arXiv research

Based on Nielsen fixed point theory and Gröbner-Shirshov basis, we obtain a simple method to compute geometric intersection numbers and self-intersection geometric numbers of loops on surfaces.

The study proves geodesic loops and chords without intersections for specific metrics.

Vassiliev invariants can be studied by studying the spaces of chord diagrams associated with singular knots. To these chord diagrams are associated the intersection graphs of the chords. We extend results of Chmutov, Duzhin and Lando to show that these graphs determine the chord diagram if the graph has at most one loo…

Study on loops on non-orientable surfaces, determining cardinality and order.

Let M be a closed Riemannian manifold. We extend the product of Goresky-Hingston, on the cohomology of the free loop space of M relative to the constant loops, to a nonrelative product. It is graded associative and commutative, and compatible with the length filtration on the loop space, like the original product. We p…

Four counterexamples in surface homology.

We prove: If a complete connected smooth surface M in euclidean 3-space has general position, intersects some plane along a clean figure-8 (a loop with total curvature zero) and all compact intersections with planes have central symmetry, then M is a (geometric) cylinder over some central figure-8. On the way, we estab…

Using intersection and self-intersection of loops, Turaev introduced in the seventies two fundamental operations on the algebra $\mathbb{Q}[π]$ of the fundamental group $π$ of a surface with boundary. The first operation is binary and measures the intersection of two oriented based curves on the surface, while the seco…

We discuss a new approach to computing the standard algebraic operations on homotopy classes of loops in surfaces: the homological intersection number, Goldman's Lie bracket, and the author's Lie cobracket. Our approach uses fillings of the surfaces by certain graphs.

In a previous paper, we defined an operation $μ$ that generalizes Turaev's cobracket for loops on a surface. We showed that, in contrast to the cobracket, this operation gives a formula for the minimum number of self-intersections of a loop in a given free homotopy class. In this paper we consider the corresponding que…

Given two free homotopy classes $α_1, α_2$ of loops on an oriented surface, it is natural to ask how to compute the minimum number of intersection points $m(α_1, α_2)$ of loops in these two classes. We show that for $α_1\neqα_2$ the number of terms in the Andersen-Mattes-Reshetikhin Poisson bracket of $α_1$ and $α_2$ i…

Given a compact orientable surface $Σ$, let $\Cal S(Σ)$ be the set of isotopy classes of essential simple loops on $Σ$. We determine a complete set of relations for a function from $\Cal S(Σ)$ to $\bold Z$ to be a geometric intersection number function. As a consequence, we obtain explicit equations in $\bold R^{\Cal S…

Polynomial-time algorithm finds short non-orientable loops intersecting graph edges up to 30 times.

A knot diagram has an associated looped interlacement graph, obtained from the intersection graph of the Gauss diagram by attaching loops to the vertices that correspond to negative crossings. This construction suggests an extension of the Kauffman bracket to an invariant of looped graphs, and an extension of Reidemeis…

We study Wilson-'t Hooft loop operators in a class of N=2 superconformal field theories recently introduced by Gaiotto. In the case that the gauge group is a product of SU(2) groups, we classify all possible loop operators in terms of their electric and magnetic charges subject to the Dirac quantization condition. We t…

Suppose a smooth planar curve $γ$ is $2π$-periodic in the $x$ direction and the length of one period is $\ell$. It is shown that if $γ$ self-intersects, then it has a segment of length $\ell- 2π$ on which it self-intersects and somewhere its curvature is at least $2π/(\ell - 2π)$. The proof involves the projection $Γ$ …

Given a complex projective algebraic variety, write H(X) for its cohomology with complex coefficients and IH(X) for its Intersection cohomology. We first show that, under some fairly general conditions, the canonical map H(X)\to IH(X) is injective. Now let Gr = G((z))/G[[z]] be the loop Grassmannian for a complex semis…

Study non-orientable surfaces to find loops winding around punctures.

We prove that on a closed, orientable surface of genus $g$, a set of simple loops with the property that no two are homotopic or intersect in more than $k$ points has cardinality $\lesssim_k g^{k+1} \log g$. The bound matches the size of the largest known construction to within a factor of $\sim_k \log g$. It generaliz…

This paper concerns cluster algebras with principal coefficients A(S,M) associated to bordered surfaces (S,M), and is a companion to a concurrent work of the authors with Schiffler [MSW2]. Given any (generalized) arc or loop in the surface -- with or without self-intersections -- we associate an element of (the fractio…

The pinning ideal of multiloops is shown to be NP-complete.

