The homotopy invariance of the string topology loop product and string bracket

Let Mⁿ be a closed, oriented, n-manifold, and LM its free loopspace. In [Chas and Sullivan, ‘String topology’,Ann. of Math., to appear] a commutative algebra structure inhomology, H_*(LM), and a Lie algebra structure in equivarianthomology , were defined.In this paper, we prove that these structures are homotopy invariantsin the following sense. Let f:M₁ M₂ be a homotopy equivalenceof closed, oriented n-manifolds. Then the induced equivalence,Lf:LM₁ LM₂ induces a ring isomorphism in homology, and an isomorphismof Lie algebras in equivariant homology. The analogous statementalso holds true for any generalized homology theory h_* thatsupports an orientation of the M_i. Received February 5, 2007.     

Geometric versus homotopy theoretic equivariant bordism

By results of Löffler and Comezaña, the Pontrjagin-Thom map from geometric G-equivariant bordism to homotopy theoretic equivariant bordism is injective for compact abelian G. If G=S¹××S¹, we prove that the associated fixed point square is a pull back square, thus confirming a recent conjecture of Sinha [22]. This is used in order to determine the image of the Pontrjagin-Thom map for toralG.     

Compact open topology and CW homotopy type

The class of spaces having the homotopy type of a CW complex is not closed under formation of function spaces. In 1959, Milnor proved the fundamental theorem that, given a space and a compact Hausdorff space X, the space Y^X of continuous functions X→Y, endowed with the compact open topology, belongs to . P.J. Kahn extended this in 1982, showing that if X has finite n-skeleton and π_k(Y)=0, k>n.

Using a different approach, we obtain a further generalization and give interesting examples of function spaces where is not homotopy equivalent to a finite complex, and has infinitely many nontrivial homotopy groups. We also obtain information about some topological properties that are intimately related to CW homotopy type.

As an application we solve a related problem concerning towers of fibrations between spaces of CW homotopy type.     

On string topology of classifying spaces

Let G be a compact Lie group. By work of Chataur and Menichi, the homology of the space of free loops in the classifying space of G is known to be the value on the circle in a homological conformal field theory. This means in particular that it admits operations parameterized by homology classes of classifying spaces of diffeomorphism groups of surfaces. Here we present a radical extension of this result, giving a new construction in which diffeomorphisms are replaced with homotopy equivalences, and surfaces with boundary are replaced with arbitrary spaces homotopy equivalent to finite graphs. The result is a novel kind of field theory which is related to both the diffeomorphism groups of surfaces and the automorphism groups of free groups with boundaries. Our work shows that the algebraic structures in string topology of classifying spaces can be brought into line with, and in fact far exceed, those available in string topology of manifolds. For simplicity, we restrict to the characteristic 2 case. The generalization to arbitrary characteristic will be addressed in a subsequent paper.     

On string topology of three manifolds

Let M be a closed, oriented and smooth manifold of dimension d. Let LM be the space of smooth loops in M. In [String topology, preprint math.GT/9911159] Chas and Sullivan introduced the loop product, a product of degree -d on the homology of LM. We aim at identifying the three manifolds with “nontrivial” loop product. This is an application of some existing powerful tools in three-dimensional topology such as the prime decomposition, torus decomposition, Seifert fiber space theorem, torus theorem.     

Higher string topology on general spaces

In this paper, I give a generalized analogue of the string topologyresults of Chas and Sullivan, and of Cohen and Jones. For afinite simplicial complex X and k 1, I construct a spectrumMaps(S^k, X)^S(X), which is obtained by taking a generalizationof the Spivak bundle on X (which however is not a stable spherebundle unless X is a Poincaré space), pulling back toMaps(S^k, X) and quotienting out the section at infinity. I showthat the corresponding chain complex is naturally homotopy equivalentto an algebra over the (k + 1)-dimensional unframed little diskoperad C_{k + 1}. I also prove a conjecture of Kontsevich, whichstates that the Quillen cohomology of a based C_k-algebra (inthe category of chain complexes) is equivalent to a shift ofits Hochschild cohomology, as well as prove that the operadC_*C_k is Koszul-dual to itself up to a shift in the derived category.This gives one a natural notion of (derived) Koszul dual C_*C_k-algebras.I show that the cochain complex of X and the chain complex of^k X are Koszul dual to each other as C_*C_k-algebras, and thatthe chain complex of Maps(S^k, X)^S(X) is naturally equivalentto their (equivalent) Hochschild cohomology in the categoryof C_* C_k-algebras. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 55P48(primary), 16E40, 55N45, 18D50 (secondary).     

