Algebraic string bracket as a Poisson bracket (Q990737)

Let \(A\) be a unital differential graded algebra over \({\mathbf k}= \mathbb R\) or \(\mathbb C\) with a trace \(\text{Tr}:A\rightarrow {\mathbf k}\). Then a Lie algebra structure can be constructed on negative cyclic cohomology \(HC^\bullet_{-}(A)\). The Lie bracket comes from the long exact sequence that relates negative cyclic cohomology to Hochschild cohomology [\textit{L. Menichi}, \(K\)-Theory 32, No. 3, 231--251 (2004; Zbl 1101.19003)]. One example of a DGA considered in this paper is \(A=\Omega^\bullet(M)\) the de Rham forms on \(M\), \(d=d_{DR}\) the exterior derivative, and trace \(\text{Tr}(a) =\int_M a\). A more general example is when \(E\rightarrow M\) is a finite-dimensional complex vector bundle over \(M\) with flat connection \(\nabla\) and \(A=\Omega^\bullet(M,\text{End}(E))\) with the usual \(d_\nabla\). On the other hand and based on work of \textit{W. L. Gan} and \textit{V. Ginzburg} [Mosc. Math. J. 4, No. 3, 719--727 (2004; Zbl 1080.53083)], the authors consider the moduli space of Maurer-Cartan solutions \[ {\mathcal {MC}} = \{a\in A^{\text{odd}}\mid da + a\cdot a = 0\}/_\sim, \] where the equivalence is generated by the ``infinitesimal action'' of \(A^0\) on \(A\) (definitions in section 3). Since only odd elements are considered, the trace induces a symplectic structure on \({\mathcal {MC}}\), and thus one can define a Poisson bracket on the function ring \({\mathcal O}({\mathcal {MC}})\) of \(\mathcal MC\). There is a canonical map \({\mathcal {MC}}\rightarrow HC_\bullet^-(A), a\mapsto \sum_{n\geq 0}1\otimes a^{\otimes n}\) and dualizing gives a map \(\rho : HC_-^{2\bullet}(A)\rightarrow {\mathcal O}({\mathcal {MC}})\). The main theorem of this paper now asserts that this map is a map of Lie algebras. This recovers a special case considered earlier by the first and third author [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 7, 197--231 (2007; Zbl 1142.55006)] where \(\rho\) yields the generalized holonomy map from the equivariant homology of the free loop space of \(M\) to the space of functions on the moduli space of generalized flat connections on a vector bundle over \(M\). When \(\dim M=2\), this also recovers Goldman's results on the space of flat connections on a surface. In a last section, the authors observe that the above constructions generalize to the case of a cyclic \(A_\infty\)-algebra \(A\) where one can construct a Lie bracket on the negative cyclic cohomology of \(A\), and also by symmetrization associate an \(L_\infty\)-algebra to \(A\) which induces a Maurer-Cartan space. The same considerations as above yield a Lie algebra map \(\rho: HC^{2\bullet}_-(A)\rightarrow {\mathcal O}({\mathcal {MC}})\).