arXiv research

Functor decomposes Khovanov spectra for non-alternating diagrams.

In this note we present a combinatorial link invariant that underlies some recent stable homotopy refinements of Khovanov homology of links. The invariant takes the form of a functor between two combinatorial 2-categories, modulo a notion of stable equivalence. We also develop some general properties of such functors.

We introduce semisimple 2-categories, fusion 2-categories, and spherical fusion 2-categories. For each spherical fusion 2-category, we construct a state-sum invariant of oriented singular piecewise-linear 4-manifolds.

Novel groups exhibit contradictory behaviors with respect to Burnside laws.

Let $n$ be a positive integer. M. K. Dabkowski and J. H. Przytycki introduced the $n$th Burnside group of links which is preserved by $n$-moves, and proved that for any odd prime $p$ there exist links which are not equivalent to trivial links up to $p$-moves by using their $p$th Burnside groups. This gives counterexamp…

A new presentation of a quotient of braid groups leads to a new type of Burnside group.

Extends quantum annular homology to infinite sets.

New Euler characteristic and Burnside group defined for definable groupoids.

Yasutaka Nakanishi asked in 1981 whether a 3-move is an unknotting operation. In Kirby's problem list, this question is called `The Montesinos-Nakanishi 3-move conjecture'. We define the n-th Burnside group of a link and use the 3rd Burnside group to answer Nakanishi's question; ie, we show that some links cannot be re…

The paper constructs semistrict monoidal 2-categories from foam evaluations.

Refines Khovanov homology using signed Burnside categories.

In a pair of recent papers (one to appear and one forthcoming), the author develops a general version of small cancellation theory applicable in higher dimensions, and then applies this theory to the Burnside groups of sufficiently large exponent. The present article gives a brief introduction to the methods and techni…

This paper is motivated by a general question: for which values of k and n is the universal Burnside kei of k generators and Kei "exponent" n, $\bar Q(k,n)$, finite? It is known (starting from the work of M. Takasaki (1942)) that $\bar Q(2,n)$ is isomorphic to the dihedral quandle Z_n and $\bar Q(3,3)$ is isomorphic to…

Using quantum representations of mapping class groups we prove that profinite completions of Burnside-type surface group quotients are not virtually prosolvable, in general. Further, we construct infinitely many finite simple characteristic quotients of surface groups.

We define and study the Burnside quotient Green ring of a Mackey functor. Some refinements of Dress induction theory are presented, together with applications to computation results for $K$-theory and $L$-theory of finite and infinite groups.

We build a concrete and natural model for the strict 2-category of orbifolds. In particular we prove that if one localizes the 2-category of proper etale Lie groupoids at a class of 1-arrows that we call "covers", then the strict 2-category structure drops down to the localization. In our construction the spaces of 1- …

The study of periodic subgroups in homeomorphism groups of manifolds.

The first goal of this survey paper is to argue that if orbifolds are groupoids, then the collection of orbifolds and their maps has to be thought of as a 2-category. Compare this with the classical definition of Satake and Thurston of orbifolds as a 1-category of sets with extra structure and/or with the "modern" defi…

In this paper I define certain interesting 2-functors from the Khovanov-Lauda 2-category which categorifies quantum sl(k), for any k>1, to a 2-category of universal sl(3) foams with corners. For want of a better name I use the term "foamation" to indicate those 2-functors. I conjecture the existence of similar 2-functo…

We define for arbitrary modules over a finite von Neumann algebra $\cala$ a dimension taking values in $[0,\infty]$ which extends the classical notion of von Neumann dimension for finitely generated projective $\cala$-modules and inherits all its useful properties such as additivity, cofinality and continuity. This all…

Solves open problem on Lie groupoids equivalence.

We show that once-extended anomalous 3-dimensional topological quantum field theories valued in the 2-category of k-linear categories are in canonical bijection with modular tensor categories equipped with a square root of the global dimension in each factor.

In Classical Knot Theory and in the new Theory of Quantum Invariants substantial effort was directed toward the search for unknotting moves on links. We solve, in this note, several classical problems concerning unknotting moves. Our approach uses a new concept, Burnside groups of links, which establishes unexpected re…

We study a variation of Turaev's homotopy quantum field theories using 2-categories of surfaces. We define the homotopy surface 2-category of a space $X$ and define an $\cS_X$-structure to be a monoidal 2-functor from this to the 2-category of idempotent-complete additive $k$-linear categories. We initiate the study of…

We generalize the notion of a small sheaf of sets over a topological space or manifold to define the notion of a small stack of groupoids over an étale topological or differentiable stack. We then provide a construction analogous to the étalé space construction in this context, establishing an equivalence of 2-categori…

A modular functor is constructed from non-semisimple 3d TFTs.

There are (at least) two different approaches to define equivariant analogue of the Euler charateristic for a space with a finite group action. The first one defines it as an element of the Burnside ring of the group. The second approach emerged from physics and includes the orbifold Euler characteristic and its higher…

We classify 3-braids up to (2,2)-move equivalence and in particular we show how to adjust the Harikae-Nakanishi-Uchida conjecture so it holds for closed 3-braids. As important steps to classify 3-braids up to (2,2)-move equivalence we prove the conjecture for 2-algebraic links and classify (2,2)-equivalence classes for…

We discuss several open problems in classical Knot Theory and we develop techniques that allow us to study them: Lagrangian tangles, skein modules and Burnside groups.

