Associahedra, cyclohedra and a topological solution to the A_ Deligne conjecture

(Co)homology of rings and associative algebras (e.g., Hochschild, cyclic, dihedral, etc.) (16E40) Loop space machines and operads in algebraic topology (55P48)

Abstract: We give a topological solution to the

A i n f

Deligne conjecture using associahedra and cyclohedra. For this we construct three CW complexes whose cells are indexed by products of polytopes. Giving new explicit realizations of the polytopes in terms of different types of trees, we are able to show that the CW complexes are cell models for the little discs. The cellular chains of one complex in particular, which is built out of associahedra and cyclohedra, naturally acts on the Hochschild cochains of an

A i n f

algebra yielding an explicit, topological and minimal solution to the

A i n f

Deligne conjecture. Along the way we obtain new results about the cyclohedra, such as a new decompositions into products of cubes and simplices, which can be used to realize them via a new iterated blow--up construction.

Review text

Many different methods have been used to prove the Deligne Conjecture, which says the Hochschild cochains of an associative algebra have an action of the chains on the little discs operad. When one generalizes to the case of an \(A_\infty\)-algebra, however, there have been only two methods of proof: a homological algebra approach by Kontsevich and Soibelman, and the one given in this paper, which is of a more combinatorial flavor. The authors use the previously developed proof, in particular the minimal operad \(\mathcal M\) which acts on the Hochschild cochains of an \(A_\infty\)-algebra. What is new in this paper is a specific topological model whose cochain operad is equivalent to \(\mathcal M\). This description relies heavily on many different flavors of trees whose definitions take up much of the beginning of the paper. These trees are used to define CW models for associahedra and cyclohedra, and then to define a corresponding topological operad \(K^\infty\). To show that the chains on it give an operad equivalent to \(\mathcal M\), the authors compare \(K^\infty\) to an operad \(K^1\), defined via spineless cacti and known to be a model for the little discs operad. The two operads \(K^\infty\) and \(K^1\) are compared via an intermediate operad \(K^{ht}\) which is a refinement of \(K^\infty\) yet contracts to \(K^1\). Two appendices elaborate on some related results. The first gives a description of an alternative approach using arc graphs, as well as further details on some of the operad structures which arise in the paper but are not needed in the proof. The second gives further details on using trees to describe blow-ups of a simplex to a cyclohedron.

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