Knot contact homology, string topology, and the cord algebra (Q2011996)

Let \(S^*{\mathbb{R}}^3\subset T^*{\mathbb{R}}^3\) be the unit cotangent bundle of \({\mathbb{R}}^3\). Let \(K\) be a framed oriented knot in \({\mathbb{R}}^3\) and let \(L_K\) be the conormal Lagrangian of \(K\), that is the submanifold of \(T^*{\mathbb{R}}^3\) of covectors along \(K\) that annihilate tangent vectors to \(K\), and let \({\Lambda}_K = L_K \cap {S^*{\mathbb{R}}^3}\). The knot contact homology of \(K\) is the Legendrian contact homology of the pair \((S^*{\mathbb{R}}^3,{\Lambda}_K)\) and it is denoted by \(H_*^{\mathrm{contact}}(K)\). In this paper a version of string topology for strings in \(R^3\cup L_K\) is defined and, by using string topology operations, a string homology, denoted by \(H_*^{\mathrm{string}}(K)\), is defined. It is proved that it is isomorphic, in degree zero, to knot contact homology, precisely, the main result of this paper is the following theorem: For any framed oriented knot \(K\) in \({\mathbb{R}}^3\), we have an isomorphism between \(U=1\) knot contact homology and string homology in degree 0, \(H_0^{\mathrm{contact}}(K)\cong H_0^ {\mathrm{string}}(K)\), defined by a count of punctured holomorphic disks in \(T^*{\mathbb{R}}^3\) with Lagrangian boundary condition \(L_K\cup{\mathbb{R}}^3\) (Theorem 1.2). The techniques used involve analysis of certain moduli spaces of holomorphic disks in \(T^*{\mathbb{R}}^3\) with boundary on \({\mathbb{R}}^3\cup L_K\). Moreover string topology gives a topological derivation of the cord algebra.