arXiv research

Given an $L^2$-acyclic connected finite $CW$-complex, we define its universal $L^2$-torsion in terms of the chain complex of its universal covering. It takes values in the weak Whitehead group $\operatorname{Wh}^w(G)$. We study its main properties such as homotopy invariance, sum formula, product formula and Poincaré d…

The paper detects fiberedness in 3-manifolds and extends a torsion invariant to sutured manifolds.

Constructs equivariant analytic torsion for proper actions on manifolds.

We prove that for certain sequences of hyperbolic three--manifolds with cusps which converge to hyperbolic three--space in a weak ("Benjamini-Schramm") sense and certain coefficient systems the regularized analytic torsion approximates the $L^2$-torsion of the universal cover under an additional hypothesis. We also pro…

We investigate how one can twist L^2-invariants such as L^2-Betti numbers and L^2-torsion with finite-dimensional representations. As a special case we assign to the universal covering of a finite connected CW-complex X together with an element phi in H^1(X;R) a phi-twisted L^2-torsion function from R^{>0} to R, provid…

The paper proves residual finiteness of certain lattices and constructs surfaces with specific fundamental groups.

Ozsvath-Szabo contact invariants are a powerful way to prove tightness of contact structures but they are known to vanish in the presence of Giroux torsion. In this paper we construct, on infinitely many manifolds, infinitely many isotopy classes of universally tight torsion free contact structures whose Ozsvath-Szabo …

In the present work, torsion energy is defined. Its law of conservation is given. It is shown that this type of energy gives rise to a repulsive force which can be used to interpret supernovae type Ia observations, and consequently the accelerating expansion of the Universe. This interpretation is a pure geometric one …

Researchers find limits on curvature of certain 3D solitons.

Study SKT and CYT manifolds with parallel Bismut torsion.

For a knot $K$ with $Δ_K(t)\doteq t^2-3t+1$ in a homology $3$-sphere, let $M$ be the result of $2/q$-surgery on $K$. We show that an appropriate assumption on the Reidemeister torsion of the universal abelian covering of $M$ implies $q=\pm 1$, if $M$ is a Seifert fibered space.

The paper computes torsion invariants for groups acting on complexes.

Post-Lie algebra structure found on non-flat manifolds with curvature and torsion.

For a knot $K$ with $Δ_K(t)\doteq t^2-3t+1$ in a homology $3$-sphere, let $M$ be the result of $2/q$-surgery on $K$. We show that appropriate assumptions on the Reidemeister torsion and the Casson-Walker-Lescop invariant of the universal abelian covering of $M$ imply $q=\pm 1$, if $M$ is a Seifert fibered space.

We study an energy functional on the universal spinor bundle over a closed $n$-dimensional spin manifold $M$. The critical points of this functional, which is modelled on the total torsion functional of $G_2$-structures in seven dimensions, are pairs of Ricci-flat metrics and real parallel spinor fields provided that $…

In this note we construct a closed 4-manifold having torsion-free fundamental group and whose universal covering is of macroscopic dimension 3. This yields a counterexample to Gromov's conjecture about the falling of macroscopic dimension.

We investigate Friedl-Lück's universal $L^2$-torsion for descending HNN extensions of finitely generated free groups, and so in particular for $F_n$-by-$\mathbb{Z}$ groups. This invariant induces a semi-norm on the first cohomology of the group which is an analogue of the Thurston norm for $3$-manifold groups. We prove…

Study of a torsion class in mapping class group's cohomology.

We give a quantum field theoretic derivation of the formula obeyed by the Ray-Singer torsion on product manifolds. Such a derivation has proved elusive up to now. We use a BRST formalism which introduces the idea of an infinite dimensional Universal Gauge Fermion, and is of independent interest being applicable to situ…

We study the twisted knot module for the universal deformation of an ${\rm SL}_2$-representation of a knot group, and introduce an associated $L$-function, which may be seen as an analogue of the algebraic $p$-adic $L$-function associated to the Selmer module for the universal deformation of a Galois representation. We…

Study fractional structures on bundle gerbe modules using rational homotopy theory.

Recently, Cochran and Harvey defined torsion-free derived series of groups and proved an injectivity theorem on the associated torsion-free quotients. We show that there is a universal construction which extends such an injectivity theorem to an isomorphism theorem. Our result relates injectivity theorems to a certain …

We discuss Donaldson-Thomas (DT) invariants of torsion sheaves with 2 dimensional support on a smooth projective surface in an ambient non-compact Calabi Yau fourfold given by the total space of a rank 2 bundle on the surface. We prove that in certain cases, when the rank 2 bundle is chosen appropriately, the universal…

We classify compact oriented $5$-manifolds with free fundamental group and $π_{2}$ a torsion free abelian group in terms of the second homotopy group considered as $π_1$-module, the cup product on the second cohomology of the universal covering, and the second Stiefel-Whitney class of the universal covering. We apply t…

We give a dynamical description, in terms of a Weil-type zeta function, to the holomorphic torsion with coefficients for certain compact Hermitian locally symmetric manifolds, whose connected group G of isometries of the universal cover has only one conjugacy class of cuspidal maximal parabolic subgroup and satisfies a…

