Derived representation schemes and cyclic homology (Q2437490)

Let \(A\) be an associative \(k\)-algebra, \(V\) a finite dimensional vector space. The functor \(\text{Rep}_V(A):\text{CommAlg}_k\rightarrow\text{Sets}\), sending \(C\) to \(\text{Hom}_{\text{Alg}_k}(A,\text{End}(V)\otimes_k C))\) is known to be representable by a commutative \(k\)-algebra \(A_V=k[\text{Rep}_V(A)]\). The functor itself, \(\text{Rep}_V(A)\) is then called the \textit{affine representation scheme} parametrizing the the \(k\)-linear representations of \(A\) on \(V\). Varying \(A\) while keeping \(V\) fixed, \(\text{Rep}_V(A)\) is a functor on \(\mathrm{Alg}_k\), the category of associative \(k\)-algebras, and this article studies the higher derived functors of \(\text{Rep}_V\) in the case of non-abelian homological algebra. This article gives an explicit construction based on the classical works of Bergman and Cohn on universal algebras. This explicit constructions makes an unexpected connection to cyclic homology visible. The approach is motivated by recent theories on noncommutative geometry where a heuristic principle is that any geometric meaningful structure on a noncommutative algebra \(A\) should induce standard commutative structures on all representation schemes \(\text{Rep}_V\). This principle works only when \(A\) is formally smooth, because then \(\text{Rep}_V(A)\) is also smooth. The passing from \(\text{Rep}_V(A)\) to the derived representation scheme \(\text{DRep}_V(A)\) gives a kind of desingularization of \(\text{Rep}_V(A)\). It is thus expected that \(\text{DRep}_V(A)\) will give the parallel construction in the case of geometry of arbitrary noncommutative algebras. The main goal in this article is to make the first constructions needed for this computations. Firstly, canonical trace maps with value in the homology of \(\text{DRep}_V(A)\) are constructed, and a corresponding representation functor on bimodules is given. Consider \(\text{HC}_0(A)=A/[A,A]\). Then \(\text{Tr}_V(A):\text{HC}_0(A)\rightarrow A_V\), \(\overline a\mapsto[\rho\mapsto\text{Tr}\rho(a)]\), transforms elements of \(\text{HC}_0(A)\) to functions on \(\text{Rep}_V(A)\) for each \(V\). This means that the \(0\)-th cyclic homology of \(A\) corresponds to the space of functions on the noncommutative \(\text{Spec}(A)\). The derived functors of \(\text{Rep}_V\) is represented by a DG algebra \(\text{DRep}_V(A)\), the homology depending only on \(A\) and \(V\) and with the property that \(H_0[\text{DRep}_V(A)]\cong A_V\). \(H_\bullet[\text{DRep}_V(A)]=H_\bullet[A,V]\) is called the \textit{representation homology} of \(A\) with coefficients in \(V\). This representation homology is linked to cyclic homology, and a goal of the article is to say something about this relation. Thus the authors construct functorial trace maps \(\text{Tr}_V(A)_n:\text{HC}_n(A)\rightarrow \text{H}_n(A,V),\;n\geq 0\) extending the ordinary trace to higher cyclic homology. The existence of such suggests that the full cyclic homology \(\text{HC}_\bullet(A)\) of an algebra \(A\) should be a \textit{derived space of functions} on the noncommutative spectrum \(\text{Spec}(A)\). Various operations on \(\text{H}_\bullet(A,V)\) arising from known operations on \(\text{HC}_\bullet(A)\) are studied. The authors prove that most interesting structures on cyclic and Hochshild homology induce interesting geometric structures on representation homology. In particular, this shows a natural relation between noncommutative algebraic geometry and noncommutative differential geometry. For applications (to e.g. physics), when \(\text{char}(k)=0\), the character variety of \(A\) in \(V\) can be identified with the categorical quotient \(\text{Rep}_V(A)/\!/\text{GL}(V)\) of \(\text{Rep}_V(A)\) by the action of \(\text{GL}(V)\). The trace map takes its values in the corresponding commutative algebra \(A^{\text{GL}(V)}_V\). These values are interpreted as characters of representations. As it is known that the characters generate \(A^{\text{GL}(V)}\) as algebra, the algebra homomorphism induced by the above, \(\text{Sym}\text{Tr}_V(A):\text{Sym}[\text{HC}_0(A)]\rightarrow A^{\text{GL}(V)}_V\), is surjective. This gives a presentation for character varieties. Again, the character varieties can be derived. The higher traces take their values in \(\text{H}_\bullet(A,V)^{\text{GL}(V)}\), and are viewed as \textit{derived characters} of finite-dimensional representations of \(A\). Together they define a homomorphism of graded commutative algebras \(\Lambda\text{Tr}_V(A)_\bullet:\Lambda[\text{HC}_\bullet(A)]\rightarrow\text{H}_\bullet(A,V)^{\text{GL}(V)}\) where \(\Lambda\) denotes the graded symmetric algebra over \(k\). In general, the Procesi result do not extend, that is, this morphism is not surjective in general. For non-unital algebras, the representation homology is stabilized by passing to the infinite-dimensional limit. Then the morphism above converge to \(\Lambda[\text [HC]_\bullet(A)]\tilde\rightarrow\text {H}_\bullet(A,\infty)^{\text {Tr}}\), where the right hand side is a suitable homology making this isomorphism analogue to a well known isomorphism given by \textit{J.