Deformations of coisotropic submanifolds and strong homotopy Lie algebroids (Q2487926)

Let \((X,\omega_X)\) be a symplectic manifold. A submanifold \(i:Y\hookrightarrow (X,\omega_X)\) is called isotropic if the symplectic orthogonal \((TY)^\omega=:E\) satisfies \(E\subset TY\) and has constant rank. The pair \((Y,\omega:=i^*\omega_X)\) is a pre-symplectic manifold, i.e., \(\omega\) is a closed two form with constant rank on \(Y\). The purpose of this very interesting paper is to describe the moduli space of coisotropic submanifolds modulo the Hamiltonian isotopy in a symplectic manifold, and its formal counterpart, as well as to unravel the geometric and algebraic structures that govern the deformation problem of such submanifolds. The starting point is the fact that a neighborhood of any coisotropic submanifold \(Y\subset (X,\omega_X)\) is locally diffeomorphic to a neighborhood \(U\) of the zero section \(Y\hookrightarrow E^*\) of the bundle \(E^* \to Y\) with a symplectic form \(\omega_U\) on \(U\) depending on the choice of a splitting \(TY=G\oplus E\) [see \textit{M. Gotay}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 84, 111--114 (1982; Zbl 0476.53020); \textit{I. Vaisman}, Monatsh. Math. 96, 293--310 (1983; Zbl 0521.58035)]. The pair \((U,\omega_U)\) provides an explicit normal form (unique up to diffeomorphism) of the symplectic neighborhood of the pair \((Y,\omega)\) which depends only on \((Y,\omega)\) and the above splitting, and is called a symplectic thickening of \((Y,\omega)\). The intrinsic geometry of the pre-symplectic manifold \((Y,\omega)\) and the extrinsic geometry of its symplectic thickening are studied. The relation between the intrinsic equivalence between the pre-symplectic structures and the extrinsic equivalence between coisotropic embeddings in \(U\) is explained in detail. The authors discuss the full (local) moduli problem of coisotropic submanifolds by analyzing the condition [the master equation for \((Y,\omega)\)] for a graph of a section \(s:Y\to U\) in the symplectic thickening \(U\) to be coisotropic with respect to \(\omega_U\). This general coisotropic case is a noncommutative and nonlinear generalization of the well-known description of the local deformation space of Lagrangian submanifolds as the set of graphs of closed one forms in the Darboux-Weinstein chart of a given Lagrangian submanifold [see \textit{A. Weinstein}, Adv. Math. 6, 329--346 (1971; Zbl 0213.48203)]. The algebraic structure that provides an invariant description of the master equation in the formal level is the strong homotopy Lie algebroid [see \textit{K. Fukaya}, Deformation theory, homological algebra and mirror symmetry, in: Geometry and Physics of Branes. Series in High Energy Physics-Cosmology and Gravitation, U. Bruzzo, et al. Bristol: Institute of Physics Publishing, 121--209 (2003; Zbl 1058.81002)]. One associates a canonical isomorphism class of strong homotopy Lie algebroids to each pre-symplectic manifold \((Y,\omega)\) and one identifies the formal deformation space of coisotropic embeddings into a symplectic manifold in terms of this algebraic structure. The formal moduli space then is provided by the gauge equivalence classes of solutions of a version of the Maurer-Cartan equation of the strong homotopy Lie algebroid, and plays the role of the classical part of the moduli space of quantum deformation space of coisotropic A-branes. The authors provide a criterion for the unobstructedness of the deformation problem and analyze a one parameter family of examples \((Y_\alpha,\omega_\alpha)\) from the mechanics of harmonic oscillator that illustrates that this deformation problem is obstructed in general and closely tied to the geometry and dynamics of the foliation on \(Y\) defined by the integrable distribution \(E\). There is also an appendix in which the authors give a more physical description of the deformation problem in the context of Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism of supermanifolds. The present work is a mathematical spin-off of an authors' paper in preparation (the title: Open/closed \(A\)-model) in which they provide an off-shell description of topological open/closed \(A\)-strings and \(A\)-branes on a symplectic manifold. One should also mention that in a recent paper [Deformation of integral coisotropic submanifolds in symplectic manifolds, preprint, math. SG/0312107, revised version November 8, 2004] \textit{W.-D. Ruan} studied a deformation problem of a restricted class of coisotropic submanifolds which he calls integral coisotropic submanifolds.