We prove here that when all planes transverse and nearly perpendicular to the axis of a surface of revolution intersect it in loops having central symmetry, the surface must be quadric. It follows that the quadrics are the only surfaces of revolution without skewloops. Similar statements hold for hypersurfaces of revol…

Goldman and Turaev constructed a Lie bialgebra structure on the free $\mathbb{Z}$-module generated by free homotopy classes of loops on a surface. Turaev conjectured that his cobracket $Δ(α)$ is zero if and only if $α$ is a power of a simple class. Chas constructed examples that show Turaev's conjecture is, unfortunate…

The monodromy action in the homology of level sets of Morse functions on stratified singular analytic varieties is studied. The local variation operators in both the standard and the intersection homology groups defined by the loops around the critical values of such functions are reduced to similar operators in the ho…

New loops found in universe's timeline, challenging traditional time direction.

The Turaev cobracket, a loop operation introduced by V. Turaev, which measures self-intersection of a loop on a surface, is a modification of a path operation introduced earlier by Turaev himself, as well as a counterpart of the Goldman bracket. In this survey based on the author's joint works with A. Alekseev, Y. Kuno…

In the eighties Goldman discovered a Lie algebra structure on the vector space generated by the free homotopy classes of oriented curves on an oriented surface. The Lie bracket [a,b] is defined as the signed sum over the intersection points of a and b of the loop product of at the intersection points. If one of the cla…

Constructing translating solitons from Lagrangian Grim Reapers.

Chas and Sullivan have defined an intersection-type product on the homology of the free loop space LM of an oriented manifold M. In this paper we show how to extend this construction to a topological conformal field theory of degree d. In particular, we get operations on the homology of LM which are parameterized by th…

We show that any non-minimal bridge decomposition of a torus knot is stabilized and that $n$-bridge decompositions of a torus knot are unique for any integer $n$. This implies that a knot in a bridge position is a torus knot if and only if there exists a torus containing the knot such that it intersects the bridge sphe…

A hyperlink is a finite set of non-intersecting simple closed curves in $\mathbb{R} \times \mathbb{R}^3$. We compute the Wilson Loop observable using a path integral with an Einstein-Hilbert action. Using axial-gauge fixing, we can write this path integral as the limit of a sequence of Chern-Simons integrals, studied e…

Resolving Schwartz's quadratic meander number conjecture

New findings about twists in 4-sphere diffeomorphisms.

The objective of this paper is to clarify the relationships between the quantum D-module and equivariant Floer theory. Equivariant Floer theory was introduced by Givental in his paper ``Homological Geometry''. He conjectured that the quantum D-module of a symplectic manifold is isomorphic to the equivariant Floer cohom…

The generalized Dehn twist along a closed curve in an oriented surface is an algebraic construction which involves intersections of loops in the surface. It is defined as an automorphism of the Malcev completion of the fundamental group of the surface. As the name suggests, for the case where the curve has no self-inte…

We determine the equilibria of a rigid loop in the plane, subject to the constraints of fixed length and fixed enclosed area. Rigidity is characterized by an energy functional quadratic in the curvature of the loop. We find that the area constraint gives rise to equilibria with remarkable geometrical properties: not on…

We extend asymptotic formulas for saddle connections on translation surfaces.

Study how nodal domains change on surfaces under perturbations.

In this paper, we prove that on every Finsler $n$-sphere $(S^n, F)$ with reversibility $λ$ satisfying $F^2<(\frac{λ+1}λ)^2g_0$ and $l(S^n, F)\ge π(1+\frac{1}λ)$, there always exist at least $n$ prime closed geodesics without self-intersections, where $g_0$ is the standard Riemannian metric on $S^n$ with constant curvat…

Algorithm creates polynomials for knotted surfaces, with bounds on degree.

It is known that there are surface bundles of arbitrarily high genus which have genus two Heegaard splittings. The simplest examples are Seifert fibered spaces with the sphere as a base space, three exceptional fibers and which allow horizontal surfaces. We characterize the monodromy maps of all surface bundles with ge…

New results on geodesic flows using curve shortening flow.

Develops a chain-level model for Chas-Sullivan products using Morse theory with differential graded coefficients.

Using intersection theory in the context of Hilbert manifolds and geometric homology we show how to recover the main operations of string topology built by M. Chas and D. Sullivan. We also study and build an action of the homology of reduced Sullivan's chord diagrams on the singular homology of free loop spaces, extend…

A Lie bracket defined on the linear span of the free homotopy classes of undirected closed curves was discovered in stages passing through Thurston's earthquake deformations, Wolpert's corresponding calculations with Hamiltonian vector fields and Goldman's algebraic treatment of the latter leading to a Lie bracket on t…

Defines a new symplectic Khovanov homology for links in fibered 3-manifolds.

Let $Σ$ be a surface of negative Euler characteristic and $S$ a generating set for $π_1(Σ,p)$ consisting of simple loops that are pairwise disjoint (except at $p$). We show that the word length with respect to $S$ of an element of $π_1(Σ,p)$ is given by its intersection number with a well-chosen collection of curves an…

The present paper is a review of the current state of Graph-Link Theory (graph-links are also closely related to homotopy classes of looped interlacement graphs), dealing with a generalisation of knots obtained by translating the Reidemeister moves for links into the language of intersection graphs of chord diagrams. I…