-L. Loday} and \textit{D. Quillen} [Comment. Math. Helv. 59, 565--591 (1984; Zbl 0565.17006)] and \textit{B. L. Tsygan} [Usp. Mat. Nauk 38, No. 2(230), 217--218 (1983; Zbl 0518.17002)], \(\text{H}_\bullet(\mathfrak{gl}_\infty(A),k)\tilde\rightarrow\Lambda[\text{HC}_{\bullet-1}(A)]\), describing the stable homology of matrix Lie algebras \(\mathfrak{gl}_V(A)\) in terms of cyclic homology. This isomorphism has a multiplicative analogue identifying the rational \(K\)-theory of \(A\) with the stable homology of general linear groups \(\text{GL}_V(A)\). There is a natural, noncommutative, version of representation homology which is related to Hochschild homology, analogous to Loday's isomorphism that identifies the leibniz homology of \(\mathfrak{gl}_\infty(A)\) with the tensor algebra of Hochshild homology of \(A\). This means that one could expect a multiplicative correspondence also in this case. The main construction in this article provides a canonical complex computing \(\text{H}_\bullet(A,V)\) for any algebra \(A\): \(\text{C}_\bullet(A,V)=(V^\ast\otimes_{\text{End}(V)}(\text{End}(V)\ast_k\text{D}_\bullet A)\otimes_{\text{End}(V)}V)_{\natural\natural}\) for any algebra \(A\), where \(\text{D}_\bullet (A)\) is the co-bar resolution of \(A\) and \(()_{\natural\natural}\) denotes abelianization. The authors present their construction of derived representation schemes and study its basic properties. They extend the representation functor from the category of commutative algebras to the category of associative algebras. The functor is still representable, and the representing object has a simple and explicit algebraic construction. This idea is then developed further. The authors work in the category of DG algebras over a fixed DG algebra \(S\), and let \(V\) be a finite DG module over the base algebra \(S\). Then they establish the representability of the representation functor in this relative DG setting. The first main result states that the representation functor \((-)_V:\text{DGA}_S\rightarrow\text{CDGA}_k\) is a left Quillen functor, meaning in particular that it has a total left derived functor \(\text{L}(-)_V:\text{Ho}(\text{DGA}_S)\rightarrow\text{Ho}(\text{CDGA}_k)\), which is pair of a Quillen pair. Restricting this \(\text{L}\) to the category of ordinary \(S\)-algebras, there is defined a the relative derived representation scheme \(\text{DRep}_V(S\backslash A)\). The authors study the basic functorial properties of this representation scheme. Also, they define the invariant subfunctor \((-)^{\text{GL}}_V\) of the representation functor \((-)_V\), and prove that it has a total left derived functor isomorphic to \(\text{L}(-)^{\text{GL}(V)}_V\). Unlike the derived representation functor, this functor is not a left Quillen functor. A result clarifying the relation between \(\text{DRep}_V(A)\) and the derived action spaces are given, interpreted by the definition of characters. The authors construct an explicit model for \(\text{DRep}_V(A)\) starting with a given almost free resolution of \(A\) and a self-contained Feigin-Tsygan's relative cyclic homology \(\text{HC}_\bullet(S\backslash A)\) as a non-abelian derived functor on the category of \(S\)-algebra is constructed. The canonical trace-maps \(\text{Tr}_V(S\backslash A)_n:\text{HC}_{n-1}(S\backslash A\rightarrow\text{H}_n(S\backslash A),V)\) are constructed, and a main result is the explicit chain map \(T:\text{CC}(A)\rightarrow\text{DRep}_V(A)\) inducing homology on the first trace maps. A noncommutative version of these chain maps is given. The authors present an extension of the construction of the derived representation functor from DG algebras to DG bimodules. They compute the derived tangent spaces for \(\text{DRep}_V(A)\) and construct an analogue of the cyclic bicomplex for representation homology, and compute the effect of the periodicity operator \(S:\text{HC}_n(A)\rightarrow\text{HC}_{n-2}(A)\) and the Connes differential \(B:\text{HC}_n(A)\rightarrow\text{HC}_{n-2}(A)\) on it. Finally, the authors study a structure on \(\text{H}_\bullet(A,V)\) induced by the canonical Gerstenhaber bracket on \(\text{HH}^{\bullet+1}(A)\) and they outline a stabilization procedure for representation homology of (augmented) algebras. This article contains a wide theory, and will be a nice reference and guide for derived representation schemes. It is rather involved, and needs a lot of work to be understood properly.