We compute the structure of the homology of an operad built from the spaces TH_{d,n} of configurations of points in C^d, modulo translation and homothety. We find that it is a mild generalization of Getzler's gravity operad, which occurs in dimension d = 1.
This paper is built on the following observation: the purity of the mixed Hodge structure on the cohomology of Brown's moduli spaces is essentially equivalent to the freeness of the dihedral operad underlying the gravity operad. We prove these two facts by relying on both the geometric and the algebraic aspects of the problem: the complete geometric description of the cohomology of Brown's moduli spaces and the coradical filtration of cofree cooperads. This gives a conceptual proof of an identity of Bergström-Brown which expresses the Betti numbers of Brown's moduli spaces via the inversion of…
Let overline{M}_{g,n} be the moduli space of stable algebraic curves of genus g with n marked points. With the operations which relate the different moduli spaces identifying marked points, the family (overline{M}_{g,n})_{g,n} is a modular operad of projective smooth Deligne-Mumford stacks, overline{M}. In this paper we prove that the modular operad of singular chains C_*(overline{M};Q) is formal; so it is weakly equivalent to the modular operad of its homology H_*(overline{M};Q). As a consequence, the "up to homotopy" algebras of these two operads are the same. To obtain this result we prove …
The framed little 2-discs operad is homotopy equivalent to the Kimura-Stasheff-Voronov cyclic operad of moduli spaces of genus zero stable curves with tangent rays at the marked points and nodes. We show that this cyclic operad is formal, meaning that its chains and its homology (the Batalin-Vilkovisky operad) are quasi-isomorphic cyclic operads. To prove this we introduce a new complex of graphs in which the differential is a combination of edge deletion and contraction, and we show that this complex resolves BV as a cyclic operad.
In this paper we study spaces of algebras over an operad (non-symmetric) in symmetric monoidal model categories. We first compute the homotopy fiber of the forgetful functor sending an algebra to its underlying object, extending a result of Rezk. We then apply this computation to the construction of geometric moduli stacks of algebras over an operad in a homotopical algebraic geometry context in the sense of Toën and Vezzosi. We show under mild hypotheses that the moduli stack of unital associative algebras is a Zariski open substack of the moduli stack of non-necessarily unital associative al…
A theorem by Pridham and Lurie provides an equivalence between formal moduli problems and Lie algebras in characteristic zero. In his work, Lurie has distilled the axioms that the algebras appearing in the formal moduli problem need to satisfy, and worked out the case of $\mathbb{E}_\infty$-algebras using an incarnation of the Koszul duality, in the setting of $\infty$-operads. The more recent work of Calaque-Campos-Nuiten extends Lurie's work to obtain an equivalence between formal moduli problem parameterized by a colored operad, and algebras over its Koszul dual operad. This manuscript is b…
This thesis is concerned with the application of operadic methods, particularly modular operads, to questions arising in the study of moduli spaces of surfaces as well as applications to the study of homotopy algebras and new constructions of 'quantum invariants' of manifolds inspired by ideas originating from physics. We consider the extension of classical 2-dimensional topological quantum field theories to Klein topological quantum field theories which allow unorientable surfaces. We generalise open topological conformal field theories to open Klein topological conformal field theories and c…
We introduce framed formal curves, which are formal algebraic curves with boundary components parametrized by the punctured formal disk. We study the moduli space of nodal framed formal curves, which we endow with a logarithmic structure. We show that this moduli space is a smooth formal logarithmic stack. The remarkable property of our construction is that framed formal curves admit a natural operation of "gluing along the boundary" which works well in families and preserves smoothness (both in a formal and in a logarithmic sense), and this induces gluing maps on the level of moduli. Using mo…
This is the first of two papers in which we prove that a cell model of the moduli space of curves with marked points and tangent vectors at the marked points acts on the Hochschild co--chains of a Frobenius algebra. We also prove that a there is dg--PROP action of a version of Sullivan Chord diagrams which acts on the normalized Hochschild co-chains of a Frobenius algebra. These actions lift to operadic correlation functions on the co--cycles. In particular, the PROP action gives an action on the homology of a loop space of a compact simply--connected manifold. In this first part, we set up th…
