Coisotropic characteristic classes (Q2210355)

Characteristic classes have played an important role in symplectic topology. From the homological point of view, a characteristic class is only a degree 1 cohomology class of the Lagrangian Grassmannian \(\mathscr{L}(n)=\mathrm{U}(n)/\mathrm{O}(n)\), and in the context of symplectic topology, this class can be seen as an obstruction to the transversality of a pair \((L_0,L_1)\) of Lagrangian subbundles of some fixed symplectic bundle \(E\) over a finite dimensional CW-complex \(B\). Therefore the calculation of the cohomological ring of \(\mathscr{L}(n)\) and its limit \(\mathrm{U/O}\) has lead to a fruitful theory of higher degree transversality obstructions called Lagrangian characteristic classes. \textit{F. Lalonde} [Math. Ann. 285, No. 2, 343--351 (1989; Zbl 0662.55009)] introduced isotropic characteristic classes. If \(V\to B\) is a symplectic fiber bundle of rank \(2n\) over \(B\), \((I,C)\) is a pair, where \(I\) is an isotropic subbundle of rank \(n-k\) and \(C\) is a coisotropic subbundle of rank \(n+k\) of \(V\), and \(\mathscr{I}G_k(\mathbb{C}^n)=\mathrm{U}(n)/(\mathrm{U}(n)\times\mathrm{O}(n-k))\) is the isotropic Grassmannian, then the pullback by a well-chosen map \(d(I,C):B\to\mathscr{I}G_k(\mathbb{C}^n)\) of the generators of the cohomology ring \(H^*(\mathscr{I}G_k)\) are the isotropic characteristic classes of the pair \((I,C)\). These classes are zero whenever the subbundles \(I\) and \(C\) are transversal, and they are the same as the Lagrangian ones when \(k=0\). In this paper, the author dualizes Lalonde's approach to define coisotropic characteristic classes. These classes are obstructions to the transversality of a pair \((I,C)\) of subbundles of complementary ranks, where \(I\) is isotropic and \(C\) is coisotropic. First, the author defines \(k\)-coisotropic bundles. A rank \(n+k\) real vector bundle \(C\) over a CW-complex \(B\) is called \(k\)-coisotropic if there exists a complex vector bundle \(V\) of rank \(k\), a real vector bundle \(I\) of rank \(n-k\), and a real vector bundle isomorphism \(\psi:C\tilde{\to} V\oplus I\) such that \(V\oplus(I\oplus\mathbb{C})\cong\varepsilon_{\mathbb{C}}^n\) as a complex vector bundle, where \(\varepsilon_{\mathbb{C}}^n\) is the trivial complex bundle of rank \(n\) over \(B\). In particular, a \(k\)-coisotropic bundle of rank \(n+k\) is a coisotropic subbundle in the usual sense of \(\varepsilon_{\mathbb{C}}^n\) with the standard symplectic form. If \((V^{2n},\Omega)\) is a symplectic bundle over some finite-dimensional CW-complex \(B\), \(I^{n-k}\) and \(C^{n+k}\) are, respectively, isotropic and coisotropic subbundles of complementary ranks, \(J\) is an \(\Omega\)-compatible complex structure on \(V\), and \(\perp\) denotes the orthogonal complement in \(V\) with respect to the Riemannian metric \(g=\Omega(-,J-)\), then there exists a stable supplementary real bundle \(N_I\) of \(I\), and a stable supplementary complex bundle \(N_\perp\) of \((I\oplus JI)^\perp\). If \(k'=\mathrm{rank}_{\mathbb{R}}N_I\), \(n'=\mathrm{rank}_{\mathbb{C}}N_\perp\), and \(\Omega''\) is any symplectic form compatible with the complex structure on \((N_I\otimes\mathbb{C})\oplus N_\perp\), then \(I'=I\oplus(N_I\otimes\mathbb{R})\) and \(C'=C\oplus(N_I\otimes i\mathbb{R})\oplus N_\perp\) are respectively \((k+k')\)-isotropic and \((k+k')\)-coisotropic bundles in the trivial symplectic bundle \(V'=V\oplus(N_I\otimes\mathbb{C})\oplus N_\perp\) of real rank \(2(n+n'+k')\) with symplectic form \(\Omega'=\Omega\oplus\Omega''\). In particular, by taking \(I=C^\perp\), it is clear that any coisotropic subbundle of a symplectic bundle gives rise to an abstract coisotropic bundle. If \(\omega_0\) is the standard symplectic form on \(\mathbb{C}^n=\mathbb{R}^{2n}\) and \(C^{\omega_0}=\{y\mid \omega_0(x,y)=0\ \forall x\in C\}\) is a symplectic complement of a real subspace \(C\) of \(\mathbb{C}^n\), then the Grassmannian of \(k\)-coisotropic subspaces in \(\mathbb{C}^n\) is given by \(\mathscr{C}G_k(\mathbb{C}^n)=\{C\in G_{n+k}(\mathbb{R}^{2n})\mid C^{\omega_0}\subset C\}\) with the topology induced by the Grassmannian \(G_{n+k}(\mathbb{R}^{2n})\) of \((n+k)\)-planes in \(\mathbb{R}^{2n}\). Since this space is the homogeneous space \(\mathrm{U}(n)/(\mathrm{U}(k)\times\mathrm{O}(n-k))\), the isotropic and coisotropic Grassmannian are diffeomorphic, or the map \(\overline\omega:\mathscr{C}G_k(\mathbb{C}^n)\to\mathscr{I}G_k(\mathbb{C}^n)\), \(C\mapsto\overline\omega(C)=C^{\omega_0}\) is a diffeomorphism. Therefore, there is also a homeomorphism in the limit \(\mathscr{C}G(k)=\varinjlim\limits_n\mathscr{C}G_k(\mathbb{C}^n)\cong\varinjlim\limits_n\mathscr{I}G_k(\mathbb{C}^n)=\mathscr{I}G(k)\). Hence, it follows that \(k\)-coisotropic and \(k\)-isotropic bundles have the same classifying space by showing that the tautological bundle \(\beta^{k,n}_C\) over \(\mathscr{C}G_k(\mathbb{C}^n)\) is universal for \(k\)-coisotropic bundles of rank \(n+k\). Finally, the author constructs coisotropic characteristic classes. First the coisotropic difference \(d'(C,I):B\to\mathscr{C}G_{k+k'}(\mathbb{C}^{n+n'+k'})\) is defined, then by taking the composition of \(d'(C,I)\) with the stabilization \(\mathscr{C}G_{k+k'}(\mathbb{C}^{n+n'+k'})\hookrightarrow\mathscr{C}G(k+k')\) an element of \([B,\mathscr{C}G(k+k')]\) is obtained which depends only on the choice of \(N_I\) and viewed as \(d'(C,I)\). Then the coisotropic characteristic classes are obtained as the pullback by \(d'(C,I)\) of the cohomology classes of \(\mathscr{C}G(k+k')\). By the same arguments as those of Lalonde, these classes are obstructions to the transversality of the pair \((C,I)\). The author shows that the two constructions are linked by the statement that if \(\overline\omega:\mathscr{C}G(k+k')\to\mathscr{I}G(k+k')\) is the homeomorphism given by taking the symplectic complement of a subspace, then, \(\overline\omega_{\#}d'(C,I)=d(C^\Omega,I^\Omega)\). It shows that coisotropic characteristic classes are in reality isotropic ones, and that they do not detect the ambient symplectic structure of \(V\). The author concludes the paper with some remarks on the differences between the \(h\)-principle for coisotropic immersions and the one for isotropic immersions that the coisotropic classes fail to capture.