Instantons and rational homology spheres

arXiv2210.14071MaRDI QIDQ6415074FDOQ6415074

Publication date: 25 October 2022

Abstract: In previous work, the second author defined 'equivariant instanton homology groups'

for a rational homology 3-sphere

Y

, a set of auxiliary data

p i

, and a PID

R

. These objects are modules over the cohomology ring

H^{- *} (B S O_{3}; R)

. We prove that the equivariant instanton homology groups

are independent of the auxiliary data

p i

, and thus define topological invariants of rational homology spheres. Further, we prove that these invariants are functorial under cobordisms of 3-manifolds with a path between the boundary components. For any rational homology sphere

Y

, we may also define an analogue of Floer's irreducible instanton homology group of integer homology spheres

I_{*} (Y, p i; R)

which now depends on the auxiliary data

p i

, unlike the equivariant instanton homology groups. However, our methods allow us to prove a precise "wall-crossing formula for $I_{*} (Y, p i; R)$ as the auxiliary data $p i$ moves between adjacent chambers. We use this to define an instanton invariant $l a m b d a_{I} (Y) i n B b b Q$ of rational homology spheres, conjecturally equal to the Casson-Walker invariant. Our approach to invariance uses a novel technique known as a suspended flow category. Given an obstructed cobordism $W : Y o Y^{'}$ , which supports reducible instantons which can neither be cut out transversely nor be removed by a small change to the perturbation, we remove and replace a neighborhood of obstructed solutions in the moduli space of instantons. The resulting moduli spaces have a new type of boundary component, so do not define a chain map between the instanton chain complexes of $Y$ and $Y^{'}$ . However, it does define a chain map between the instanton chain complex of $Y$ and a sort of suspension of the instanton chain complex of $Y^{'}$ .

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Floer homology (57R58)

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