In this paper, we begin constructing a new finite-dimensional topological quantum field theory (TQFT) for three-manifolds, based on group PSL(2,C) and its action on a complex variable by fractional-linear transformations, by providing its key ingredient -- a new type of chain complexes. As these complexes happen to be acyclic often enough, we make use of their torsion to construct different versions of manifold invariants. In particular, we show how to construct a large set of invariants for a manifold with boundary, analogous to the set of invariants based on Euclidean geometric values and used in a paper by one of the authors for constructing a "Euclidean" TQFT. We show on examples that our invariants are highly nontrivial.
I give a formula for computing the number of regular $Γ$-coverings of closed orientable Seifert 3-manifolds, for a given finite group $Γ$. The number is computed using a 3d TQFT with finite gauge group, through a cut-and-glue process.
In this paper, we shall be concerned with a relation between TQFTs and cut and paste invariants introduced by Karras, Kreck, Neumann and Ossa. Cut and paste invariants, or SK invariants, are functions on the set of smooth manifolds that are invariant under the cutting and pasting operation. Central to the work in this paper are also SKK invariants, whose values on cut and paste equivalent manifolds differ by an error term depending only on the glueing diffeomorphism. Here we investigate a surprisingly natural group homomorphism between the group of invertible TQFTs and the group of SKK invaria…
A family of TQFTs parametrised by G-crossed braided spherical fusion categories has been defined recently as a state sum model and as a Hamiltonian lattice model. Concrete calculations of the resulting manifold invariants are scarce because of the combinatorial complexity of triangulations, if nothing else. Handle decompositions, and in particular Kirby diagrams are known to offer an economic and intuitive description of 4-manifolds. We show that if 3-handles are added to the picture, the state sum model can be conveniently redefined by translating Kirby diagrams into the graphical calculus of…
Adapting a construction of D Salamon involving the U(1) vortex equations, we explore the properties of a Floer theory for 3-manifolds that fiber over S^1 which exhibits several parallels with monopole Floer homology, and in all likelihood coincides with it. The theory fits into a restricted analogue of a TQFT in which the cobordisms are required to be equipped with Lefschetz fibrations, and has connections to the dynamics of surface symplectomorphisms.
For given closed orientable 3-manifolds $M$ and $N$ let $cD(M,N)$ be the set of mapping degrees from $M$ to $N$. We address the problem: For which $N$, $cD(M,N)$ is finite for all $M$? The answer is known in Thurston's picture of closed orientable irreducible 3-manifolds unless the target is a non-trivial graph manifold. We prove that for each closed non-trivial graph manifold $N$, $cD(M,N)$ is finite for all graph manifold $M$. The proof uses a recently developed standard forms of maps between graph manifolds and the estimation of the $\widetilde{\rm PSL}(2,{\R})$-volume for certain class of …
Using Morse-Bott techniques adapted to the gauge-theoretic setting, we show that the limiting boundary values of the space of finite energy monopoles on a connected 3-manifold with at least two cylindrical ends provides an immersed Lagrangian submanifold of the vortex moduli space at infinity. By studying the signed intersections of such Lagrangians, we supply the analytic details of Donaldson's TQFT construction of the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a closed 3-manifold.
We construct a Topological Quantum Field Theory (in the sense of Atiyah) associated to the universal finite-type invariant of 3-dimensional manifolds, as a functor from the category of 3-dimensional manifolds with parametrized boundary, satisfying some additional conditions, to an algebraic-combinatorial category. It is built together with its truncations with respect to a natural grading, and we prove that these TQFTs are non-degenerate and anomaly-free. The TQFT(s) induce(s) a (series of) representation(s) of a subgroup ${\cal L}_g$ of the Mapping Class Group that contains the Torelli group.…
Let M be a compact, orientable, hyperbolizable 3-manifold with incompressible boundary which is not an interval bundle. We study the dynamics of the action of the outer automorphism group of the fundamental group of M on the relative PSL(2,C)-character variety.
We describe the natural gluing map on sutured Floer homology which is induced by the inclusion of one sutured manifold (M',Γ') into a larger sutured manifold (M,Γ), together with a contact structure on M-M'. As an application of this gluing map, we produce a (1+1)-dimensional TQFT by dimensional reduction and study its properties.
Let C be a spherical fusion category. We prove that the Turaev-Viro-Barrett-Westbury state sum invariant of 3-manifolds derived from C is equal to the Reshetikhin-Turaev surgery invariant of 3-manifolds derived from Z(C), where Z(C) is the Drinfeld-Joyal-Street center of C.
