Rohlin's invariant and gauge theory. I: Homology 3-tori (Q1884766)

A homology 3-torus is a closed oriented 3-manifold \(Y\) having the integral homology of the 3-torus. For any non-trivial \(w \in H^2 (Y ; {\mathbb Z}_2)\), the authors consider projectively flat connections on a principal \(U(2)\)-bundle over \(Y\), whose associated \(SO(3)\)-bundle has second Stiefel-Whitney class \(w\). The authors define a Casson-type invariant (associated with \(Y\) and \(w\)) to be one-half of the signed count of such connections, modulo appropiate gauge group. This invariant is one-half of the Floer homology and is not a priori an integer. The main result is as follows: the Casson-type invariant is given by the triple cup product in cohomology, and so it coincides with a certain sum of Rohlin invariants of \(Y\). The counting argument uses a natural action of \(H^1 (Y; {\mathbb Z}_ 2)\) on the moduli space of projectively flat connections; along the way the authors construct perturbations that are equivalent with respect to this action. Combined with the Floer exact triangle, this gives a purely gauge-theoretic proof that Casson's homology sphere invariant reduces mod 2 to the Rohlin invariant.