Formality theorems for Hochschild complexes and their applications (Q844126)

This paper is an introduction to the recent developments on formality theorems for Hochschild complexes and their applications. Starting with a discussion on the general notion of formality for differential graded (DG) Lie algebras, the authors move on to introduce some naturally related objects in this context, namely Maurer-Cartan elements and the associated Goldman-Millson groupoid. As described by the authors, Maurer-Cartan elements can be used to twist a DG Lie algebra to get a new one. It is followed by a careful description of Hochschild complexes and the various algebraic operations involved. This being done, a formulation of Kontsevich's formality theorem is given, as well as its immediate implications, notably the identification between star products and formal Poisson structures on a smooth manifold. Alternative proofs of this theorem are discussed, along with subsequent generalisations of it for Hochschild complexes, in particular in the algebraic geometry setting. Some applications of formality theorems are indicated. The authors finally conclude by providing an example of non-formal DG Lie algebra, answering in this way a question arising in a previous work.