A Morse theoretic description of string topology

MaRDI QIDQ3645559zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Ralph L. Cohen, Matthias Schwarz

Publication date 18 November 2009

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0809.0868

zbMATH Keywords

fat graphfree loop spacegradient flowloop productMorse theoryribbon graphstring topologySullivan chord diagramumkehr

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

String topology (55P50) Algebraic topology on manifolds and differential topology (57R19) Floer homology (57R58) Abstract critical point theory (Morse theory, Lyusternik-Shnirel'man theory, etc.) in infinite-dimensional spaces (58E05)

Abstract: Let M be a closed, oriented, n-dimensional manifold. In this paper we give a Morse theoretic description of the string topology operations introduced by Chas and Sullivan, and extended by the first author, Jones, Godin, and others. We do this by studying maps from surfaces with cylindrical ends to M, such that on the cylinders, they satisfy the gradient flow equation of a Morse function on the loop space, LM. We then give Morse theoretic descriptions of related constructions, such as the Thom and Euler classes of a vector bundle, as well as the shriek, or unkehr homomorphism.

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Cited in

(8)

• On product structures in Floer homology of cotangent bundles
• Morse theory, graphs, and string topology
• Morse homology for the Yang-Mills gradient flow
• Morse homotopy and topological conformal field theory
• Some computations in string topology
• Loop coproduct in Morse and Floer homology
• Derived string topology and the Eilenberg-Moore spectral sequence
• Floer homology of cotangent bundles and the loop product

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