arXiv research

Paper constructs Chern character for higher twists and shows isomorphism between K-theory and cohomology.

Novikov conjecture reduced to Lipschitz cohomology of groups.

The notion of a higher bundle gerbe is introduced to give a geometric realization of the higher degree integral cohomology of certain manifolds. We consider examples using the infinite dimensional spaces arising in gauge theories.

New bounded cohomology classes found for exact forms on curved manifolds.

Using the higher analytic torsion form of Bismut and Lott we construct a characteristic class for smooth sphere bundles. We calculate this class in the case where the sphere bundle comes from a complex vector bundle. Related to these characteristic classes we define nontrivial continuous group cohomology classes of the…

We formulate differential cohomology and Chern-Weil theory -- the theory of connections on fiber bundles and of gauge fields -- abstractly in the context of a certain class of higher toposes that we call "cohesive". Cocycles in this differential cohomology classify higher principal bundles equipped with cohesive struct…

We review and elaborate on some aspects of the quantization of certain classes of higher abelian gauge theories using techniques of generalized differential cohomology. Particular emphasis is placed on the examples of generalized Maxwell theory and Cheeger-Simons cohomology, and of Ramond-Ramond fields in Type II super…

Study critical exponents for L^p-cohomology of higher rank Lie groups and manifolds.

We consider a closed odd-dimensional oriented manifold $M$ together with an acyclic flat hermitean vector bundle $\cF$. We form the trivial fibre bundle with fibre $M$ over the manifold of all Riemannian metrics on $M$. It has a natural flat connection and a vertical Riemannian metric. The higher analytic torsion form …

What are called secondary characteristic classes in Chern-Weil theory are a refinement of ordinary characteristic classes of principal bundles from cohomology to differential cohomology. We consider the problem of refining the construction of secondary characteristic classes from cohomology sets to cocycle spaces; and …

This paper proves cohomology invariants for differentiable stacks.

Paper constructs a cohomology class related to McDuff's secondary class, proving it transgresses to the Euler class of foliated sphere bundles.

Study on deformation cohomology for braided commutative structures.

Paper develops techniques to solve complex PDEs involving higher cohomology forms.

I construct the real counterparts (which I call Borel-Bott classes) of the R/Z classes constructed in "Characteristic classes in symplectic topology", to appear, in the cohomology of volume-preserving and symplectomorhisms of a compact (symplectic) manifold.I show that, for the symplectic action of the mapping class gr…

Bott and Taubes used integrals over configuration spaces to produce finite-type a.k.a. Vassiliev knot invariants. Cattaneo, Cotta-Ramusino and Longoni then used these methods together with graph cohomology to construct "Vassiliev classes" in the real cohomology of spaces of knots in higher-dimensional Euclidean spaces,…

We show that every subgroup of the mapping class group MCG(S) of a compact surface S is either virtually abelian or it has infinite dimensional second bounded cohomology. As an application, we give another proof of the Farb-Kaimanovich-Masur rigidity theorem that states that MCG(S) does not contain a higher rank lattic…

Explains model structures for higher orbifolds and applies them to quantum cohomology.

We review the caloron correspondence between $G$-bundles on $M \times S^1$ and $ΩG$-bundles on $M$, where $ΩG$ is the space of smooth loops in the compact Lie group $G$. We use the caloron correspondence to define characteristic classes for $ΩG$-bundles, called string classes, by transgression of characteristic classes…

We introduce Dolbeault cohomology valued characteristic classes of Higgs bundles over complex manifolds. Flat vector bundles have characteristic classes lying in odd degree de Rham cohomology and a theorem of Reznikov says that these must vanish in degrees three and higher over compact Kähler manifolds. We provide a si…

We propose a new method of computing cohomology groups of spaces of knots in $\R^n$, $n \ge 3$, based on the topology of configuration spaces and two-connected graphs, and calculate all such classes of order $\le 3.$ As a byproduct we define the higher indices, which invariants of knots in $\R^3$ define at arbitrary si…

Unconditional proof of Demailly's transcendental Morse inequality for higher cohomology classes using a general gauge-fixing for the Monge-Ampère-type equation.

We give a classifying theory for $LG$-bundles, where $LG$ is the loop group of a compact Lie group $G$, and present a calculation for the string class of the universal $LG$-bundle. We show that this class is in fact an equivariant cohomology class and give an equivariant differential form representing it. We then use t…

This paper attempts to investigate the space of various characteristic classes for smooth manifold bundles with local system on the total space inducing a finite holonomy covering. These classes are known as twisted higher torsion classes. We will give a system of axioms that we require these cohomology classes to sati…

Cyclification of orbifolds explained in cohesive higher topos theory.

