Gauge theory and string topology

DOI10.1007/S40590-016-0134-6MaRDI QIDQ2398332zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors John D. S. Jones, Ralph L. Cohen

Publication date 15 August 2017

Published in Boletín de la Sociedad Matemática Mexicana. Third Series (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1304.0613

free loop space gauge group string topology units of ring spectra

Loop spaces (55P35) Spectra with additional structure ((E_infty), (A_infty), ring spectra, etc.) (55P43) String topology (55P50) Fibrewise topology (55R70)

Abstract: Given a principal bundle over a closed manifold, G --> P --> M, let P^{Ad} --> M be the associated adjoint bundle. Gruher and Salvatore showed that the Thom spectrum (P^{Ad})^{-TM} is a ring spectrum whose corresponding product in homology is a Chas-Sullivan type string topology product. We refer to this spectrum as the `string topology spectrum of P", S (P). In the universal case when P is contractible, S(P) is equivalent to LM^{-TM} where LM is the free loop space of the manifold. This ring spectrum was introduced by the authors as a homotopy theoretic realization of the Chas-Sullivan string topology of M. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce an action of the gauge group of the principal bundle, G (P) on the string topology spectrum S(P), and to study this action in detail. Indeed we study the entire group of units and the induced representation G(P) --> GL_1(S (P)). We show that this group of units is the group of homotopy automorphisms of the fiberwise suspension spectrum of P. More generally we describe the homotopy type of the group of homotopy automorphisms of any E-line bundle for any ring spectrum E. We import some of the basic ideas of gauge theory, such as the action of the gauge group on the space of connections to the setting of E-line bundles over a manifold, and do explicit calculations. We end by discussing a functorial perspective, which describes a sense in which the string topology spectrum S(P) of a principal bundle is the "linearization" of the gauge group G(P).

Review text

The authors study the interplay of the gauge group of a \(G\)-principal bundle \(P\) and its string topology spectrum \(\mathcal S(P)\). The setup is as follows. Let \(M\) be a closed smooth connected based \(n\)-manifold, let \(G\) be a topological group, and let \(P\) be a principal \(G\)-bundle over \(M\). Then one can form the adjoint bundle \(P^{\text{ad}} = P \times_G G\) over \(M\), pull back the bundle \(- TM\) over \(M\) to \(P^{\text{ad}}\), and form the Thom spectrum \(\mathcal S(P) = (P^{\text{ad}})^{-TM}\) associated with this virtual vector bundle. This ``string topology spectrum has been studied by \textit{K. Gruher} and \textit{P. Salvatore} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 96, No. 1, 78--106 (2008; Zbl 1143.57012)] who relate the product structure on its homology to the Chas-Sullivan product on the shifted homology of the free loop space on \(M\). When the total space of \(P\) is contractible, \(\mathcal S(P)\) is the Thom spectrum \(LM^{-TM}\) studied in earlier work of \textit{R. L. Cohen} and \textit{J. D. S. Jones} [Math. Ann. 324, No. 4, 773--798 (2002; Zbl 1025.55005)]. In the present paper, the authors examine the string topology spectrum \(\mathcal S(P)\) using the language of \(E\)-line bundles over a ring spectrum \(E\) introduced by \textit{M. Ando} et al. [J. Topol. 7, No. 3, 869--893 (2014; Zbl 1312.55011)]. For example, they use a fiberwise suspension to form a \(\Sigma^{\infty}(G_+)\)-line bundle \(\Sigma^{\infty}_M(P_+)\) and show that the endomorphism ring spectrum of \(\Sigma^{\infty}_M(P_+)\) is equivalent to \(\mathcal S(P)\). The gauge group \(\mathcal G(P)\) of continuous automorphisms of \(P\) over the identity of \(M\) can be identified with a suitable group of sections of \(P^{\text{ad}}\). This description provides a map of grouplike monoids from \(\mathcal G(P)\) to the homotopy automorphism space of \( \Sigma^{\infty}_M(P_+)\) and thus a monoid homomorphism from \(\mathcal G(P)\) to the units of \(\mathcal S(P)\). The authors explore various aspects of this action of \(\mathcal G(P)\) on \(\mathcal S(P)\). For example, they define a category of connections associated with an \(E\)-line bundle over \(M\) and show that its nerve has the homotopy type of the classifying space of the homotopy automorphism space of the \(E\)-line bundle. In the case of \( \Sigma^{\infty}_M(P_+)\), this relates the classifying space of the units of \(\mathcal S(P)\) to connections.

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