Let Mod_{g,b} denote the mapping class group of a surface of genus g with b punctures. Feng Luo asked in a recent preprint if there is a universal upper bound, independent of genus, for the number of torsion elements needed to generate Mod_{g,b}. We answer Luo's question by proving that 3 torsion elements suffice to ge…

We study twistor spinors (with torsion) on Riemannian spin manifolds $(M^{n}, g, T)$ carrying metric connections with totally skew-symmetric torsion. We consider the characteristic connection $\nabla^{c}=\nabla^{g}+\frac{1}{2}T$ and under the condition $\nabla^{c}T=0$, we show that the twistor equation with torsion w.r…

We show that contact homology distinguishes infinitely many tight contact structures on any orientable, toroidal, irreducible 3-manifold. As a consequence of the contact homology computations, on a very large class of toroidal manifolds, all known examples of universally tight contact structures with nonvanishing torsi…

We compute the algebraic equation of the universal family over the Kenyon-Smillie $(2,3,4)$-Teichmüller curve and give a nice geometric description of the torsion map. Moreover, we re-prove independently that the found algebraic equation describes a Teichmüller curve by computing the Picard-Fuchs equation associated to…

In this paper we establish partial structure results on the geometry of compact Hermitian manifolds of semipositive Griffiths curvature. We show that after appropriate arbitrary small deformation of the initial metric, the null spaces of the Chern-Ricci two-form generate a holomorphic, integrable distribution. This dis…

Let M be an oriented irreducible 3-manifold with infinite fundamental group and empty or toroidal boundary. Consider any element φin the first cohomology of M with integral coefficients. Then one can define the φ-twisted L^2-torsion function of the universal covering which is a function from the set of positive real nu…

Controlled $K$-theory is used to show that algebraic $K$-theory of virtually abelian groups is described by an assembly map defined using possibly-infinite hyperelementary subgroups. The Farrell-Jones summand (coming from infinite subgroups) is parameterized by the rational projective space of the group, and a reduced …

This article announces joint work with Frank Connolly and Jim Davis. We generalize our classification of pseudo-free involutions on the n-torus, by studying the action of the associated infinite group with torsion in the universal cover. Included is a non-Riemannian example obtained from the restriction of the action o…

Study multiplicity of non-acyclic SL2-representations and L-functions of Whitehead links.

We consider the closed orbit structure of generic gradient flows of Morse closed 1-forms. The torsion of a chain homotopy equivalence between the Novikov complex and the completed simplicial chain complex of the universal cover detects the eta function of the flow. We extend this result to arbitrary Morse closed 1-form…

We show that any 3-dimensional homotopy lens space M^3 that is simple-homotopy equivalent to a lens space L(p,q) is topologically s-cobordant to the lens space. It follows that M has the same multi-signature as L(p,q) and the action of π_1(M) on the universal cover of M embeds in an orthogonal action on S^7.

For a knot $K$ in a homology $3$-sphere $Σ$, let $M$ be the result of $2/q$-surgery on $K$, and let $X$ be the universal abelian covering of $M$. Our first theorem is that if the first homology of $X$ is finite cyclic and $M$ is a Seifert fibered space with $N\ge 3$ singular fibers, then $N\ge 4$ if and only if the fir…

We compute the class of arithmetic genus two Teichmueller curves in the Picard group of pseudo-Hilbert modular surfaces, distinguished according to their torsion order and spin invariant. As an application, we compute the number of genus two square-tiled surfaces with these invariants. The main technical tool is the co…

Study non-acyclic SL2-representations of twist knots and their L-functions.

In this paper, we give a classification of all compact Hermitian manifolds with flat Bismut connection. We show that the torsion tensor of such a manifold must be parallel, thus the universal cover of such a manifold is a Lie group equipped with a bi-invariant metric and a compatible left invariant complex structure. I…

Let $\,(M,g)\,$ be a $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold and $\,Ω\,$ be any compact connected domain in $\,M$. We study the problem of finding the {\em maxima} of the functional $\, {\mathcal E} (Ω)\,$ (known as {\em torsional rigidity} associated to $Ω$) among all domains of prescribed volume $v$. Our results show tha…

New computations show symplectic groups and mapping class groups have different properties regarding torsion.

We explore the complex associated to a link in the geometric formalism of Khovanov's (n=2) link homology theory, determine its exact underlying algebraic structure and find its precise universality properties for link homology functors. We present new methods of extracting all known link homology theories directly from…

Study probabilistic category and complexity bounds, comparing with classical invariants.

Let $X$ be a finite aspherical CW-complex whose fundamental group $π_1(X)$ possesses a subnormal series $π_1(X) \rhd G_m \rhd ... \rhd G_0$ with a non-trivial elementary amenable group $G_0$. We investigate the $L^2$-invariants of the universal covering of such a CW-complex $X$. We show that the Novikov-Shubin invarian…

Study of contact whirl curves in Sasakian Lorentzian 3-manifolds.

We use the one parameter fixed point theory of Geoghegan and Nicas to get information about the closed orbit structure of transverse gradient flows of closed 1-forms on a closed manifold M. We define a noncommutative zeta function in an object related to the first Hochschild homology group of the Novikov ring associate…

Study of Quillen metric on Riemann surfaces with cusps and compactification.