arXiv research

Extends confining subset theory to describe hyperbolic actions of solvable groups with higher rank abelianizations.

We show that sufficiently irreducible Anosov actions of higher rank abelian groups on tori and nilmanifolds are smoothly conjugate to affine actions.

We show that most homogeneous Anosov actions of higher rank Abelian groups are locally smoothly rigid (up to an automorphism). This result is the main part in the proof of local smooth rigidity for two very different types of algebraic actions of irreducible lattices in higher rank semisimple Lie groups: (i) the Anosov…

We extend each higher Johnson homomorphism to a crossed homomorphism from the automorphism group of a finite-rank free group to a finite-rank abelian group. We also extend each Morita homomorphism to a crossed homomorphism from the mapping class group of once-bounded surface to a finite-rank abelian group. This improve…

We study the abelianization of Kontsevich's Lie algebra associated with the Lie operad and some related problems. Calculating the abelianization is a long-standing unsolved problem, which is important in at least two different contexts: constructing cohomology classes in $H^k(\mathrm{Out}(F_r);\mathbb Q)$ and related g…

Researchers show how to perturb free group representations into higher rank groups.

Holomorphic Higgs bundles on Teichmüller space for surface groups.

We show that sufficiently irreducible totally non-symplectic Anosov actions of higher rank abelian groups on tori and nilmanifolds are smoothly conjugate to affine actions.

In this paper we study a proposal of Nekrasov, Rosly and Shatashvili that describes the effective twisted superpotential obtained from a class S theory geometrically as a generating function in terms of certain complexified length-twist coordinates, and extend it to higher rank. First, we introduce a higher rank analog…

We show that many algebraic actions of higher-rank abelian groups on zero-dimensional groups are mutually disjoint. The proofs exploit differences in the entropy geometry arising from subdynamics and a form of Abramov--Rokhlin formula for half-space entropies.

Unified view of spectral networks linking geometry and gauge theory.

We classify up to coarse equivalence all countable abelian groups of finite torsion free rank. The Q-cohomological dimension and the torsion free rank are the two invariants that give us such classification. We also prove that any countable abelian group of finite torsion free rank is coarsely equivalent to Z^n + H whe…

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…

Given a closed smooth manifold M which carries a positive scalar curvature metric, one can associate an abelian group P(M) to the space of positive scalar curvature metrics on this manifold. The group of all diffeomorphisms of the manifold naturally acts on P(M). The moduli group of positive scalar curvature metrics is…

The object of this paper is to study GL(2,R) orbit closures in hyperelliptic components of strata of abelian differentials. The main result is that all higher rank affine invariant submanifolds in hyperelliptic components are branched covering constructions, i.e. every translation surface in the affine invariant subman…

It is known that if a classical link group is a free abelian group, then its rank is at most two. It is also known that a $k$-component 2-link group ($k>1$) is not free abelian. In this paper, we give examples of $T^2$-links each of whose link groups is a free abelian group of rank three or four. Concerning the $T^2$-l…

Many physical theories, including notably string theory, require non-abelian higher gauge fields defining higher holonomy. Previous approaches to such higher connections on categorified principal bundles require these to be fake flat. This condition, however, renders them locally gauge equivalent to connections on abel…

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

New theory connects non-abelian bundle gerbes to abelian ones.

We provide a novel proof that the set of directions that admit a saddle connection on a meromorphic quadratic differential with at least one pole of order at least two is closed, which generalizes a result of Bridgeland and Smith, and Gaiotto, Moore, and Neitzke. Secondly, we show that this set has finite Cantor-Bendix…

We describe a generalization of GKM theory for actions of arbitrary compact connected Lie groups. To an action satisfying the non-abelian GKM conditions we attach a graph encoding the structure of the non-abelian 1-skeleton, i.e., the subspace of points with isotopy rank at most one less than the rank of the acting gro…

Let $M$ be a closed spin manifold which supports a positive scalar curvature metric. The set of concordance classes of positive scalar curvature metrics on $M$ forms an abelian group $P(M)$ after fixing a positive scalar curvature metric. The group $P(M)$ measures the size of the space of positive scalar curvature metr…

Let G be a Chevalley group scheme and B<=G a Borel subgroup scheme, both defined over Z. Let K be a global function field, S be a finite non-empty set of places over K, and O_S be the corresponding S-arithmetic ring. Then, the S-arithmetic group B(O_S) is of type F_{|S|-1} but not of type FP_{|S|}. Moreover one can der…

This paper generalizes Bismut's equivariant Chern character to the setting of abelian gerbes. In particular, associated to an abelian gerbe with connection, an equivariantly closed differential form is constructed on the space of maps of a torus into the manifold. These constructions are made explicit using a new local…

If the group of a 2-knot group $K$ has an abelian normal subgroup of rank $\geq1$ which is not finitely generated then either $K$ has no minimal Seifert hypersurface or $K$ is topologically equivalent to Example 10 of Ralph Fox's``{\it A quick trip through knot theory}".

