Derived equivalences of gentle algebras via Fukaya categories (Q2290801)

The Fukaya category is a sophisticated invariant of symplectic manifolds, introduced by Fukaya in 1993. The Fukaya category came to prominence after Kontsevich proposed a framework to understand mirror symmetry in terms of equivalences of categories: this is known as Homological Mirror Symmetry, and states that the Fukaya category of a Calabi-Yau variety should be equivalent to the derived category of its mirror. The paper under review contributes to this line of research, but its main thrust is about a new and unexpected application of the Fukaya category to purely algebraic questions arising in representation theory. The simplest examples of symplectic manifolds are Riemann surfaces, possibly with punctures. Their Fukaya categories has been intensely studied, from a variety of view-points. Riemann surfaces can be decorated with extra data (markings on the boundary components, and a line field) giving rise to different flavours of the Fukaya category. The paper by \textit{F. Haiden} et al. [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 126, 247--318 (2017; Zbl 1390.32010)], showed that the Fukaya category of decorated punctured surfaces is equivalent to the derived category of a gentle algebra. Gentle algebras are a special class of quadratic algebras arising as path algebras of quivers with relations with special properties. Their representation theory has been intensely studied. An especially important question consists in determining sufficient conditions under which gentle algebras are Morita equivalent, i.e. have equivalent derived categories of representations. The paper under review shows that the view-point on gentle algebras afforded by the Fukaya category allows for a substantial refinement of previous results in the representation theory literature. The strategy of the authors can be summarised as follows \begin{itemize} \item[1.] They show that the result of [loc. cit.] can be reversed: namely given a cohomologically smooth gentle algebra \(\mathcal{A}\) they construct a punctured Riemann surface \(\Sigma_\mathcal{A}\), decorated with a set markings on its a boundary \(\Lambda_\mathcal{A}\) and a line field \(\eta_\mathcal{A}\) such that the derived category of \(\mathcal{A}\), \(D(\mathcal{A})\) is equivalent to the Fukaya category of \((\Sigma_\mathcal{A}, \Lambda_\mathcal{A}, \eta_\mathcal{A})\) \[ D(\mathcal{A}) \simeq Fuk(\Sigma_\mathcal{A}, \Lambda_\mathcal{A}, \eta_\mathcal{A}) \] \item[2.] The Fukaya category only depends on the triple \((\Sigma_\mathcal{A}, \Lambda_\mathcal{A}, \eta_\mathcal{A})\) up to the mapping class group action. In particular if two gentle algebras \(\mathcal{A}\) and \(\mathcal{A}'\) give rise to triples \((\Sigma_\mathcal{A}, \Lambda_\mathcal{A}, \eta_\mathcal{A})\) and \((\Sigma_\mathcal{A'}, \Lambda_\mathcal{A'}, \eta_\mathcal{A'})\) which are identified by a homeomorphism \[ (\Sigma_\mathcal{A}, \Lambda_\mathcal{A}, \eta_\mathcal{A}) \simeq (\Sigma_\mathcal{A'}, \Lambda_\mathcal{A'}, \eta_\mathcal{A'}) \] then they are Morita equivalent. \item[3.] The authors show that the orbit class of a triple \((\Sigma, \Lambda, \eta)\) under the mapping class group action is determined by a finite number of numerical invariants, which are essentially given by the winding number of the line field \(\eta\) along boundary components, plus some extra data. These numerical invariants can then be defined for gentle algebras: if two gentle algebras have the same invariants, they are Morita equivalent. \end{itemize} In this way the authors obtain novel sufficient conditions for Morita equivalence of gentle algebras, which are invisible from a purely algebraic standpoint. This is the main result of the article. This refines previous work of \textit{D. Avella-Alaminos} and \textit{C. Geiss} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 212, No. 1, 228--243 (2008; Zbl 1143.16016)] which introduced some derived invariants of gentle algebras that are subsumed by the invariants introduced by Lekilı\, and Polishchuk using the Fukaya category point-of-view. The article also includes applications inspired by Kontsevich's HMS. The authors had proved in previous work [J. Topol. 11, No. 3, 615--644 (2018; Zbl 1403.53075)] that the decorated punctured surfaces appearing in the present article are mirror to a class of stacky nodal curves. Thus the derived equivalences between Fukaya categories determined above translate into interesting new derived equivalences between their mirror stacky curves.