We discuss topological quantum field theories that compute topological invariants which depend on additional structures (or decorations) on three-manifolds. The $q$-series invariant $\hat{Z}(q)$ proposed by Gukov, Pei, Putrov and Vafa is an example of such an invariant. We describe how to obtain these decorated invariants by cutting and gluing, and make a proposal for Hilbert spaces that are assigned to two-dimensional surfaces in the $\hat{Z}$-TQFT.
We develop an explicit skein theoretical algorithm to compute the Alexander polynomial of a 3-manifold from a surgery presentation employing the methods used in the construction of quantum invariants of 3-manifolds. As a prerequisite we establish and prove a rather unexpected equivalence between the topological quantum field theory constructed by Frohman and Nicas using the intersection homology of U(1)-representation varieties on the one side and the combinatorially constructed Hennings-TQFT based on the quasitriangular Hopf algebra ${\cal N}=\Z/2\ltimes \ext *\R^2$ on the other side. We find…
We show that a PSL(2;R)-representation of a Fuchsian group induces the asymptotics of the Reidemeister torsion for the Seifert manifold corresponding to the euler class of the PSL(2;R)-representation. We also show that the limit of leading coefficient of the Reidemeister torsion is determined by the euler class of a PSL(2;R)-representation of a Fuchsian group. In particular, the leading coefficient of the Reidemeister torsion for the unit tangent bundle over a two-orbifold converges to $-χ\log2$ where $χ$ is the Euler characteristic of the two-orbifold. We also give a relation between $\mathbb…
Let M a 3-manifold with torus boundary which is a rational homology circle. We study deformations of reducible representations of p_1(M) into PSL_2(C) associated to a simple zero of the twisted Alexander polynomial. We also describe the local structure of the representation and character varieties.
In this article we prove that any unitary, axiomatic topological quantum field theory in four-dimensions can not detect changes in the smooth structure of M, a simply connected, closed (compact without boundary), oriented smooth manifold. However, as Donaldson-Witten theory (a topological quantum field theory but not an axiomatic one) is able to detect changes in the smooth structure of such an M, this seemingly leads to a contradiction. This seeming contradiction is resolved by introducing a new set of axioms for a "differential quantum field theory", which in truth only slightly modify the n…
We give an overview over several constructions of TQFT's over finite fields and cyclotomic integers and their applications to characterizing 3-manifolds and their fundamental groups.
We construct families of TQFT's over the finite field Z/pZ starting from an integral TQFT obtained by Frohman and Nicas. These TQFT's are likely to describe the constant order contributions of the cyclotomic integer expansions of the Reshetikhin Turaev Ohtsuki theories. Their modular structure is intimately related to the p-modular representation theory of the symmetric groups S_n. We construct resolutions of simple p-modular TQFT's and S_n-modules over Z/pZ using powers of Lefschetz operators. These yield expansions of the irreducible p-modular S_n-characters in terms of the ordianry ones as …
Invariants of 3-manifolds from a non semi-simple category of modules over a version of quantum $sl(2)$ were obtained by the last three authors in arXiv:1202.3553 . They are invariants of $3$-manifolds together with a cohomology class which can be interpreted as a line bundle with flat connection. In arXiv:1404.7289 we have extended those invariants to graded TQFTs on suitable cobordism categories. Here we give an overview of constructions and results, and describe the TQFT vector spaces. Then we provide a new, algebraic, approach to the computation of these vector spaces.
A TQFT is a functor from a cobordism category to the category of vector spaces, satisfying certain properties. An important property is that the vector spaces should be finite dimensional. For the WRT TQFT, the relevant 2+1-cobordism category is built from manifolds which are equipped with an extra structure such as a p_1-structure, or an extended manifold structure. We perform the universal construction of Blanchet, Habegger, Masbaum and Vogel on a cobordism category without this extra structure and show that the resulting quantization functor assigns an infinite dimensional vector space to t…
In this paper, we establish the general theory of (2+1)-dimensional topological quantum field theory (in short, TQFT) with a Verlinde basis. It is a consequence that we have a Dehn surgery formula for 3-manifold invariants for this kind of TQFT's. We will show that Turaev-Viro-Ocneanu unitary TQFT's obtained from subfactors satisfy the axioms of TQFT's with Verlinde bases. Hence, in a Turaev-Viro-Ocneanu TQFT, we have a Dehn surgery formula for 3-manifolds. It turns out that this Dehn surgery formula is nothing but the formula of the Reshetikhin-Turaev invariant constructed from a tube system,…
Karen Uhlenbeck's compactness theorem for sequences of connections with L2 bounds on curvature applies only to connections on principal bundles with compact structure group. This article states and proves an extension of Uhlenbecks theorem that describes sequences of connections on principal PSL(2;C) bundles over compact three dimensional manifolds.
