Legendrian knots and exact Lagrangian cobordisms (Q343108)

The 2-plane field \(\xi_{_0}=\ker(\alpha_{_0})\), where \(\alpha_{_0}=dz-ydx\) with respect to the standard coordinates \((x,y,z)\), is the standard contact structure on \(\mathbb R^3\). A 1-dimensional submanifold \(\Lambda\subset\mathbb R^3\) is Legendrian if it is everywhere tangent to \(\xi_{_0}\). The vector field \(R_{\alpha_{_0}}=\partial_z\) is the Reeb vector field of \(\alpha_{_0}\). A Reeb chord of a Legendrian link \(\Lambda\subset\mathbb R^3\) is an integral curve of \(R_{\alpha_{_0}}\) with initial and terminal points on \(\Lambda\) and the set of all Reeb chords is \({\mathcal C}(\Lambda)\). A triple \((X,\omega,\beta)\) consisting of a \(2n\)-dimensional symplectic manifold \((X,\omega)\) and a \(1\)-form \(\beta\) satisfying \(d\beta=\omega\) is called an exact symplectic manifold. An \(n\)-dimensional submanifold \(L\subset X\) is Lagrangian if \(\omega|_{L}=0\), and is exact Lagrangian if \(\beta|_{L}\) is exact. If \(\Lambda_+\) and \(\Lambda_-\) are Legendrian links in \(\mathbb R^3\), \((X,\omega,\beta)\) is an exact symplectic manifold whose positive and negative ends agree with the positive and negative ends of \((\mathbb R\times\mathbb R^3,e^t\alpha_{_0})\), and \(L\subset X\) is an oriented exact Lagrangian submanifold, then the pair \(((X,\omega,\beta),L)\) is said to be an exact Lagrangian cobordism from \(\Lambda_+\) to \(\Lambda_-\) with cylindrical Lagrangian ends \({\mathcal E}_{\pm}(L)\) if there exists \(T>0\) such that \({\mathcal E}_+(L)=L\cap((T,\infty)\times\mathbb R^3)=(T,\infty)\times\Lambda_+\), \({\mathcal E}_-(L)=L\cap((-\infty,-T)\times\mathbb R^3)=(-\infty,-T)\times\Lambda_-\), and \(f\) is constant on each \({\mathcal E}_+(L)\) and \({\mathcal E}_-(L)\) whenever \(df=\beta|_{L}\), and \(L\) is compact with boundary \(\Lambda_+-\Lambda_-\) after removing the cylindrical ends \({\mathcal E}_{\pm}(L)\). An exact Lagrangian cobordism from \(\Lambda\) to \(\varnothing\) is an exact Lagrangian filling of \(\Lambda\). An exact Lagrangian cobordism from \(\Lambda_+\) to \(\Lambda_-\) with cylindrical Lagrangian ends induces a differential graded algebra (DGA) map from the Legendrian contact homology DGA of \(\Lambda_+\) to that of \(\Lambda_-\). In [in: GAFA 2000. Visions in mathematics -- Towards 2000. Proceedings of a meeting, Tel Aviv, August 25 -- September 3, 1999. Part II. Basel: Birkhäuser. 560--673 (2000; Zbl 0989.81114)], \textit{Y. Eliashberg} et al. described a new theory, Symplectic Field Theory, which provides an approach to Gromov-Witten invariants of symplectic manifolds and their Lagrangian submanifolds in the spirit of topological field theory, and at the same time serves as a rich source of new invariants of contact manifolds and their Legendrian submanifolds. The goal of this paper is to introduce constructions of exact Lagrangian cobordisms with cylindrical Legendrian ends and to study their invariants which arise from Symplectic Field Theory. The authors give a gradient flow tree description of the DGA maps for certain pairs \((X,L)\), which in turn yields a purely combinatorial description of the cobordism map for elementary cobordisms, that is, cobordisms that correspond to certain local modifications of Legendrian knots. As an application, they find exact Lagrangian surfaces that fill a fixed Legendrian link and are not isotopic through exact Lagrangian surfaces. It is shown that if \(\Lambda_n\) is the Legendrian \((2,n)\)-torus link, \(A_n=(2^{n+1}-(-1)^{n+1})/3\), and \(g_n=(n-1)/2\) if \(n\) is odd and \(g_n=(n-2)/2\) if \(n\) is even, then there are at least \(A_n\), respectively \(A_n-1\), smoothly isotopic exact Lagrangian fillings of \(\Lambda_n\) of genus \(g_n\) that are pairwise nonisotopic through exact Lagrangian surfaces when \(n\) is odd, respectively even.