Rational homology and homotopy of high-dimensional string links (Q1791229)

This paper studies the rational homology and homotopy of spaces of high-dimensional analogs of long links, namely spaces \(\overline{\operatorname{Emb}}_c (\coprod_{i=1}^r \mathbb R^{m_i},\mathbb R^d)\) which are homotopy fibers of the inclusion of the space of embeddings of \(\coprod_{i=1}^r \mathbb R^{m_i}\) in \(\mathbb R^d\) into the space of immersions of of \(\coprod_{i=1}^r \mathbb R^{m_i}\) in \(\mathbb R^d\). This work naturally continues and extends the program of studying the rational topology of spaces of knots and links [\textit{G. Arone} and \textit{V. Turchin}, Geom. Topol. 18, No. 3, 1261--1322 (2014; Zbl 1312.57034); Ann. Inst. Fourier 65, No. 1, 1--62 (2015; Zbl 1329.57035)], [\textit{P. A. Songhafouo Tsopméné}, Algebr. Geom. Topol. 16, No. 2, 757--782 (2016; Zbl 1354.57033)]. This is an endeavor that first began with the manifold calculus approach to studying spaces of embeddings some twenty years ago and has by now proven to be extremely fruitful. The authors work in high codimension (that of the homological convergence of the Taylor tower for spaces of embeddings) but conjecture that their results hold in codimension two or greater (that of the homotopical convergence of the Taylor tower) and give an explicit description of \(H_*(\overline{\operatorname{Emb}}_c (\coprod_{i=1}^r \mathbb R^{m_i},\mathbb R^d);\mathbb Q )\) and \(\mathbb Q\otimes \pi_*(\overline{\operatorname{Emb}}_c (\coprod_{i=1}^r \mathbb R^{m_i},\mathbb R^d) )\). The homology is the homology of the derived mapping space of bimodule maps between the rational homology of wedges of spheres and the cross-effect of the rational homology of the little disks operad. The cross-effect functor follows the construction of \textit{T. Pirashvili} [Math. Ann. 318, No. 2, 277--298 (2000; Zbl 0963.18006)]. The rational homotopy is obtained from the homology result and by utilizing the hairy graph complexes previously studied by the authors and others. The paper also provides a Hodge-style splitting for the rational homology and homotopy of \(\overline{\operatorname{Emb}}_c (\coprod_{i=1}^r \mathbb R^{m_i},\mathbb R^d)\) that they obtain. This is in line with the second author's analogous earlier results for the space of knots [\textit{V. Turchin}, J. Topol. 3, No. 3, 487--534 (2010; Zbl 1205.57023)]. The authors discuss further projects such as studying the Euler characteristic of the summands in their splittings, compare their results to other recent developments, and assess the advantages and shortcomings of their techniques.