We construct a state-sum type invariant of smooth closed oriented $4$-manifolds out of a $G$-crossed braided spherical fusion category ($G$-BSFC) for $G$ a finite group. The construction can be extended to obtain a $(3+1)$-dimensional topological quantum field theory (TQFT). The invariant of $4$-manifolds generalizes s…

Motivated by the Moore-Segal axioms for an open-closed topological field theory, we consider planar open string topological field theories. We rigorously define a category 2Thick whose objects and morphisms can be thought of as open strings and diffeomorphism classes of planar open string worldsheets. Just as the categ…

Researchers found all embeddings of Kuratowski graphs on a double torus.

We provide a new perspective on parallel 2-transport and principal 2-group bundles with 2-connection. We define parallel 2-transport as a 2-functor from the thin fundamental 2-groupoid to the 2-category of 2-group torsors. The definition of the 2-category of 2-group torsors is new, and we develop the tools necessary fo…

The purpose of this expository paper is to present new directions in the classical Nielsen-Reidemeister fixed point theory. We describe twisted Burnside-Frobenius theorem, groups with $R_\infty$ \emph{property} and a connection between Nielsen fixed point theory and symplectic Floer homology.

We construct equivariant Khovanov spectra for periodic links, using the Burnside functor construction introduced by Lawson, Lipshitz, and Sarkar. By identifying the fixed-point sets, we obtain rank inequalities for odd and even Khovanov homologies, and their annular filtrations, for prime-periodic links in $S^3$.

We give a purely combinatorial construction of colored $\mathfrak{sl}_n$ link homology. The invariant takes values in a 2-category where 2-morphisms are given by foams, singular cobordisms between $\mathfrak{sl}_n$ webs; applying a (TQFT-like) representable functor recovers (colored) Khovanov-Rozansky homology. Novel f…

Presentations of smooth symmetry groups of differentiable stacks are studied within the framework of the weak 2-category of Lie groupoids, smooth principal bibundles, and smooth biequivariant maps. It is shown that principality of bibundles is a categorical property which is sufficient and necessary for the existence o…

In this paper we give a short introduction to our results on the holonomy of gerbe-connections and explain our motivation coming from state-sum models.

The purpose of the present paper is to prove for finitely generated groups of type I the following conjecture of A.Fel'shtyn and R.Hill, which is a generalization of the classical Burnside theorem. Let G be a countable discrete group, f one of its automorphisms, R(f) the number of f-conjugacy classes, and S(f)=# Fix (f…

We describe a bicategory $(\mathcal{R}ed\,\mathcal{O}rb)$ of reduced orbifolds in the framework of classical differential geometry (i.e. without any explicit reference to notions of Lie groupoids or differentiable stacks, but only using orbifold atlases, local lifts and changes of charts). In order to construct such a …

This is a survey of the author's paper arXiv:1409.6908 and in-progress book. 'Kuranishi spaces' were introduced in the work of Fukaya, Oh, Ohta and Ono in symplectic geometry (see e.g. arXiv:1503.07631), as the geometric structure on moduli spaces of $J$-holomorphic curves. We propose a new definition of Kuranishi spac…

A 2-category categorifies complex Lagrangians in hyperkähler manifolds.

In a previous paper, the authors defined an equivariant version of the so-called Saito duality between the monodromy zeta functions as a sort of Fourier transform between the Burnside rings of an abelian group and of its group of characters. Here a so-called enhanced Burnside ring $\widehat{B}(G)$ of a finite group $G$…

Let G be a compact Lie group and A(G) its Burnside Ring. For a compact smooth n-dimensional G-manifold X equipped with a generic G-invariant vector field v, we prove an equivariant analog of the Morse formula Ind^G(v) = \sum_{k = 0}^{n} (-1)^k χ^G(\d_k^+X) which takes its values in A(G). Here Ind^G(v) denotes the equiv…

We describe stable cup-i products on the cochain complex with $F^2$ coefficients of any augmented semi-simplicial object in the Burnside category. An example of such an object is the Khovanov functor of Lawson, Lipshitz and Sarkar. Thus we obtain explicit formulas for cohomology operations on the Khovanov homology of a…

Motivated by the definition of homotopy $L_\infty$ spaces, we develop a new theory of Kuranishi manifolds, closely related to Joyce's recent theory. We prove that Kuranishi manifolds form a $2$-category with invertible $2$-morphisms, and that certain fiber product property holds in this $2$-category. In a subsequent pa…

We categorify the notion of an infinitesimal braiding in a linear strict symmetric monoidal category, leading to the notion of a (strict) infinitesimal 2-braiding in a linear symmetric strict monoidal 2-category. We describe the associated categorification of the 4-term relation, leading to six categorified relations. …

We combinatorially describe the $2$-category of singular cobordisms, called (rank one) foams, which governs the functorial version of Khovanov homology. As an application we topologically realize the type $\mathrm{D}$ arc algebra using this singular cobordism construction.