Motivated by the operad built from moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces, we consider a general class of operads in the category of spaces that satisfy certain homological stability conditions. We prove that such operads are infinite loop space operads in the sense that the group completions of their algebras are infinite loop spaces. The recent, strong homological stability results of Galatius and Randal-Williams for moduli spaces of even dimensional manifolds can be used to construct examples of operads with homological stability. As a consequence the map to $K$-theory defined by the action of t…
This is the second of two papers in which we prove that a cell model of the moduli space of curves with marked points and tangent vectors at the marked points acts on the Hochschild co--chains of a Frobenius algebra. We also prove that a there is dg--PROP action of a version of Sullivan Chord diagrams which acts on the normalized Hochschild co-chains of a Frobenius algebra. These actions lift to operadic correlation functions on the co--cycles. In particular, the PROP action gives an action on the homology of a loop space of a compact simply--connected manifold. In this second part, we discret…
Francis Brown introduced a partial compactification $M_{0,n}^δ$ of the moduli space $M_{0,n}$. We prove that the gravity cooperad, given by the degree-shifted cohomologies of the spaces $M_{0,n}$, is cofree as a nonsymmetric anticyclic cooperad; moreover, the cogenerators are given by the cohomology groups of $M_{0,n}^δ$. This says in particular that $H^\bullet(M_{0,n}^δ)$ injects into $H^\bullet(M_{0,n})$. As part of the proof we construct an explicit diagrammatically defined basis of $H^\bullet(M_{0,n})$ which is compatible with cooperadic cocomposition, and such that a subset forms a basis …
Several topological and homological operads based on families of projectively weighted arcs in bounded surfaces are introduced and studied. The spaces underlying the basic operad are identified with open subsets of a compactification due to Penner of a space closely related to Riemann's moduli space. Algebras over these operads are shown to be Batalin-Vilkovisky algebras, where the entire BV structure is realized simplicially. Furthermore, our basic operad contains the cacti operad up to homotopy, and it similarly acts on the loop space of any topological space. New operad structures on the ci…
In present paper we develop the deformation theory of operads and algebras over operads. Free resolutions (constructed via Boardman-Vogt approach) are used in order to describe formal moduli spaces of deformations. We apply the general theory to the proof of Deligne's conjecture. The latter says that the Hochschild complex of an associative algebra carries a canonical structure of a dg-algebra over the chain operad of the little discs operad. In the course of the proof we construct an operad of geometric nature which acts on the Hochschild complex. It seems to be different from the brace opera…
The purpose of this paper is to explain and to generalize, in a homotopical way, the result of Barannikov-Kontsevich and Manin which states that the underlying homology groups of some Batalin-Vilkovisky algebras carry a Frobenius manifold structure. To this extent, we first make the minimal model for the operad encoding BV-algebras explicit. Then we prove a homotopy transfer theorem for the associated notion of homotopy BV-algebra. The final result provides an extension of the action of the homology of the Deligne-Mumford-Knudsen moduli space of genus 0 curves on the homology of some BV-algebr…
We introduce a new operad, which we call the Swiss-cheese operad. It mixes naturally the little disks and the little intervals operads. The Swiss-cheese operad is related to the configuration spaces of points on the upper half-plane and points on the real line, considered by Kontsevich for the sake of deformation quantization. This relation is similar to the relation between the little disks operad and the configuration spaces of points on the plane. The Swiss-cheese operad may also be regarded as a finite-dimensional model of the moduli space of genus-zero Riemann surfaces appearing in the op…
Hurwitz spaces are homotopy quotients of the braid group action on the moduli space of principal bundles over a punctured plane. By considering a certain model for this homotopy quotient we build an aspherical topological operad that we call the little bundles operad. As our main result, we describe this operad as a groupoid-valued operad in terms of generators and relations and prove that the categorical little bundles algebras are precisely Turaev's crossed categories. Moreover, we prove that the evaluation on the circle of a homotopical two-dimensional equivariant topolological field theory…
