arXiv research

Perturbative string amplitudes are correctly derived from the string geometry theory, which is one of the candidates of a non-perturbative formulation of string theory. In order to derive non-perturbative effects rather easily, we formulate topological string geometry theory. We derive the perturbative partition functi…

String topology coproduct and Turaev cobracket computed for surfaces.

Analyzes string topology operations using Chen's integrals and homotopy transfer.

Study topological G₂ and Spin(7) strings at 1-loop using double complexes.

This paper is an exposition of the new subject of String Topology. We present an introduction to this exciting new area, as well as a survey of some of the latest developments, and our views about future directions of research. We begin with reviewing the seminal paper of Chas and Sullivan, which started String Topolog…

There is an interpretation of open string field theory in algebraic topology. An interpretation of closed string field theory can be deduced from this open string theory to obtain as well the interpretation of open and closed string field theory combined.

Study string topology on symmetric spaces, showing non-triviality and nilpotency results.

Cartan calculus applied to string topology homology.

We prove that the open topological string partition function on a D-brane configuration in a Calabi-Yau manifold X takes the form of a closed topological string partition function on a different Calabi-Yau manifold X_b. This identification shows that the physics of D-branes in an arbitrary background X of topological s…

A De Rham model for string topology based on the theory of iterated integrals is presented.

We construct a space of string diagrams, which are a type of fatgraph with some additional data, and show that there are string topology operations on the chains of the free loop space of a closed Riemannian manifold which are parameterized by the chains on the space of string diagrams. These operations are shown to re…

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…

We demonstrate the equivalence of all loop closed topological string amplitudes on toric local Calabi-Yau threefolds with computations of certain knot invariants for Chern-Simons theory. We use this equivalence to compute the topological string amplitudes in certain cases to very high degree and to all genera. In parti…

We study refined topological string theory in the presence of orientifolds by counting second-quantized BPS states in M-theory. This leads us to propose a new integrality condition for both refined and unrefined topological strings when orientifolds are present. We define the SO(2N) refined Chern-Simons theory which co…

In this paper, we discuss Hochschild chain models for some of the string topology operations. We use these models to simplify the proofs and computations of some of the results in string topology. Along the way we also make some new observations. We further discuss how nonnilpotent local level homology classes with res…

The most general gauge-invariant marginal deformation of four-dimensional abelian BF-type topological field theory is studied. It is shown that the deformed quantum field theory is topological and that its observables compute, in addition to the usual linking numbers, smooth intersection indices of immersed surfaces wh…

This paper explains the conjectured algebraic duality between genus zero Gromov-Witten theory and genus zero "Closed String topology". This duality in another perspective is discussed on page 87 of the book "Frobenius manifold, quantum cohomology, and moduli spaces" (by Yuri Manin). This paper also discusses Fulton Mac…

Homflypt skein theory and string topology linked via 2-groupoids.

We make a precision test of a recently proposed conjecture relating Chern-Simons gauge theory to topological string theory on the resolution of the conifold. First, we develop a systematic procedure to extract string amplitudes from vacuum expectation values (vevs) of Wilson loops in Chern-Simons gauge theory, and then…

In these lecture notes we discuss a body of work in which Morse theory is used to construct various homology and cohomology operations. In the classical setting of algebraic topology this is done by constructing a moduli space of graph flows, using homotopy theoretic methods to construct a virtual fundamental class, an…

E-string theory reveals modular properties of 4-manifold invariants.

We conjecture a relation between the sl(N) knot homology, recently introduced by Khovanov and Rozansky, and the spectrum of BPS states captured by open topological strings. This conjecture leads to new regularities among the sl(N) knot homology groups and suggests that they can be interpreted directly in topological st…

Given a smooth closed manifold M with a family {L_i} of closed submanifolds, we consider the free loop space LM and the spaces PM(L_i,L_j) of open strings (paths g:[0,1]->M with g(0) in L_i, and g(1) in L_j). We construct string topology operations resulting in an open-closed TQFT on the family (h_*(LM),h_*(PM(L_i,L_j)…

In this paper we study the topology of the cobordism category of open and closed strings. This is a 2-category in which the objects are compact one-manifolds whose boundary components are labeled by an indexing set (the set of "D-branes"), the 1-morphisms are cobordisms of manifolds with boundary, and the 2-morphisms a…

We review the polynomial structure of the topological string partition functions as solutions to the holomorphic anomaly equations. We also explain the connection between the ring of propagators defined from special Kähler geometry and the ring of almost-holomorphic modular forms defined on modular curves.

