Open/Closed string topology and moduli space actions via open/closed Hochschild actions (Q970361)

The paper is concerned with some aspects of the so-called Sullivan string topology (see \textit{D. Sullivan}, Sigma models and string topology. M. Lyubich et al. (eds.), Graphs and patterns in mathematics and theoretical physics. Proceedings of the conference dedicated to Dennis Sullivan's 60th birthday, June 14--21, 2001. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS). Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics 73, 1--11 (2005; Zbl 1080.53085); Open and closed string field theory interpreted in classical algebraic topology. U. Tillmann, (ed.), Topology, geometry and quantum field theory. Proceedings of the 2002 Oxford symposium in honour of the 60th birthday of Graeme Segal, Oxford, UK, June 24--29, 2002. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 308, 344--357 (2004; Zbl 1088.81082); String topology background and present state. D. Jerison et al. (eds.), Current developments in mathematics, 2005. Somerville, MA: International Press. 41--88 (2007; Zbl 1171.55003)]. This is a very interesting large research program that aims at characterizing the algebraic topology of a \(d\)-dimensional manifold \(M\) by means of mapping spaces of lower dimensional manifolds into \(M\), by intersecting chains in \(M\) induced by evaluation at points and them forming connected sums. This ``Sullivan string topology package'' would represent a general framework for some interesting phenomena like the so-called Batalin Vilkovisky algebra (BV algebra), Goldman's bracket and Turaev's cobracket for surfaces, and Gerstenhaber-Kodaira-Spencer differential algebra in the deformation theory of an algebra \(A\) via its Hochschild complex (and characterizing nowadays the so-called homotopy Frobenius algebra). In this direction it is recognized that Poincaré duality and the intersection ring of chains play fundamental roles. In particular in this paper one considers for a fixed symmetric monoidal category \({\mathcal C}\) objects \({\mathcal O}(S,T)\) for any couple \((S,T)\) of finite sets, besides \(G\)-coloring morphisms \(\mu:S\dot\cup T\to \Hom_{\mathcal C}({\mathcal O}(S,T),G)\), where \(G\in Ob({\mathcal C})\), denoted by \({\mathcal O}_{\mu}(S,T)\), and c/o structures, i.e., collections of such objects, called also \(G\)-colored closed/open structures, satisfying some suitable properties. (See in the paper.) (Here \(\dot\cup\) denotes disjoint union.) The author extends previous results by D. Sullivan, emphasizing the role played by punctures. He shows that for string topology type operations, one cannot just consider graphs, but one has to restrict the underlying Frobenius algebras. In the moduli space, one first has to pass to a smaller moduli space which is closed under open/closed duality and then consider covers in order to take punctures into account. The paper, after a detailed introduction, splits into six more sections and one appendix. 2. Review of the KP-model for open/closed strings. 3. Geometric c/o structures. 4. Algebraic c/o structures. 5. Correlators. 6. Open/closed string topology. 7. Moduli space actions. Appendix: Operadic, PROPic and c/o structures. Remark. Let us emphasize that the motivation for such a study can be found at the mathematical level only, despite that the origin of the name ``string'' suggests to think of physical applications. Really it is just in the genuine interest to further characterize the algebraic contents of commutative manifolds, in relation to representing there lower dimensional manifolds, that is put the attention by the international mathematical community. In fact, even if in the past some efforts were made to read in such structures instructions for some ``quantization'', nowadays it is well understood that a mathematical framework to describe quantum phenomena can be recognized in the modern geometric theory of quantum (super) PDE's.