First we argue that many BV and homotopy BV structures, including both familiar and new examples, arise from a common underlying construction. The input of this construction is a cyclic operad along with a cyclically invariant Maurer-Cartan element in an associated Lie algebra. Using this result we introduce and study the operad of cyclically invariant operations, with instances arising in cyclic cohomology and $S^1$ equivariant homology. We compute the homology of the cyclically invariant operations; the result being the homology operad of $\mathcal{M}_{0,n+1}$, the uncompactified moduli spac…
We show that Verdier duality for certain sheaves on the moduli spaces of graphs associated to Koszul operads corresponds to Koszul duality of operads. This in particular gives a conceptual explanation of the appearance of graph cohomology of both the commutative and Lie types in computations of the cohomology of the outer automorphism group of a free group. Another consequence is an explicit computation of dualizing sheaves on spaces of metric graphs, thus characterizing to which extent these spaces are different from oriented orbifolds. We also provide a relation between the cohomology of the…
We compute the Poincare polynomial and the cohomology algebra with rational coefficeints of the manifold M_n of real points of the moduli space of algebraic curves of genus 0 with n labeled points. This cohomology is a quadratic algebra, and we conjecture that it is Koszul. We also compute the 2-local torsion in the cohomology of M_n. As was shown by E. Rains in arXiv:math/0610743 the cohomology of M_n does not have odd torsion, so that the above determines the additive structure of the integral homology and cohomology. Further, we prove that the rational homology operad of M_n is the operad o…
The purpose of this paper is to describe an analogue of a construction of Costello in the context of finite-dimensional differential graded Frobenius algebras which produces closed forms on the decorated moduli space of Riemann surfaces. We show that this construction extends to a certain natural compactification of the moduli space which is associated to the modular closure of the associative operad, due to the absence of ultra-violet divergences in the finite-dimensional case. We demonstrate that this construction is equivalent to the "dual construction" of Kontsevich.
The Tamari lattice and the associahedron provide methods of measuring associativity on a line. The real moduli space of marked curves captures the space of such associativity. We consider a natural generalization by considering the moduli space of marked particles on the Poincaré disk, extending Tamari's notion of associativity based on nesting. A geometric and combinatorial construction of this space is provided, which appears in Kontsevich's deformation quantization, Voronov's swiss-cheese operad, and Kajiura and Stasheff's open-closed string theory.
These are expanded lecture notes from lectures given at the Workshop on higher structures at MATRIX Melbourne. These notes give an introduction to Feynman categories and their applications. Feynman categories give a universal categorical way to encode operations and relations. This includes the aspects of operad--like theories such as PROPs, modular operads, twisted (modular) operads, properads, hyperoperads and their colored versions. There is more depth to the general theory as it applies as well to algebras over operads and an abundance of other related structures, such as crossed simplicia…
The modular operad $H_\ast(\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n})$ of the homology of Deligne-Mumford compactifications of moduli spaces of pointed Riemann surfaces has a minimal model governed by higher homology operations on the open moduli spaces $H_\ast(\mathcal{M}_{g,n})$. Using Getzler's elliptic relation, we give an explicit construction of the first family of such higher operations.
The configuration space of $n$ marked points on the complex plane is considered. We investigate a decomposition of this space by so-called Gauss-skizze i.e. a class of graphs being forests, introduced by Gauss. It is proved that this decomposition is a semi-algebraic topological stratification. It also forms a cell decomposition of the configuration space of $n$ marked points. Moreover, we prove that classical tools from deformation theory, ruled by a Maurer--Cartan equation, can be used only locally for Gauss-skizze. We prove that the deformation of the Gauss-skizze is governed by a Hamilton-…
This paper constructs model structures on the categories of coalgebras and pointed irreducible coalgebras over an operad. The underlying chain-complex is assumed to be unbounded and the results for bounded coalgebras over an operad are derived from the unbounded case.
