Quantum \(\mathfrak{gl}_{1 | 1}\) and tangle Floer homology (Q2421247)

The Reshetikhin-Turaev construction [\textit{N. Reshetikhin} and \textit{V. G. Turaev}, Invent. Math. 103, No. 3, 547--597 (1991; Zbl 0725.57007)] is a machinery turning a representation $W$ of a quantized enveloping algebra $U_{q}(\mathfrak{g})$ into a tangle invariant. This includes the Jones polynomial as the case of $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{sl}_{2}$ and $W=U$ (the vector representation) and the Alexander polynomial as the case of $\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{gl}_{1\mid1}$ and $W=V$ (the vector representation). As interesting as these invariants are, still more interesting are their categorifications of more complicated invariants. Khovanov homology is a poster child for categorification, cf. [\textit{J. Brundan} and \textit{C. Stroppel}, Mosc. Math. J. 11, No. 4, 685--722 (2011; Zbl 1275.17012), Transform. Groups 15, No. 1, 1--45 (2010; Zbl 1205.17010), Represent. Theory 15, 170--243 (2011; Zbl 1261.17006), J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 14, No. 2, 373--419 (2012; Zbl 1243.17004), and \textit{Y. Chen} and \textit{M. Khovanov}, Fundam. Math. 225, 23--44 (2014; Zbl 1321.57031), \textit{M. Khovanov}, Algebr. Geom. Topol. 2, 665--741 (2002; Zbl 1002.57006)]. More recently, the papers [\textit{M. Khovanov} and \textit{A. D. Lauda}, Represent. Theory 13, 309--347 (2009; Zbl 1188.81117) and Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 363, No. 5, 2685--2700 (2011; Zbl 1214.81113)] seeked to categorify an even wider swath of quantum algebras including quantized enveloping algebras, tensor products of their integrable highest weight representations and Reshetikhin-Turaev intertwiners. The paper [\textit{B. Webster}, Knot invariants and higher representation theory. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2017; Zbl 1446.57001)] has used this approach to construct link homology theories categorifying the Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants for all representations and Kac-Moody types. None of these extend to the case of Alexander polynomial, while the unique categorification of $U_{q}(\mathfrak{gl}_{1\mid1})$ [\textit{M. Khovanov}, Banach Cent. Publ. 103, 211--232 (2014; Zbl 1309.81113), \textit{Y. Tian}, Geom. Topol. 18, No. 3, 1635--1717 (2014; Zbl 1305.18053) and \textit{Y. Tian}, J. Symplectic Geom. 14, No. 2, 541--585 (2016; Zbl 1355.57006)] is by no means of representation-theoretic character. Knot Floer homology was introduced in [\textit{P. Ozsváth} and \textit{Z. Szabó}, Adv. Math. 186, No. 1, 58--116 (2004; Zbl 1062.57019) and \textit{J. Rasmussen}, ``Floer homology and knot complements'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:math/0306378} ], associating a bigraded chain complex $\widetilde{\mathrm{CFK}}(\mathcal{H})$ to a Heegaard diagram $\mathcal{H}$ for a link $L$. The homology $\widetilde{\mathrm{HFK}}(L)$ of $\widetilde{\mathrm{CFK}}(\mathcal{H})$ is an invariant of $L$. Although $\widetilde{\mathrm{CFK}}(\mathcal{H})$ has a completely combinatorial description [\textit{C. Manolescu} et al., Ann. Math. (2) 169, No. 2, 633--660 (2009; Zbl 1179.57022)], the invariant is still global in nature, and local modifications are only partly understood [\textit{P. Ozsváth} and \textit{Z. Szabó}, J. Topol. 2, No. 4, 865--910 (2009; Zbl 1203.57012), [\textit{C. Manolescu}, Math. Res. Lett. 14, No. 5--6, 839--852 (2007; Zbl 1161.57005)] and \textit{P. Ozsváth} and \textit{Z. Szabó}, Adv. Math. 186, No. 1, 58--116 (2004; Zbl 1062.57019)]. In order to fit $\widetilde{\mathrm{HFK}}(L)$ into the general pattern of Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants, two hurdles should be addressed, namely, locality and the relation to $U_{q}(\mathfrak{gl}_{1\mid1})$. The second and third authors of this paper [\textit{I. Petkova} and \textit{V. Vértesi}, Geom. Topol. 