String topology in three flavors (Q6149846)

In this note the authors describe two major string topology operations, the Chas-Sullivan product and the Goresky-Hingston coproduct, from geometric and algebraic perspectives. They use methods from rational homotopy theory to compare the two descriptions, where the role of configuration spaces is emphasized. ``The geometric aspect of string topology will be illustrated through computations of loop products and coproducts via intersections of geometric cycles in examples from lens spaces. Algebraically, we will see that the two operations together define a single product on the Tate-Hochschild complex, defined in Section 3.4, and are encoded by the data of a Manin triple. Finally, we will address the question of homotopy invariance for the product and coproduct.''