Symplectic homology of Lefschetz fibrations and Floer homology of the monodromy map (Q451776)

Given a symplectic manifold \(F\) and a collection of symplectic Dehn twists in Lagrangian spheres on \(F\), it is possible to form a Lefschetz fibration \(M\to D^2\) over the disc whose fibre is \(F\) and whose monodromies are given by these Dehn twists. This picture has been popular since \textit{S. K. Donaldson} [J. Differ. Geom. 53, No. 2, 205--236 (1999; Zbl 1040.53094)] proved that every symplectic manifold (after blowing up) arises as the total space of a Lefschetz fibration. Lefschetz fibrations provide a reduction of dimension: questions about the total space sometimes translate into questions about the fibres and their symplectomorphisms. This reduction of dimension has proved useful in computing certain symplectic invariants of the total space of a symplectic Lefschetz fibration, for instance, Seidel's proof [\textit{P. Seidel}, ``Homological mirror symmetry for the quartic surface'', \url{arXiv:math/0310414}] of homological mirror symmetry for the quartic surface uses such a dimensional reduction to compute the Fukaya category of an affine quartic surface. The paper under review studies a Liouville domain \(M\) which occurs as the total space of a Lefschetz fibration whose fibres are Liouville domains \(F\) and whose global monodromy \(\phi\) is compactly supported. The paper constructs a spectral sequence, whose \(E_1\) page is built out of the Floer homology groups of \(\phi\) and its iterates, which converges to the symplectic homology of the total space \(M\). There is some delicacy involved in defining the \(E_1\)-page and relating it to the Floer homology of \(\phi\) and its iterates. The novelty of the applications presented in the paper is that they start with information about the total space \(M\) and draw conclusions about the monodromy \(\phi\). The two main applications are the following. Corollary 1.4: Suppose that \(M\) is the total space of the product Lefschetz fibration \(\mathbb C\times F'\) for a Liouville domain \(F'\) and stabilise this fibration an arbitrary number of times (each stabilisation adds a Weinstein \(n\)-handle to the fibre and composes the monodromy with a Dehn twist in a Lagrangian sphere intersecting the cocore of the handle transversely once) to obtain a Lefschetz fibration with page \(F\) and monodromy \(\phi\). If the Euler characteristic of \(F\) is nonzero, then \(HF(\phi^k)\) is nonzero for infinitely many \(k\). This works because \(M\) has vanishing symplectic homology and because the total space is unchanged by stabilisation. Corollary 1.5: If \(M\) has infinite-dimensional symplectic homology (for example, \(M\) is a cotangent bundle), then the Floer homology \(HF(\phi^k)\) is nonzero for infinitely many \(k\). Since Floer homology is difficult to compute, examples where it is known to be nonzero have been relatively rare. This paper provides a simple means of constructing an infinite variety of examples. It is an extremely beautiful theorem which doubtless will have further applications.