20, No. 6, 3219--3332 (2016; Zbl 1366.57005)] have introduced a local construction of knot Floer homology. A dg algebra $A(P)$ is associated to each oriented $0$-manifold $P$, and a dg bimodule $\widetilde{\mathrm{CT}}(\mathcal{T})$ is associated to each oriented tangle $\mathcal{T}$. The general structure should appear familiar to any bordered Heegaard Floer homologist. The bimodules in question are type $DA$ structures in the sense of [\textit{R. Lipshitz} et al., Geom. Topol. 19, No. 2, 525--724 (2015; Zbl 1315.57036)], and composition of these bimodules is via the box tensor product. The Alexander polynomial, then, admits a categorification with local pieces very much like its construction in the Reshetikhin-Turaev invariant. The principal objective in this paper is to demonstrate that these local pieces categorify Reshetikhin-Turaev counterparts. The main results are the following two theorems, the first being established in \S 4.1 and \S 4.2 while the second one is proved in \S 4.3. In \S 2.3, to a sign sequence $P\in\{ \pm1\} ^{n}$, the authors associate the $U_{q}(\mathfrak{gl}_{1\mid1})$-representation $V_{P}\otimes L(\lambda_{P})$, where $V_{P}$ is a tensor product of copies $V$ and $V^{\ast}$, and $L(\lambda_{P})$ is an appropriately chosen $2$-dimensional representation depending on $P$ and a basis $B$ whose vectors are in bijection with subsets of $[n]=\{ 0,1,\dots,n\} $. The dg algebra $A(P)$ has primitive idempotents in bijection with subsets of $[n]$, $e_{\boldsymbol{s}}$ standing for the primitive idempotent in correspondence with $\boldsymbol{s}\subseteq[n]$. Theorem. Let \[ P=(P_{1},\dots,P_{n}) \in\{ \pm1\} ^{n} \] be a sign sequence. Then the Grothendieck group of $dg$ modules over the $dg$ algebra $A(P)$ is a free $\mathbb{Z}[q^{\pm1}]$-module with basis \[ \{ [A(P) e_{\boldsymbol{s}}] \mid \boldsymbol{s}\subseteq[n] \} \] Identifying the basis vector $[A(P) e_{\boldsymbol{s}}]$ with the basis vector in $B$ associated to the subset $\boldsymbol{s}$ determines an isomorphism of vector spaces \[ K_{0}(A(P) ) \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}[q^{\pm 1}]}\mathbb{C}(q) \widetilde{=}V_{P}\otimes L(\lambda_{P}) \] Let $\mathcal{T}$ be a tangle and color each strand of $\mathcal{T}$ by the vector representation $V$. Under the above identification, up to an overall factor of a positive integer power of $(1-q^{-2})$, box tensor product with the type $DA$ bimodule $\widetilde{\mathrm{CT}}(\mathcal{T})$ acts on $K_{0}(A(P) )$ as the Reshetikhin-Turaev intertwiner associated to the colored tangle $\mathcal{T}$ (with reversed orientation) tensored with $\mathrm{id}_{L(\lambda_{P})}$. The authors introduce dg bimodules $E(P)$ and $F(P)$ over $(A(P),A(P))$ which act on $K_{0}(A(P))$ as the elements $E$ and $F$ of $U_{q}(\mathfrak{gl}_{1\mid1})$. Distinct from other categorifications of quantized enveloping algebras, these dg bimodules do not arise by induction and restriction with respect to a tower of algebras comprising the dg algebras $A(P)$. Theorem. For any sign sequence $P$, under the identification of the elementary basis with the basis $B$ in the previous theorem, the actions the dg bimodules $E(P)$ and $F(P)$ on $K_{0}(A(P) )$ equal the actions of $E,F\in U_{q}(\mathfrak{gl}_{1\mid1})$ on $V_{P}\otimes L(\lambda_{P})$. There are quasi-isomorphisms \begin{align*} E(P) \widetilde{\otimes}_{A(P)}E(P)& \simeq0\\ F(P) \widetilde{\otimes}_{A(P)}F(P)& \simeq0 \end{align*} Furthermore, there exists a distinguished triangle \[ E(P) \widetilde{\otimes}_{A(P)}F(P)\rightarrow A(P) \rightarrow F(P) \widetilde{\otimes}_{A(P)}E(P) \rightarrow E(P) \widetilde{\otimes}_{A(P)}F(P) [1] \] For any tangle $\mathcal{T}$, we have \begin{align*} E(-\partial^{0}\mathcal{T}) \boxtimes\widetilde{\mathrm{CT}}(\mathcal{T}) & \simeq A(-\partial^{0}\mathcal{T}) \boxtimes\widetilde{\mathrm{CT}}(\mathcal{T})\widetilde{\otimes}_{A(\partial^{1}\mathcal{T})}E(\partial^{1}\mathcal{T})\\ F(-\partial^{0}\mathcal{T}) \boxtimes\widetilde{\mathrm{CT}}(\mathcal{T}) & \simeq A(-\partial^{0}\mathcal{T}) \boxtimes\widetilde{\mathrm{CT}}(\mathcal{T})\widetilde{\otimes}_{A(\partial^{1}\mathcal{T})}F(\partial^{1}\mathcal{T}) \end{align*} as type $AA$ bimodules over $(A(-\partial^{0}\mathcal{T}),A(\partial^{1}\mathcal{T}) )$.