The free loop space homology of \((n-1)\)-connected \(2n\)-manifolds (Q2363408)

Let \({\mathcal L}M\) be the free loop space over a compact oriented \(d\)-dimensional manifold \(M\) and let \(H_*({\mathcal L}M; R)\) be the singular homology of this space with coefficients in \(R=\mathbb Z\) or a commutative field. Chas and Sullivan discovered in 1999 that the circle action on the free loop space, rotating the domain of maps \(S^1\to M\), determines a degree \(+1\) operator \(\Delta\), on \(H_*({\mathcal L}M; R)\) making it a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra. The result of this paper concerns an \((n-1)\)-connected, closed oriented \(2n\)-dimensional manifold (\(n\geq 2\) and \(n\neq 2,4,8\)). The authors prove that \(H_*({\mathcal L}M; R)\) is the direct sum of three \(R\)-modules \({\mathcal Q}\), \({\mathcal W}\) and \({\mathcal Z}\) such that the BV-operator \(\Delta\) satisfies, in case \(R= \mathbb Q\), \[ \Delta({\mathcal Q})\subset{\mathcal W},\quad \Delta({\mathcal W})\subset{\mathcal Z}\quad\text{and}\quad \Delta({\mathcal Z})=\{0\}. \] This result offers an elementary tool for computing \(H_*({\mathcal L}M; \mathbb Z)\) and giving information on the free part of \(\Delta\). One should expect that this technique can be generalized and applied to a wider family of closed oriented manifolds, not only in the case considered here.