Chern-Simons line bundle on Teichmüller space (Q2636585)

This paper is a contribution to the Chern-Simons theory for hyperbolic \(3\)-manifolds. The authors consider a \(3\)-dimensional geometrically finite hyperbolic manifold \(X\) without rank-\(1\) cusps. Typical examples are quotients of \(\mathbb{H}^3\) by quasi-Fuchsian or Schottky groups. The ends of \(X\) are either funnels or rank-\(2\) cusps. The funnels give rise to a conformal boundary \(M\), which is a disjoint union of compact Riemann surfaces. Thus \(X\) can extend to a smooth manifold \(\overline{X}=X\cup M\) with boundary \(M\). The deformation space of \(X\) can be identified to the quotient \(\mathcal T_X=\mathcal T/\text{Mod}_X\), where \(\mathcal{T}\) is the Teichmüller space of \(M\) and \(\text{Mod}_X\) is the subgroup of the modular group \(\text{Mod}\) defined by the restrictions to \(M\) of diffeomorphisms of \(\overline X\) homotopic to the identity; \(\text{Mod}_X\) acts freely, properly discontinuously on \(\mathcal T\), and therefore \(\mathcal T_X\) is a manifold. Since the volume of \(X\) may not be finite, to define and study the Chern-Simons invariant, the authors renormalize the integration on \(X\) in the funnels. Precisely, a hyperbolic funnel is of the form \((0,\epsilon)\times N\) with a metric of the form \[ g=\frac{dx^2+h(x)}{x^2}\quad\text{with}\quad h(x)=h_0\bigg(\bigg(1+\frac{x^2}{2}A\bigg)\cdot\,,\bigg(1+\frac{x^2}{2}A\bigg)\cdot\bigg) \] for \(x\in(0,\epsilon)\), where \(N\) is a compact Riemann surface of genus \(\geq2\) with hyperbolic metric \(h_0\), and \(A\) is an endomorphism of \(TN\) with \(\text{div}_{h_0}A=0\) and \(\text{Tr}A=-\frac{1}{2}\text{scal}_{h_0}\). Thus the conformal boundary \(M\) of \(X\) is the disjoint union of the Riemann surfaces \(N\) as above corresponding to the funnels of \(X\). Extend the coordinates \(x\) of the funnels of \(X\) to a smooth positive function \(x\) on \(X\). Then the renormalized volume of \((X,g)\) is defined by \[ \text{Vol}_R(X)=\text{FP}_{\epsilon\to0}\int_{x>\epsilon}d\,\text{vol}_g, \] where \(\text{FP}\) means the finite part (the coefficient of \(\epsilon^0\) in the asymptotic expansion as \(\epsilon\to0\)). Now let \(\omega\) be the \(\text{so}(3)\)-valued Levi-Civita connection form of \((X,g)\) on an orthonormal frame \(S\) (there is a global frame because the tangent bundle of any \(3\)-manifold is trivial). Then the authors define the ``renormalized'' Chern-Simons invariant \[ \text{CS}(g,S)=-\frac{1}{16\pi^2}\text{FP}_{\epsilon\to0}\int_{x>\epsilon}\text{Tr}\bigg(\omega\wedge d\omega+\frac{2}{3}\omega\wedge\omega\wedge\omega\bigg). \] Assume that \(S\) is even to the first order as \(x\to0\), and, in each cusp, \(S\) is parallel in the direction towards the cusp end. The metric \(\hat g=x^2g\) extends to a smooth Riemannian metric on \(\overline{X}\), and \(\widehat{S}=x^{-1}S\) is an orthonormal frame for \(\hat g\), obtaining the Chern-Simons invariant \(\text{CS}(\hat g,\widehat{S})\). There is a natural \(\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{C})\) principal bundle \(F^{\mathbb{C}}(X)\) with a flat connection over \(X\), and let \(\Theta\) denote its \(\text{sl}_2(\mathbb{C})\)-valued connection \(1\)-form. Then the ``renormalized'' \(\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{C})\) Chern-Simons invariant \(\text{CS}^{\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{C})}(g,S)\) can be given as above by the renormalized integral of the form \(-\frac{1}{4\pi^2}\text{Tr}\big(\Theta\wedge d\Theta+\frac{2}{3}\Theta^3\big)\). It is proved that \(\text{CS}(g,S)=\text{CS}(\hat g,\widehat{S})\), and \[ \text{CS}^{\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{C})}(g,S)=-\frac{i}{2\pi^2}\text{Vol}_R(X)+\frac{i}{4\pi}\chi(M)+\text{CS}(g,S). \] The dependence of \(\text{CS}(g,S)\) and \(\text{CS}^{\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{C})}(g,S)\) on \(g\) leads to consider them as functions on the variation space of \((X,g)\), which is identified with \(\mathcal T_X\). But, since \(X\) may not be closed, \(\text{CS}(g,S)\) and \(\text{CS}^{\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{C})}(g,S)\) depend on the choice of \(S\). This is clarified by the first main theorem, stating the existence of a Hermitian line bundle \(\mathcal{L}\) over \(\mathcal{T}\) equipped with a Hermitian connection \(\nabla^{\mathcal L}\), whose curvature is \(\frac{i}{2\pi}\) times the Weil-Patersson symplectic form \(\omega_{\text{WP}}\) of \(\mathcal T\), and moreover \(\mathcal L\) descends to \(\mathcal T_X\) so that \(e^{2\pi i\text{CS}(g,S)}\) can be considered as a global section. Another theorem allows to realize the set of geometrically finite hyperbolic metrics on \(X\) as a Lagrangian submanifold \(\mathcal H\subset T\mathcal T_X\) for the Liouville symplectic form \(\mu\), \(d\text{Vol}_R=-\frac{1}{4}\mu\) on \(\mathcal H\), and \(\bar\partial\partial\text{Vol}_R=\frac{i}{16}\omega_{\text{WP}}\). The final main theorem states that, in the case of Schottky hyperbolic manifolds, there is an explicit isomorphism between \({\mathcal L}^{-1}\) and \((\det\partial)^{\otimes6}\), where \(\det\partial\) is the Quillen determinant bundle equipped with its Quillen metric and a natural holomorphic structure. These results are strongly related to works by Yoshida, Ramadas, Singer, Weitsman, Freed, Kirk, Klassen, Henningson, Skenderis, Graham, Krasnov, Takhtajan, Teo, Zograf, Marden, Wolpert and Bunke.