We prove a conjecture of Hutchings and Lee relating the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a closed 3-manifold X with b_1 > 0 to an invariant that `counts' gradient flow lines--including closed orbits--of a circle-valued Morse function on the manifold. The proof is based on a method described by Donaldson for computing the Seiberg-Witten invariants of 3-manifolds by making use of a `topological quantum field theory,' which makes the calculation completely explicit. We also realize a version of the Seiberg-Witten invariant of X as the intersection number of a pair of totally real submanifolds of a pr…
We study small Seifert possibly chiral cosmetic surgeries on not necessarily null-homologous knot in rational homology spheres. Using $PSL_2(\mathbb{C})$-character variety theory we give a sharp bound on the number of slopes producing the same small Seifert manifold if the ambient manifold satisfies some representation theoretic conditions.
We derive formulae which lend themselves to TQFT interpretations of the Milnor torsion, the Lescop invariant, the Casson invariant, and the Casson-Morita cocyle of a 3-manifold, and, furthermore, relate them to the Reshetikhin-Turaev theory.
In this paper we show how one can extend Turaev-Viro invariants, defined for an arbitrary spherical fusion category $C$, to 3-manifolds with corners. We demonstrate that this gives an extended TQFT which conjecturally coincides with the Reshetikhin-Turaev TQFT corresponding to the Drinfeld center $Z(C)$. In the present paper we give a partial proof of this statement.
We give parallel constructions of an invariant R(W,f), based on the classical Rogers dilogarithm, and of quantum hyperbolic invariants (QHI), based on the Faddeev-Kashaev quantum dilogarithms, for flat PSL(2,C)-bundles f over closed oriented 3-manifolds W. All these invariants are explicitely computed as a sum or state sums over the same hyperbolic ideal tetrahedra of the idealization of any fixed simplicial 1-cocycle description of (W,f) of a special kind, called a D-triangulation. R(W,f) recovers the volume and the Chern-Simons invariant of f, and we conjecture that it determines the semi-cl…
If $Γ<\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ is a lattice, we define an invariant of a representation $Γ\rightarrow \mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{C})$ using the Borel class $β(n)\in \mathrm{H}^3_\mathrm{c}(\mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{C}),\mathbb{R})$. We show that the invariant is bounded and its maximal value is attained by conjugation of the composition of the lattice embedding with the irreducible complex representation $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\rightarrow \mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{C})$. Major ingredients of independent interest are the extension to degenerate configuration of flags of a Goncharov cocycle and its …
We work in the reduced SU(N,K) modular category as constructed recently by Blanchet. We define spin type and cohomological refinements of the Turaev-Viro invariants of closed oriented 3-manifolds and give a formula relating them to Blanchet's invariants. Roberts' definition of the Turaev-Viro state sum is exploited. Furthermore, we construct refined Turaev-Viro and Reshetikhin-Turaev TQFT's and study the relationship between them.
Let $M$ be a hyperbolizable $3$-manifold with boundary, and let $χ_0(M)$ be a component of the $PSL_2\mathbb{C}$-character variety of $M$ that contains the convex co-compact characters. We show that the peripheral map $i_*:χ_0(M)\rightarrowχ(\partial M)$ to the character variety of $\partial M$ is a birational isomorphism with its image, and in particular is generically a one-to-one map. This generalizes work of Dunfield (one cusped hyperbolic $3$-manifolds) and Klaff-Tillmann (finite volume hyperbolic $3$-manifolds). We use the Bonahon-Schläfli formula and volume rigidity of discrete co-compa…
We define a "sutured topological quantum field theory", motivated by the study of sutured Floer homology of product 3-manifolds, and contact elements. We study a rich algebraic structure of suture elements in sutured TQFT, showing that it corresponds to contact elements in sutured Floer homology. We use this approach to make computations of contact elements in sutured Floer homology over $\Z$ of sutured manifolds $(D^2 \times S^1, F \times S^1)$ where $F$ is finite. This generalises previous results of the author over $\Z_2$ coefficients. Our approach elaborates upon the quantum field theoreti…
We propose and in some cases prove a precise relation between 3-manifold invariants associated with quantum groups at roots of unity and at generic $q$. Both types of invariants are labeled by extra data which plays an important role in the proposed relation. Bridging the two sides - which until recently were developed independently, using very different methods - opens many new avenues. In one direction, it allows to study (and perhaps even to formulate) $q$-series invariants labeled by spin$^c$ structures in terms of non-semisimple invariants. In the opposite direction, it offers new insight…
In this paper we are interested in computing representations of the fundamental group of a 3-manifold into PSL(3;C) (in particular in PSL(2;C); PSL(3;R) and PU(2; 1)). The representations are obtained by gluing decorated tetrahedra of flags. We list complete computations (giving 0-dimensional or 1-dimensional solution sets) for the first complete hyperbolic non-compact manifolds with finite volume which are obtained gluing less than three tetrahedra with a description of the computer methods used to find them.
