. Our results show that the ADM mass of an asymptotically flat three manifold can be approximated by some geometric invariants of a family of nearly round surfaces, which approach to infinity of the manifold.     

Ideal Turaev-Viro invariants

Turaev-Viro invariants are defined via state sum polynomials associated to a special spine or a triangulation of a compact 3-manifold. By evaluation of the state sum at any solution of the so-called Biedenharn-Elliott equations, one obtains a homeomorphism invariant of the manifold (“numerical Turaev-Viro invariant”). The Biedenharn-Elliott equations define a polynomial ideal. The key observation of this paper is that the coset of the state sum polynomial with respect to that ideal is a homeomorphism invariant of the manifold (“ideal Turaev-Viro invariant”), stronger than the numerical Turaev-Viro invariants. Using computer algebra, we obtain computational results on several examples of ideal Turaev-Viro invariants, for all closed orientable irreducible manifolds of complexity at most 9.     

Affine symplectic geometry I: Applications to geometric inequalities

We use the integral geometric formulas in the symplectic space of geodesics of a Riemannian manifold to derive various inequalities of isoperimetric type. We give a sharp lower bound for the area of the minimal bubble spanning a spherical curve in ℝ³. We also present an “inverse Croke inequality” relating the area of the boundary of a complex domain in a Riemannian manifold to the injectivity radius and the volume of the domain. We prove a sharp lower bound for the ground state of the harmonic oscillator operator inL ²(M), whereM is a Hadamard manifold. This article is dedicated to my dear friend Julia Rashba     

Analytic and Reidemeister torsion for representations in finite type Hilbert modules

For a closed Riemannian manifold (M, g) we extend the definition of analytic and Reidemeister torsion associated to a unitary representation of ₁ (M) on a finite dimensional vector space to a representation on aA-Hilbert moduleW of finite type whereA is a finite von Neumann algebra. If (M,W) is of determinant class we prove, generalizing the Cheeger-Müller theorem, that the analytic and Reidemeister torsion are equal. In particular, this proves the conjecture that for closed Riemannian manifolds with positive Novikov-Shubin invariants, theL ₂-analytic andL ₂-Reidemeister torsions are equal.The first three authors were supported by NSF. The first two authors wish to thank the Erwin-Schrödinger-Institute, Vienna, for hospitality and support during the summer of 1993 when part of this work was done.     

Configurations of flags and representations of surface groups in complex hyperbolic geometry

In this work, we describe a set of coordinates on the PU(2,1)-representation variety of the fundamental group of an oriented punctured surface Σ with negative Euler characteristic. The main technical tool we use is a set of geometric invariants of a triple of flags in the complex hyperbolic plane H²_{\mathbb C}{\bf H^2_{\mathbb {C}}} . We establish a bijection between a set of decorations of an ideal triangulation of Σ and a subset of the PU(2,1)-representation variety of π ₁(Σ).     

On conformal Killing symmetric tensor fields on Riemannian manifolds

A vector field on Riemannian manifold is called conformal Killing if it generates oneparameter group of conformal transformation. The class of conformal Killing symmetric tensor fields of an arbitrary rank is a natural generalization of the class of conformal Killing vector fields, and appears in different geometric and physical problems. In this paper, we prove that a trace-free conformal Killing tensor field is identically zero if it vanishes on some hypersurface. This statement is a basis of the theorem on decomposition of a symmetric tensor field on a compact manifold with boundary to a sum of three fields of special types. We also establish triviality of the space of trace-free conformal Killing tensor fields on some closed manifolds.     

Geometric invariants of link cobordism

A geometric notion of a “derivative” is defined for 2-component links ofS ⁿ inS ⁿ⁺² and used to construct a sequenceβ ⁱ ,i=1,2,... of abelian concordance invariants which vanish for boundary links. Forn>1, these generalize the only heretofore known invariant, the Sato-Levine invariant. Forn=1, these invariants are additive under any band-sum and consequently provide new information about which 1-links are concordant to boundary links. Examples are given of concordance classes successfully distinguished by theβ ⁱ but not by their , Murasugi 2-height, Sato-Levine invariant or Alexander polynomial. Supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.     

On the geometry of model almost complex manifolds with boundary

We study some special almost complex structures on strictly pseudoconvex domains in ℝ^{2 n} . They appear naturally as limits under a nonisotropic scaling procedure and play a role of model objects in the geometry of almost complex manifolds with boundary. We determine explicitely some geometric invariants of these model structures and derive necessary and sufficient conditions for their integrability. As applications we prove a boundary extension and a compactness principle for some elliptic diffeomorphisms between relatively compact domains.     

Generalizing Mutational Equations for Uniqueness of Some Nonlocal 1st-Order Geometric Evolutions

The mutational equations of Aubin extend ordinary differential equations to metric spaces (with compact balls). In first-order geometric evolutions, however, the topological boundary need not be continuous in the sense of Painlevé–Kuratowski. So this paper suggests a generalization of Aubin’s mutational equations that extends classical notions of dynamical systems and functional analysis beyond the traditional border of vector spaces: Distribution-like solutions are introduced in a set just supplied with a countable family of (possibly non-symmetric) distance functions. Moreover their existence is proved by means of Euler approximations and a form of “weak” sequential compactness (although no continuous linear forms are available beyond topological vector spaces). This general framework is applied to a first-order geometric example, i.e. compact subsets of ℝ ^N evolving according to the nonlocal properties of both the current set and its proximal normal cones. Here neither regularity assumptions about the boundaries nor the inclusion principle are required. In particular, we specify sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of these solutions.