Algebraic structure and integration maps in cocycle models for differential cohomology (Q2340072): Difference between revisions

Differential refinements of a cohomology theory for smooth manifolds combine the topological information of a cohomology theory with geometric information given by differential form representatives of their Chern character. Originally, this was done for ordinary cohomology with a variety of models (e.g.~as smooth Deligne cohomology). Because of motivations from quantum field theory, other generalized cohomology theories became the focus of research. The groundbreaking article [\textit{M. J. Hopkins} and \textit{I. M. Singer}, J. Differ. Geom. 70, No. 3, 329--452 (2005; Zbl 1116.58018)] gives a cocycle model for a differential refinement of an arbitrary generalized cohomology theory, based on the use of classifying spaces for the cohomology theory and maps into it. However, although it is very easy to write down the differential cohomology groups as sets, all further structure is rather difficult to come by. This includes already the structure of an abelian group under addition. Even more problematic is the construction of a compatible ring structure in the case the underlying generalized cohomology theory is multiplicative. The main problem is that, by the nature of the Hopkins-Singer cycle model, the construction of all these extra structures is based on maps between products of the classifying spaces representing addition, inversion, multiplication etc. For the usual cohomology theory, these maps have to satisfy compatibility conditions (encoding associativity, commutativity, \dots) only up to homotopy to get the corresponding properties of the operations. But, for the differential cohomology groups, one needs much better compatibility properties of the structure maps such that the resulting Hopkins-Singer differential cohomology groups indeed are abelian groups or even graded commutative rings. The main results of the paper under review establish that exactly this is possible. Throughout the paper, the additional assumption is made that the underlying cohomology theory \(E^*\) is rationally even, i.e.~that \(E^{2k+1}(*)\otimes\mathbb{Q}=0\) for each \(k\). \textbf{Theorem}. If \(E^*\) is a generalized multiplicative cohomology which is rationally even, then the Hopkins-Singer differential refinement \(\hat E^*\) can be given a compatible graded commutative ring structure, based on the choice of suitable compatible structure maps for the addition and multiplication on the level of the classifying spaces for the \(E^k\). In the paper, also the additive structure is discussed in complete detail with this approach, complementing a more abstract proof of the existence of the additive structure given in the original paper of Hopkins and Singer. Two more general structure results are established in detail in the paper. On the one hand, Upmeier introduces differential cohomology for pairs of smooth manifolds and exhibits a corresponding pair sequence. Secondly, he constructs in the Hopkins-Singer cocycle model explicit integration maps along the fibers of \(M\times S^1\to M\). These are used in the proof of the main theorem to pass from the case of even degrees to the case of odd degrees. The constructions for even degrees use some universal results involving acyclic models.