We show that unrolled quantum groups at odd roots of unity give rise to relative modular categories. These are the main building blocks for the construction of 1+1+1-TQFTs extending CGP invariants, which are non-semisimple quantum invariants of closed 3-manifolds decorated with ribbon graphs and cohomology classes. When we consider the zero cohomology class, these quantum invariants are shown to coincide with the renormalized Hennings invariants coming from the corresponding small quantum groups.
We use modified traces to renormalize Lyubashenko's closed 3-manifold invariants coming from twist non-degenerate finite unimodular ribbon categories. Our construction produces new topological invariants which we upgrade to 2+1-TQFTs under the additional assumption of factorizability. The resulting functors provide monoidal extensions of Lyubashenko's mapping class group representations, as discussed in arXiv:2010.14852. This general framework encompasses important examples of non-semisimple modular categories coming from the representation theory of quasi-Hopf algebras, which were left out of…
We formulate a family of spin Topological Quantum Filed Theories (spin-TQFTs) as fermionic generalization of bosonic Dijkgraaf-Witten TQFTs. They are obtained by gauging $G$-equivariant invertible spin-TQFTs, or, in physics language, gauging the interacting fermionic Symmetry Protected Topological states (SPTs) with a finite group $G$ symmetry. We use the fact that the latter are classified by Pontryagin duals to spin-bordism groups of the classifying space $BG$. We also consider unoriented analogues, that is $G$-equivariant invertible pin$^\pm$-TQFTs (fermionic time-reversal-SPTs) and their g…
We estimate the upper bound for the $\ell^{\infty}$-norm of the volume form on $\mathbb{H}^2\times\mathbb{H}^2\times\mathbb{H}^2$ seen as a class in $H_{c}^{6}(\mathrm{PSL}_{2}\mathbb{R}\times\mathrm{PSL}_{2}\mathbb{R}\times\mathrm{PSL}_{2}\mathbb{R};\mathbb{R})$. This gives the lower bound for the simplicial volume of closed Riemennian manifolds covered by $\mathbb{H}^{2}\times\mathbb{H}^{2}\times\mathbb{H}^{2}$. The proof of these facts yields an algorithm to compute the lower bound of closed Riemannian manifolds covered by $\big(\mathbb{H}^2\big)^n$.
We construct {\it quantum hyperbolic invariants} (QHI) for triples $(W,L,ρ)$, where $W$ is a compact closed oriented 3-manifold, $ρ$ is a flat principal bundle over $W$ with structural group $PSL(2,\mc)$, and $L$ is a non-empty link in $W$. These invariants are based on the Faddeev-Kashaev's {\it quantum dilogarithms}, interpreted as matrix valued functions of suitably decorated hyperbolic ideal tetrahedra. They are explicitely computed as state sums over the decorated hyperbolic ideal tetrahedra of the {\it idealization} of any fixed {\it $\Dd$-triangulation}; the $\Dd$-triangulations are sim…
Let $M$ be a complete oriented hyperbolic $3$--manifold of finite volume. Using classifying spaces for families of subgroups we construct a class $β_P(M)$ in the Adamson relative homology group $H_3([PSL_2(\mathbb{C}):\bar{P}];\mathbb{Z})$, where $\bar{P}$ is the subgroup of parabolic transformations which fix $\infty$ in the Riemann sphere. We also prove that the classes $F(M)$ in the Takasu relative homology groups $H_3(PSL_2(\mathbb{C}),\bar{P};\mathbb{Z})$ constructed by Zickert, which are not well-defined and depend of a choice of decorations by horospheres, are all mapped to $β_P(M)$ via…
Gluing two manifolds M_1 and M_2 with a common boundary S yields a closed manifold M. Extending to formal linear combinations x=Sum_i(a_i M_i) yields a sesquilinear pairing p=<,> with values in (formal linear combinations of) closed manifolds. Topological quantum field theory (TQFT) represents this universal pairing p onto a finite dimensional quotient pairing q with values in C which in physically motivated cases is positive definite. To see if such a "unitary" TQFT can potentially detect any nontrivial x, we ask if <x,x> is non-zero whenever x is non-zero. If this is the case, we call the pa…
We show that there exist infinitely many pairs of non-homeomorphic closed oriented SOL torus bundles with the same quantum (TQFT) invariants. This follows from the arithmetic behind the conjugacy problem in $SL(2,\Z)$ and its congruence quotients, the classification of SOL (polycyclic) 3-manifold groups and an elementary study of a family of Pell equations. A key ingredient is the congruence subgroup property of modular representations, as it was established by Coste and Gannon, Bantay, Xu for various versions of TQFT, and lastly by Ng and Schauenburg for the Drinfeld doubles of spherical fusi…
