String topology on Gorenstein spaces (Q842310)

A map of closed manifolds \(f: M^{n} \to N^{n+d}\) gives a shriek map \(f^!: H^*(M) \to H^{*+d}(N)\) having certain well-known properties. In this elegant paper the authors use techniques from the homotopy theory of dg-algebras and dg-modules and from rational homotopy theory (though many of the results are valid over any field) to produce chain level shriek maps in a very general setting. They then use these maps to prove various results about the string topology operations of [\textit{M. Chas} and \textit{D. Sullivan}, String topology, \url{arXiv:math/9911159}] and [\textit{R. L. Cohen} and \textit{V. Godin}, A polarized view of string topology. Topology, geometry and quantum field theory. Proceedings of the 2002 Oxford symposium in honour of the 60th birthday of Graeme Segal, Oxford, UK, June 24--29, 2002. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 308, 127--154 (2004; Zbl 1095.55006)]. The first main theorem is: (1) If \(f: N \to M\) is a map between oriented Poincaré duality spaces of dimension \(n\) and \(m\), and \(M\) is 1-connected, then there exists a unique element \(f^! \in \mathrm{Ext}^{m-n}_{C^*M}(C^*(N),C^*(M))\) sending the fundamental class of \(N\) to the fundamental class of \(M\). (2) Moreover, if \(E\to M\) is a fibration with \(H^*(E)\) of finite type then there exists a unique element \(g^! \in \mathrm{Ext}^{m-n}_{C^* E}(C^*(f^*E),C^*(E))\) that is compatible with \(f^!\). (3) If the fibre of \(f\) is a Poincaré duality space then \(f^!\) and \(g^!\) induce the fibrewise integration maps on cohomology. Using the above theorem and the chord diagrams of Cohen-Godin, the authors achieve an elegant proof of the oriented homotopy invariance of all string topology operations associated with surfaces of arbitrary genus and numbers of incoming and outgoing boundary components. The authors also consider the class of Gorenstein spaces (which includes classifying spaces of Lie groups and homotopy quotients of Poincaré duality spaces by Lie groups). Here they are able to construct shriek maps associated with certain products of diagonal maps, well-defined up to a scalar. More precisely, they compute that if \(X\) is a 1-connected \(\mathbb{K}\)-Gorenstein space of dimension \(d\) and \(\Delta: X^r \to X^t\) is a product of diagonal maps \(X\to X^{n_i}\), then \(\mathrm{Ext}_{C^*(X^t)}(C^*(X^r), C^*(X^t))\) is 1-dimensional and concentrated in degree \(d(t-r)\). This suffices to construct string topology operations (up to scalars) for Gorenstein spaces. For classifying spaces of Lie groups, these operations coincide with those constructed by \textit{D. Chataur} and \textit{L. Menichi} in [String Topology of Classifying Spaces, \url{arXiv:/0801.0174}]. Applying the above construction, the authors prove that, over \(\mathbb{Q}\), the string product on \(LBG\) is trivial, and the string coproduct is injective. The authors give some additional applications of their methods. For instance, working over the rationals, they show that the Hochschild cohomology of a Poincaré duality dga model for a Poincaré duality space \(M\) is isomorphic as a graded algebra \(H_*(LM)\) with the loop product. The methods of the paper primarily involve clever calculations using semi-free dg-module models, free models of dg-algebras, and bar resolutions.