On the string topology category of compact Lie groups

We answer a question of Blumberg, Cohen and Teleman, showing that the Chas–Sullivan loop homology is the Hochschild cohomology of any object in the rational string topology category of a compact, simply connected, Lie group G. Moreover, we show that the answer follows from the classification of the localizing subcategories of the derived category of chains on the based loops of G, which we achieve using the stratification machinery of Benson, Iyengar and Krause. For integral coefficients we get similar results for G a simply-connected special unitary group.     

Dyer-Lashof operations in the string topology of spheres and projective spaces

We compute the 2-primary Dyer-Lashof operations in the string topology of several families of manifolds, specifically spheres and a variety of projective spaces. These operations, while well known in the context of iterated loop spaces, give a collection of homotopy invariants of manifolds new to string topology. The computations presented here begin an exploration of these invariants.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under agreement No. DMS-0111298.     

Covariant quantization of a relativistic string with nontrivial world sheet topology

The wave functions of a relativistic string with nontrivial world sheet topology are considered as generalized cocycles of Lie algebra transformations. The equations for the physical string states are presented, and their solutions are constructed with proper normalization.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova, Akademii Nauk SSSR, Vol. 180, pp. 142–160, 1990.     

A model for the homotopy theory of homotopy theory

We describe a category, the objects of which may be viewed as models for homotopy theories. We show that for such models, ``functors between two homotopy theories form a homotopy theory', or more precisely that the category of such models has a well-behaved internal hom-object.

     

The relationship between homological properties and representation theoretic realization of artin algebras

We will study the relationship of quite different objects in the theory of artin algebras, namely Auslander-regular rings of global dimension two, torsion theories, -categories and almost abelian categories. We will apply our results to characterization problems of Auslander-Reiten quivers.

     

Loop coproducts in string topology and triviality of higher genus TQFT operations

Cohen and Godin constructed a positive boundary topological quantum field theory (TQFT) structure on the homology of free loop spaces of oriented closed smooth manifolds by associating certain operations called string operations to orientable surfaces with parametrized boundaries. We show that all TQFT string operations associated to surfaces of genus at least one vanish identically. This is a simple consequence of properties of the loop coproduct which will be discussed in detail. One interesting property is that the loop coproduct is nontrivial only on the degree d homology group of the connected component of LM consisting of contractible loops, where d=dimM, with values in the degree 0 homology group of constant loops. Thus the loop coproduct behaves in a dramatically simpler way than the loop product.     

State space and wave equation for Boson string with nontrivial topology of world sheet

We show that the wave functions of a string with nontrivial topology of the world sheet should be considered as sections of line bundles over the space of conformal classes of Riemann surfaces. We construct a BRST operator for the case of arbitrary topology and give it a geometric interpretation.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova AN SSSR, Vol. 169, pp. 107–121, 1988.     

A projective homotopy theory of crossedG-modules

In this article we extend Hilton's projective homotopy theory of modules (Hilton, 1967) to a homotopy theory of crossed modules, and then reduce some resulting homotopy classification problems to problems in group homology. We also observe that our homotopy theory satisfies the axioms of a Baues fibration category (Baues, 1989).This author would like to thank the University of Cape Town for its hospitality.     

A homotopy theory for stacks

We give a homotopy theoretic characterization of stacks on a site C as the homotopy sheaves of groupoids on C. We use this characterization to construct a model category in which stacks are the fibrant objects. We compare different definitions of stacks and show that they lead to Quillen equivalent model categories. In addition, we show that these model structures are Quillen equivalent to the S ²-nullification of Jardine’s model structure on sheaves of simplicial sets on C.