Non-formal homogeneous spaces

DOI10.1007/S00209-012-1117-6MaRDI QIDQ358850zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 9 August 2013

Published in Mathematische Zeitschrift (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1206.0786

formality.homogeneous space non-formal manifold rational homotopy theory

Algebraic topology of manifolds (57N65) Homology and cohomology of homogeneous spaces of Lie groups (57T15) Homotopy groups of topological groups and homogeneous spaces (57T20)

Abstract: Several large classes of homogeneous spaces are known to be formal---in the sense of Rational Homotopy Theory. However, it seems that far fewer examples of non-formal homogeneous spaces are known. In this article we provide several construction principles and characterisations for non-formal homogeneous spaces, which will yield a lot of examples. This will enable us to prove that, from dimension 72 on, such a space can be found in each dimension.

Review text

Let \(G\) be a compact connected Lie group and let \(H\) be a closed subgroup of \(G \times G\). Then \(H\) acts on \(G\) on the left by \((h_1 , h_2)\dot g = h_1 g {h_2}^{-1}\). The orbit space of this action is called the \textit{biquotient} \(G//H\) of \(G\) by \(H\). If the action of \(H\) on \( G\) is free, then \(G//H\) has a manifold structure. In the present paper the author considers the free action case. We know that rational homotopy theory provides a powerful machinery to compute and investigate homotopical properties of topological spaces. The important concept in rational homotopy theory is formality. We know that a topological space is called \textit{formal} if the information contained in its rational cohomology algebra is the same as its rational homotopy type. In particular, the rational homotopy groups \({\pi}_* (X) \otimes \mathbb Q\) of a simply connected formal \(X\) can be computed from its rational cohomology algebra. If a space is formal then all Massey products vanish. Also formality can be used to distinguish Kähler manifolds from symplectic manifolds, and it is an obstruction to geometric formality which is also extensively studied on homogeneous spaces. For example, the non-formality of \(C=\frac{SU(6)}{SU(3) x SU(3)}\) plays a crucial role for existence of a non-negatively curved vector bundle over \(C x T\) where \(T\) is a torus with \(\dim T \geq 2\) and its total space admits a complete metric of non-negative sectional curvature with the zero section. Some results about formality of homogeneous spaces are already known. For example, symmetric spaces of compact type, \(N\)-symmetric spaces are formal. A connected topological space is called \textit{nilpotent} if its fundamental group is a nilpotent group acting nilpotently on higher homotopy groups. A nilpotent topological space \(X\) is called rationally elliptic if the graded vector space \({\pi}_* (X) \otimes \mathbb Q\) is finite dimensional. If the rank of \(G\) is equal to the rank of \(H\) the biquotient space \(G//H\) is rationally elliptic (positively elliptic) with positive Euler characteristic. Also it is known that a compact homogeneous space is formal iff \(G\) and \(H\) form a Cartan pair. Also it is known that the following homogeneous spaces are non-formal. For \(p,q \geq 3\) and \(n\geq 5\), \[ \frac{SU(pq)}{SU(p) x SU(q)},\quad \frac{Sp(n)}{SU(n)}. \] In this paper the author gives three principles of how to construct non-formal homogeneous spaces respectively biquotients. In particular these principles provide non-formality of known examples and also \[ \frac{SU(p+q)}{SU(p) x SU(q)},\quad \frac{SO(2n)}{SU(n)} \] for \(p+q\geq 4, n\geq 8\). So the author proves that from dimension \(72\) on, non-formal homogeneous spaces can be found in each dimension.

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