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…

The actions, anomalies, and quantization conditions allow the M2-brane and the M5-brane to support, in a natural way, structures beyond Spin on their worldvolumes. The main examples are twisted String structures. This also extends to twisted String^c structures, which we introduce and relate to twisted String structure…

This is a paper in Analytic Topology.

Given a principal bundle over a closed manifold, G --> P --> M, let P^{Ad} --> M be the associated adjoint bundle. Gruher and Salvatore showed that the Thom spectrum (P^{Ad})^{-TM} is a ring spectrum whose corresponding product in homology is a Chas-Sullivan type string topology product. We refer to this spectrum as th…

Extends string-net theory to 3D TQFT via surface graphs and surgery.

Relations between the string topology of Chas and Sullivan and the homotopy skein modules of Hoste and Przytycki are studied. This provides new insight into the structure of homotopy skein modules and their meaning in the framework of quantum topology. Our results can be considered as weak extensions to all orientable …

To formulate the universal constraints of quantum statistics data of generic long-range entangled quantum systems, we introduce the geometric-topology surgery theory on spacetime manifolds where quantum systems reside, cutting and gluing the associated quantum amplitudes, specifically in 2+1 and 3+1 spacetime dimension…

The string bracket introduced by Chas and Sullivan [math.GT/9911159] is reinterpreted from the point of view of topological field theories in the Batalin-Vilkovisky or BRST formalisms. Namely, topological action functionals for gauge fields (generalizing Chern-Simons and BF theories) are considered together with genera…

We show, using a theorem of Milnor and Margulis, that string theory on compact negatively curved spaces grows new effective dimensions as the space shrinks, generalizing and contextualizing the results in hep-th/0510044. Milnor's theorem relates negative sectional curvature on a compact Riemannian manifold to exponenti…

The conormal Lagrangian $L_K$ of a knot $K$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$ is the submanifold of the cotangent bundle $T^* \mathbb{R}^3$ consisting of covectors along $K$ that annihilate tangent vectors to $K$. By intersecting with the unit cotangent bundle $S^* \mathbb{R}^3$, one obtains the unit conormal $Λ_K$, and the Legendrian…

New Milnor's invariant condition for topologically slice links.

We review the string/gauge theory duality relating Chern-Simons theory and topological strings on noncompact Calabi-Yau manifolds, as well as its mathematical implications for knot invariants and enumerative geometry.

We study topological open string amplitudes on orientifolds without fixed planes. We determine the contributions of the untwisted and twisted sectors as well as the BPS structure of the amplitudes. We illustrate our general results in various examples involving D-branes in toric orientifolds. We perform the computation…

Ray-Singer torsion measures light degrees of freedom in black hole entropy.

We study the invariant of knots in lens spaces defined from quantum Chern-Simons theory. By means of the knot operator formalism, we derive a generalization of the Rosso-Jones formula for torus knots in L(p,1). In the second part of the paper, we propose a B-model topological string theory description of torus knots in…

Let M be a closed, oriented, n -manifold, and LM its free loop space. Chas and Sullivan defined a commutative algebra structure in the homology of LM, and a Lie algebra structure in its equivariant homology. These structures are known as the string topology loop product and string bracket, respectively. In this paper w…

We study elliptic fibrations by analyzing suitable deformations of the fibrations and vanishing cycles. We introduce geometric string junctions and describe some of their properties. We show how the structure of the geometric string junctions is naturally related to the Lie algebra structures of the associated singular…

Decomposes string links in a surface into prime components.

In this paper, we study some algebraic topology aspects of String$^c$ structures, more precisely, from the perspective of Whitehead tower and the perspective of the loop group of $Spin^c(n)$. We also extend the generalized Witten genera constructed for the first time in \cite{CHZ11} to correspond to String$^c$ structur…

In the paper, we study numerically the projections of the real exchange rate dynamics onto the string-like topology. Our approach is inspired by the contemporary movements in the string theory. The string map of data is defined here by the boundary conditions, characteristic length, real valued and the method of redist…

These lecture notes review the topological string theory and its applications to mathematics and physics. They expand on material presented at the Takagi Lectures of the Mathematical Society of Japan on 21 June 2008 at Department of Mathematics, Kyoto University.

In previous work with Schoenfeld, we considered a string-type chain complex of curves on surfaces, with differential given by resolving crossings, and computed the homology of this complex for discs. In this paper we consider the corresponding "string homology" of annuli. We find this homology has a rich algebraic stru…

We apply the geometric-topology surgery theory on spacetime manifolds to study the constraints of quantum statistics data in 2+1 and 3+1 spacetime dimensions. First, we introduce the fusion data for worldline and worldsheet operators capable creating anyon excitations of particles and strings, well-defined in gapped st…