From an operad C with an action of a group G, we construct new operads using the homotopy fixed point and orbit spectra. These new operads are shown to be equivalent when the generalized G-Tate cohomology of C is trivial. Applying this theory to the little disk operad C_2 (which is an S^1 operad) we obtain variations on Getzler's gravity operad, which we show governs the Chas-Sullivan string bracket.
We prove that the homology of the Swiss-cheese operad is a Koszul operad. As a consequence, we obtain that the spectral sequence associated to the stratification of the compactification of points on the upper half plane collapses at the second stage, proving a conjecture by A. Voronov. However, we prove that the operad obtained at the second stage differs from the homology of the Swiss-cheese operad.
We study bicolored configurations of points in the Euclidean $n$-space that are constrained to remain either inside or outside a fixed Euclidean $m$-subspace, with $n - m \ge 2$. We define a higher-codimensional variant of the Swiss-Cheese operad, called the complementarily constrained disks operad $\mathsf{CD}_{mn}$, associated to such configurations. The operad $\mathsf{CD}_{mn}$ is weakly equivalent to the operad of locally constant factorization algebras on the stratified space $\{\mathbb{R}^{m} \subset \mathbb{R}^{n}\}$. We prove that this operad is formal over $\mathbb{R}$.
The space of unordered configurations of distinct points in the plane is aspherical, with Artin's braid group as its fundamental group. Remarkably enough, the space of ordered configurations of distinct points on the real projective line, modulo projective equivalence, has a natural compactification (as a space of equivalence classes of trees) which is also (by a theorem of Davis, Januszkiewicz, and Scott) aspherical. The classical braid groups are ubiquitous in modern mathematics, with applications from the theory of operads to the study of the Galois group of the rationals. The fundamental g…
We introduce and study several new topological operads that should be regarded as nonsymmetric analogues of the operads of little 2-disks, framed little 2-disks, and Deligne-Mumford compactifications of moduli spaces of genus zero curves with marked points. These operads exhibit all the remarkable algebraic and geometric features that their classical analogues possess; in particular, it is possible to define a noncommutative analogue of the notion of cohomological field theory with similar Givental-type symmetries. This relies on rich geometry of the analogues of the Deligne-Mumford spaces, co…
We study homotopy-coherent commutative multiplicative structures on equivariant spaces and spectra. We define N-infinity operads, equivariant generalizations of E-infinity operads. Algebras in equivariant spectra over an N-infinity operad model homotopically commutative equivariant ring spectra that only admit certain collections of Hill-Hopkins-Ravenel norms, determined by the operad. Analogously, algebras in equivariant spaces over an N-infinity operad provide explicit constructions of certain transfers. This characterization yields a conceptual explanation of the structure of equivariant in…
It is well known that the forgetful functor from symmetric operads to nonsymmetric operads has a left adjoint $Sym_1$ given by product with the symmetric group operad. It is also well known that this functor does not affect the category of algebras of the operad. From the point of view of the author's theory of higher operads, the nonsymmmetric operads are 1-operads and $Sym_1$ is the first term of the infinite series of left adjoint functors $Sym_n,$ called symmetrisation functors, from $n$-operads to symmetric operads with the property that the category of one object, one arrow, . . ., one $…
A function from configuration space to moduli space of surface may induce a homomorphism between their fundamental groups which are braid groups and mapping class groups of surface, respectively. This map $ϕ: B_k \rightarrow Γ_{g,b}$ is induced by 3-fold branched covering over a disk with some branch points. In this thesis we give a concrete description of this map and show that it is injective by Birman-Hilden theory. This gives us a new interesting non-geometric embedding of braid group into mapping class group. On the other hand, we show that the map on the level of classifying spaces of gr…
Motivated by the second author's construction of a classifying space for the group of pure symmetric automorphisms of a free product, we introduce and study a family of topological operads, the operads of based cacti, defined for every pointed topological space $(Y,\bullet)$. These operads also admit linear versions, which are defined for every augmented graded cocommutative coalgebra $C$. We show that the homology of the topological operad of based $Y$-cacti is the linear operad of based $H_*(Y)$-cacti. In addition, we show that for every coalgebra $C$ the operad of based $C$-cacti is Koszul.…
We determine the rational divisor class group of the moduli spaces of smooth pointed hyperelliptic curves and of their Deligne-Mumford compactification, over the field of complex numbers.
