Lie algebras of curves and loop-bundles on surfaces (Q6163400)

Let \(M\) be an oriented surface equipped with a Riemannian metric. The authors consider \({S}(M)\), a set of equivalence classes of curves -- precisesly, piecewise geodesic loops -- on \(M\), modulo thin homotopies, which add or remove curves of the form \(aa^{-1}\) to the piecewise geodesic loop. The authors construct a Lie bialgebra structure on \(\mathcal{S}(M)\), the free abelian group generated by elements of \(S(M)\). The authors show that if one replaces thin homotopies by homotopies, the resulting quotient is the Goldman-Turaev Lie bialgebra on the set of free homotopy classes of curves on \(M\). As a consequence, the authors prove a conjecture of \textit{M. Chas} [Topology 43, No. 3, 543--568 (2004; Zbl 1050.57014)], which characterizes simple free homotopy classes on \(M\) in terms of the Goldman bracket. The authors' bracket is defined on elements of \(S(M)\) as follows, and its definition extends by linearity to all of \(\mathcal{S}(M)\). Let \(X,Y\in S(M)\). Then \[[X,Y]=\sum_{(P,Q)\in LP_2(X,Y)}\text{sign}(P,Q)(X\cdot_{(P,Q)}Y)\] The pair \((P,Q)\) is a \textit{linked pair} of the curves \(X\) and \(Y\), initially introduced by Chas in [loc. cit.] and adapted to elements of \(S(M)\) by the authors. The set of linked pairs \(LP_2(X,Y)\) are a tool for capturing intersections of curves \(X\) and \(Y\) combinatorially, when the curves either intersect transversally or coincide along an interval or intervals (for Goldman's bracket, the sum is taken over transverse intersection points of the two loops). Similarly, \(\text{sign}(P,Q)\) and \(X\cdot_{(P,Q)}Y\) are analogues of the algebraic intersection number and loop product for elements of \(S(M)\). The cobracket on \(\mathcal{S}(M)\) is defined similarly. As an application of the construction of the Lie bialgebra above, the authors prove that their bracket characterizes simple classes in \(S(M)\); namely, a primitive element \(X\) in \(S(M)\) satisfies \([X,X^{-1}]=0\) if and only if \(X\) is simple. As a corollary, the authors show that the same characterization of simple free homotopy classes holds for Goldman's bracket, proving a conjecture of \textit{M. Chas} [loc. cit.].