Blob homology (Q441123)

The paper develops a far-reaching generalization of the ``classical'' notion of a topological quantum field theory. The motivation comes, in part, from low-dimensional topology where recently introduced structures -- in particular the Khovanov homology of links and Floer homology theories of \(3\)-manifolds -- do not fit in the traditional framework of quantum topology but require a more general setting of derived categories. Given an \(n\)-manifold \(M\) and an \(n\)-category \({\mathcal C}\), the authors define a chain complex (the ``blob complex'') \({\mathcal B}_*(M;{\mathcal C)}\) which may be thought of both as a generalization of the TQFT (skein module) construction and a generalization of the Hochschild homology to higher \(n\)-categories. Specifically, the \(0\)-th homology of the blob complex is isomorphic to the usual TQFT of \(M\) associated to \({\mathcal C}\). In the special case when \(n=1\), \(M\) is the circle and \({\mathcal C}\) is a \(1\)-category, \({\mathcal B}_*(S^1;{\mathcal C)}\) is quasi-isomorphic to the Hochschild complex \(\text{Hoch}_* ({\mathcal C})\). The blob complex satisfies nice formal properties, including a higher dimensional generalization of Deligne's conjecture about the action of the little disks operad on Hochschild cochains. The construction of the blob complex is based on a very natural idea which may be very informally summarized as follows. A TQFT may be defined as a quotient of linear combinations of fields on a manifold, modulo local relations, discussed in the paper and in more detail in [\textit{K. Walker}, TQFTs, notes (2006), available at \url{http://canyon23.net/math/}]. For the blob complex, the \(0\)-th chain group \({\mathcal B}_0\) consists of linear combination of fields, \({\mathcal B}_1\) is linear combinations of local relations, \({\mathcal B}_2\) is linear relations among relations, etc. To make this idea precise and to ensure that the complex satisfies nice properties, a system of fields in the TQFT context is replaced in this construction by a relevant notion of an \(n\)-category. The notion considered in the paper is that of an \(n\)-category with strong duality (``disk-like \(n\)-categories''), and an analogous notion of an \(A_{\infty}\) \(n\)-category. This is a foundational paper which develops ideas that are likely to be influential in low-dimensional topology, quantum topology and beyond. The reader interested in a general outline of the ideas and applications but perhaps not the technical details may want to read a concise summary of the construction in [\textit{S. Morrison} and \textit{K. Walker}, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108, No. 20, 8139--8145 (2011; Zbl 1256.18007)].