We consider partitions of a set with $r$ elements ordered by refinement. We consider the simplicial complex $\bar{K}(r)$ formed by chains of partitions which starts at the smallest element and ends at the largest element of the partition poset. A classical theorem asserts that $\bar{K}(r)$ is equivalent to a wedge of $r-1$-dimensional spheres. In addition, the poset of partitions is equipped with a natural action of the symmetric group in $r$ letters. Consequently, the associated homology modules are representations of the symmetric groups. One observes that the $r-1$th homology modules of $\b…
The homotopy theory of infinity-operads is defined by extending Joyal's homotopy theory of infinity-categories to the category of dendroidal sets. We prove that the category of dendroidal sets is endowed with a model category structure whose fibrant objects are the infinity-operads (i.e. dendroidal inner Kan complexes). This extends the theory of infinity-categories in the sense that the Joyal model category structure on simplicial sets whose fibrant objects are the infinity-categories is recovered from the model category structure on dendroidal sets by simply slicing over the point.
We study the structure possessed by the Goodwillie derivatives of a pointed homotopy functor of based topological spaces. These derivatives naturally form a bimodule over the operad consisting of the derivatives of the identity functor. We then use these bimodule structures to give a chain rule for higher derivatives in the calculus of functors, extending that of Klein and Rognes. This chain rule expresses the derivatives of FG as a derived composition product of the derivatives of F and G over the derivatives of the identity. There are two main ingredients in our proofs. Firstly, we construct…
We investigate algebras with one operation. We study when these algebras form a monoidal category and analyze Koszulness and cyclicity of the corresponding operads. We also introduce a new kind of symmetry for operads, the dihedrality, responsible for the existence of the dihedral cohomology. The main trick, which we call the polarization, will be to represent an algebra with one operation without any specific symmetry as an algebra with one commutative and one anticommutative operation. We will try to convince the reader that this change of perspective might sometimes lead to new insights and…
Associated to any subspace arrangement is a "De Concini-Procesi model", a certain smooth compactification of its complement, which in the case of the braid arrangement produces the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the moduli space of genus 0 curves with marked points. In the present work, we calculate the integral homology of real De Concini-Procesi models, extending earlier work of Etingof, Henriques, Kamnitzer and the author on the (2-adic) integral cohomology of the real locus of the moduli space. To be precise, we show that the integral homology of a real De Concini-Procesi model is iso…
Elaborating on works by Abouzaid and Mescher, we prove that for a Morse function on a smooth compact manifold, its Morse cochain complex can be endowed with an $ΩB As$-algebra structure by counting moduli spaces of perturbed Morse gradient trees. This rich structure descends to its already known $A_\infty$-algebra structure. We then introduce the notion of $ΩB As$-morphism between two $ΩB As$-algebras and prove that given two Morse functions, one can construct an $ΩB As$-morphism between their associated $ΩB As$-algebras by counting moduli spaces of two-colored perturbed Morse gradient trees. …
The Goodwillie derivatives of the identity functor on pointed spaces form an operad in spectra. Adapting a definition of Behrens, we introduce mod 2 homology operations for algebras over this operad and prove these operations account for all the mod 2 homology of free algebras on suspension spectra of simply-connected spaces.
We study the Eckmann-Hilton dual of the little disks algebra structure on iterated loop spaces: With the right definitions, every $n$-fold suspension is a coalgebra over the little $n$-disks operad. This structure induces non-trivial cooperations on the rational homotopy groups of an $n$-fold suspension. We describe the Eckmann-Hilton dual of the Browder bracket, which is a cooperation that forms an obstruction for an $n$-fold suspension to be an $(n+1)$-fold suspension, i.e. if this cooperation is non-zero then the space is not an $(n+1)$-fold suspension. We prove several results in equivaria…