We establish a close connection between stable commutator length in free groups and the geometry of sails (roughly, the boundary of the convex hull of the set of integer lattice points) in integral polyhedral cones. This connection allows us to show that the scl norm is piecewise rational linear in free products of Abe…

In this paper we establish a one-to-one correspondence between $S^1$-gerbes with connections, on the one hand, and their holonomies, for simply connected manifolds, or their parallel transports, in the general case, on the other hand. This result is a higher-order analogue of the familiar equivalence between bundles wi…

We prove several cases of Zimmer's conjecture for actions of higher-rank cocompact lattices on low dimensional manifolds. For example, if $Γ$ is a cocompact lattice in $\mathrm{Sl}(n, \mathbb R)$, $M$ is a compact manifold, and $ω$ a volume form on $M$ we show that any homomorphism $ρ\colon Γ\rightarrow \mathrm{Diff}(M…

We study the large scale geometry of the mapping class group, MCG. Our main result is that for any asymptotic cone of MCG, the maximal dimension of locally compact subsets coincides with the maximal rank of free abelian subgroups of MCG. An application is an affirmative solution to Brock-Farb's Rank Conjecture which as…

Study of presymplectic forms on almost abelian Lie algebras, determining moduli spaces and their finiteness.

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…

We prove global rigidity results for some linear abelian actions on tori. The type of actions we deal with includes in particular maximal rank semisimple actions on $\T^N$.

The paper constructs Anosov representations for specific types of groups.

We present a method for deciding when a regular abelian cover of a finite CW-complex has finite Betti numbers. To start with, we describe a natural parameter space for all regular covers of a finite CW-complex X, with group of deck transformations a fixed abelian group A, which in the case of free abelian covers of ran…

A myriad of irreducible symplectic 4-manifolds with abelian non-cyclic fundamental group is constructed. The botany of manifolds with finite non-cyclic fundamental groups is also studied.

We generalize to webs of any codimension results already known in codimension one. Given a holomorphic $d$-web $\cal W$ of codimension $q$ $(q\leq n-1)$ in an ambiant $n$-dimensional holomorphic manifold $U$, we define for any integer $p$ $(1\leq p\leq q)$ the condition for such a web to be \emph{$p$-ordinary} $($resp.…

Let M be an oriented compact positively curved 4-manifold. Let G be a finite subgroup of the isometry group of $M$. Among others, we prove that there is a universal constant C (cf. Corollary 4.3 for the approximate value of C), such that if the order of G is odd and at least C, then G is either abelian of rank at most …

We describe the geometrical ladder of equations for Abelian bundles and gerbes, as well as higher generalisations, in terms of the cohomology of an operator that combines de Rham and Cech cohomology.

Singular fiber resolution does not describe the spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetry in F-theory, as the corresponding branch of the moduli space does not exist in the theory. Accordingly, even non-abelian gauge theories have not been fully understood in global F-theory compactifications. We present a systematic disc…

We prove that one can obtain natural bundles of Lie algebras on rank two s-Kähler manifolds, whose fibres are isomorphic to so(s+1,s+1), su(s+1,s+1) and sl(2s + 2,\R). In the most rigid case (which includes complex tori and abelian varieties) these bundles have natural flat connections, whose flat global sections act n…

Suppose a group $G$ is quasi-isometric to a free product of a finite set $S$ of finitely generated abelian groups; let $S'$ denote the set of ranks of the free abelian parts of the groups in $S$. Then $G$ is commensurable with the free product of $\Z$ with a $\Z^n$ for each $n$ occurring in $S'$.

We describe Veech groups of flat surfaces arising from irrational angled polygonal billiards or irreducible stable abelian differentials. For irrational polygonal billiards, we prove that these groups are non-discrete subgroups of SO(2,R) and we calculate their rank.

In 1997, T. Cochran, K. Orr, and P. Teichner defined a filtration {F_n} of the classical knot concordance group C. The filtration is important because of its strong connection to the classification of topological 4-manifolds. Here we introduce new techniques for studying C and use them to prove that, for each natural n…

We show that any Kahler extension of a finitely generated abelian group by a surface group of genus g at least 2 is virtually a product. Conversely, we prove that any homomorphism of an even rank, finitely generated abelian group into the genus g mapping class group with finite image gives rise to a Kahler extension. T…

New method recovers differential cohomology from diffeological spaces.

The paper characterizes convex co-compact groups with one-dimensional boundary faces.

We enhance the action of higher abelian gauge theory associated to a gerbe on an M5-brane with an action of a torus ${\mathbb T}^n (n\ge 2)$, by a noncommutative ${\mathbb T}^n$-deformation of the M5-brane. The ingredients of the noncommutative action and equations of motion include the deformed Hodge duality, deformed…

The paper studies spectral analysis on complex spaces and finds explicit formulas for eigensections.