The cardinality of the augmentation category of a Legendrian link (Q1651779)

If \(\Lambda\) is a Legendrian knot in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) with the standard contact structure \(\xi=\ker(dz-y\,dx)\) with the Lagrangian projection onto the \(xy\)-plane, then the differential graded algebra DGA is the free noncommutative algebra generated by the double points of the Lagrangian projection and the differential is defined in terms of immersed polygons with boundary lying on the projected knot. The grading on a generator comes from the Gauss map of an arc in the projected knot intersecting the double point only in its end points. This grading is only defined modulo twice the rotation number of the knot. The semi-free noncommutative Chekanov-Eliashberg DGA \(\mathcal{A}(\Lambda)\) whose generators are the Reeb chords of \(\Lambda\) and whose differential counts certain holomorphic disks in the symplectization \(\mathbb R\times\mathbb R^3\) is attached to any Legendrian knot \(\Lambda\) in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) with the standard contact structure. An augmentation of a Legendrian knot \(\Lambda\) in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) is a DGA morphism \(\epsilon\: (\mathcal{A}(\Lambda),\partial) \to (\mathbb{F}_q,0)\), where \((\mathcal{A}(\Lambda),\partial)\) is the Legendrian contact homology of \(\Lambda\) and \(\mathbb{F}_q\) is a field supported in grading \(0\). If \(\epsilon\) only respects the grading mod \(m\), where \(m\) divides twice the rotation number of \(\Lambda\), then \(\epsilon\) is called an \(m\)-graded augmentation. The \(m\)-graded augmentations form an affine variety cut out by the equations \(\epsilon(\partial a)=0\), where \(a\) ranges over generators of the DGA, and this variety is only well defined up to stabilization. A normal ruling of a Legendrian front is a decomposition into boundaries of embedded disks, each containing one right cusp and one left cusp, and satisfying certain additional requirements, and normal ruling is graded if all switches occur between strands of equal Maslov potential. The switching data can be viewed as prescribing a gluing of the disks into a surface, and the Euler characteristic of this surface is a natural invariant of the ruling. For a given Legendrian front, \(\mathcal{R}\) is the set of graded normal rulings and \(\chi(R)=\#\text{right cusps}-\#\text{switches}\) is the Euler characteristic of the surface associated to a ruling \(R\in\mathcal{R}\). The ruling polynomial \(R_\Lambda\) is defined as \(R_\Lambda(z)=\sum\limits_{R\in\mathcal{R}}z^{-\chi(R)}\). If \(\Lambda\) has \(\ell\) components, then in [J. Topol. 8, No. 1, 1--37 (2015; Zbl 1312.57033)] \textit{M. B. Henry} and \textit{D. Rutherford} showed that \[ (*)\;q^{-\chi_*(\Lambda)/2}(q-1)^{-\ell}\#\{\mathcal{A}(\Lambda)\to\mathbb{F}_q\}=R_\Lambda(q^{1/2}-q^{-1/2}), \] where \(\chi_*(\Lambda)\) is shifted Euler characteristic of \(\Lambda\). A unital \(A_\infty\) category \(\mathcal{A}ug_+(\Lambda;\mathbb F_q)\), the augmentation category, whose objects are augmentations and whose endomorphisms are a version of linearized contact cohomology, is an invariant. In this paper, the authors introduce a notion of cardinality for the augmentation category \(\mathcal{A}ug_+(\Lambda;\mathbb F_q)\) and their goal is to replace the left hand side of the equation \((*)\) by the suitably interpreted cardinality of \(\mathcal{A}ug_+(\Lambda;\mathbb F_q)\). They consider the groupoid part \(\pi_{\geq 0}\mathcal{A}ug_+(\Lambda;\mathbb F_q)^*\) of the augmentation category \(\mathcal{A}ug_+(\Lambda;\mathbb F_q)\) consisting of isomorphisms in the truncation \(\pi_{\geq 0}\mathcal{A}ug_+(\Lambda;\mathbb F_q)\). The authors show that the cardinality \(\#\pi_{\geq 0}\mathcal{A}ug_+(\Lambda;\mathbb F_q)^*\) is a quotient of \(\#\{\mathcal{A}(\Lambda)\to\mathbb{F}_q\}\) by the cardinality of some higher groupoid equal to \(q^{(\chi^*-\text{tb})/2}(q-1)^\ell\). Also, the authors present an application to the augmentation category of doubly Lagrangian slice knots and they show that if \(\Lambda\) is doubly Lagrangian slice, then there is an \(A_\infty\) augmentation category \(\mathcal{A}ug_+(\Lambda;\mathbb F_q)\cong\mathcal{A}ug_+(U;\mathbb F_q)\) over any finite field \(\mathbb F_q\), where \(U\) is the standard unknot with \(\text{tb}(U)=-1\).