Higher gauge theory via differential nonabelian cohomology

In this paper we apply the theory of finitely generated FI-modules developed by Church, Ellenberg and Farb to certain sequences of rational cohomology groups. Our main examples are the cohomology of the moduli space of n-pointed curves, the cohomology of the pure mapping class group of surfaces and some manifolds of hi…

In this paper we show that via the configuration space integral construction a non-trivalent graph cocycle can also yield a non-zero cohomology class of the space of higher (and even) codimensional long knots. This simultaneously proves that the Browder operation induced by the operad action defined by R. Budney is not…

Study shows bounded cohomology vanishes for higher dimensional sphere diffeomorphisms.

The characteristic forms in the bundle of connections of a principal bundle P over M determine the characteristic classes of P for degree less or equal to the dimension of M, and differential forms on the space of connections for higher degree. The equivariant characteristic classes provide canonical equivariant extens…

In this note I use cup-products and higher Massey products to find topological lower bounds on the number of geometrically distinct critical points of any closed 1-form in a given cohomology class.

Given a proper, cocompact action of a Lie groupoid, we define a higher index pairing between invariant elliptic differential operators and smooth groupoid cohomology classes. We prove a cohomological index formula for this pairing by applying the van Est map and algebraic index theory. Finally we discuss in examples th…

Study mapping class group actions on cohomology of configuration spaces.

In "The Gel'fand-Kalinin-Fuks class and characteristic classes of transversely symplectic foliations", arXiv:0910.3414, (October 2009) by D.Kotschick and S.Morita, the relative Gel'fand-Kalinin-Fuks cohomology groups of the formal Hamiltonian vector fields without constant vector fields on 2n-plane were characterized b…

After a self-contained introduction to Lie algebra cohomology, we present some recent applications in mathematics and in physics. Contents: 1. Preliminaries: L_X, i_X, d 2. Elementary differential geometry on Lie groups 3. Lie algebra cohomology: a brief introduction 4. Symmetric polynomials and higher order cocycles 5…

New spherical Milnor spaces for diffeological groups with geometric and topological properties.

There is a higher dimensional analogue of the perturbative Chern-Simons theory in the sense that a similar perturbative series as in 3-dimension, which is computed via configuration space integral, yields an invariant of higher dimensional knots (Bott-Cattaneo-Rossi invariant), which is constructed by Bott for degree 2…

It is known that every closed oriented 3-manifold is homology cobordant to a hyperbolic 3-manifold. By contrast we show that many homology cobordism classes contain no Seifert fibered 3-manifold. This is accomplished by determining the isomorphism type of the rational cohomology ring of all Seifert fibered 3-manifolds …

We use Bott periodicity to relate previously defined quantum classes to certain "exotic Chern classes" on $BU$. This provides an interesting computational and theoretical framework for some Gromov-Witten invariants connected with cohomological field theories. This framework has applications to study of higher dimension…

In this paper we extend Badzioch's, Dorabiala's, and Williams' definition of cohomological higher smooth torsion to a twisted cohomological higher torsion invariant. Additionally, we show that this still satisfies geometric additivity and transfer, and will also satisfy additivity and transfer for coefficients.

The Chern classes of a K-theory class which is represented by a vector bundle with connection admit refinements to Cheeger-Simons classes in Deligne cohomology. In the present paper we consider similar refinements in the case where the classes in K-theory are represented by geometric families of Dirac operators. In low…

We show that for each discrete group G, the rational assembly map K_*(BG) \otimes Q \to K_*(C*_{max} G) \otimes \Q is injective on classes dual to the subring generated by cohomology classes of degree at most 2 (identifying rational K-homology and homology via the Chern character). Our result implies homotopy invarianc…

The paper compares two torsion invariants in complex vector bundles.

Unified theory of orbifolds and cohomology.

The paper studies Atiyah classes for Lie algebroid representations and homotopies.

We observe that the line bundle associated to the tame symbol of two invertible holomorphic functions also carries a fairly canonical hermitian metric, hence it represents a class in a Hermitian holomorphic Deligne cohomology group. We put forward an alternative definition of hermitian holomorphic structure on a gerbe …

Extends Chern character to non-abelian cohomology, linking to physics.

Degree one twisting of Deligne cohomology, as a differential refinement of integral cohomology, was established in previous work. Here we consider higher degree twists. The Rham complex, hence de Rham cohomology, admits twists of any odd degree. However, in order to consider twists of integral cohomology we need a peri…