In recent work, we introduced topological notions of simple normal crossings symplectic divisor and variety, showed that they are equivalent, in a suitable sense, to the corresponding geometric notions, and established a topological smoothability criterion for them. The present paper extends these notions to arbitrary normal crossings singularities, from both local and global perspectives, and shows that they are also equivalent to the corresponding geometric notions. In subsequent papers, we extend our smoothability criterion to arbitrary normal crossings symplectic varieties and construct a variety of geometric structures associated with normal crossings singularities in algebraic geometry.
We use local Hamiltonian torus actions to degenerate a symplectic manifold to a normal crossings symplectic variety in a smooth one-parameter family. This construction, motivated in part by the Gross-Siebert and B. Parker's programs, contains a multifold version of the usual (two-fold) symplectic cut construction and in particular splits a symplectic manifold into several symplectic manifolds containing normal crossings symplectic divisors with shared irreducible components in one step.
Our previous papers introduce topological notions of normal crossings symplectic divisor and variety, show that they are equivalent, in a suitable sense, to the corresponding geometric notions, and establish a topological smoothability criterion for normal crossings symplectic varieties. The present paper constructs a blowup, a complex line bundle, and a logarithmic tangent bundle naturally associated with a normal crossings symplectic divisor and determines the Chern class of the last bundle. These structures hav applications in constructions and analysis of various moduli spaces. As a coroll…
We overview our recent work defining and studying normal crossings varieties and subvarieties in symplectic topology. This work answers a question of Gromov on the feasibility of introducing singular (sub)varieties into symplectic topology in the case of normal crossings singularities. It also provides a necessary and sufficient condition for smoothing normal crossings symplectic varieties. In addition, we explain some connections with other areas of mathematics and discuss a few directions for further research.
We study the local symplectic algebra of the 1-dimensional isolated complete intersection singularity of type Sμ. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic Sμ singularities. We distinguish these symplectic singularities by discrete symplectic invariants. We also give the geometric description of them.
We generalize a theorem of Delzant classifying compact connected symplectic manifolds with completely integrable torus actions to certain singular symplectic spaces. The assumption on singularities is that if they are not finite quotient then they are isolated.
We introduce topological notions of normal crossings symplectic divisor and variety and establish that they are equivalent, in a suitable sense, to the desired geometric notions. Our proposed concept of equivalence of associated topological and geometric notions fits ideally with important constructions in symplectic topology. This partially answers Gromov's question on the feasibility of defining singular symplectic (sub)varieties and lays foundation for rich developments in the future. In subsequent papers, we establish a smoothability criterion for symplectic normal crossings varieties, in …
We study the local symplectic algebra of curves. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic $W_8$ and $W_9$ singularities. We use discrete symplectic invariants to distinguish symplectic singularities of the curves. We also give the geometric description of symplectic classes.
We describe a variety of symplectic surgeries (not a priori compatible with Kahler structures) which are obtained by combining local Kahler degenerations and resolutions of singularities. The effect of the surgeries is to replace configurations of Lagrangian spheres with symplectic submanifolds. We discuss several examples in detail, relating them to existence questions for symplectic manifolds with $c_1>0, c_1=0, c_1<0$ in four and six dimensions.
We study the local symplectic algebra of the 0-dimensional isolated complete intersection singularities. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify these symplectic singularities. We show that there are non-trivial symplectic invariants in this classification.
We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic $U_7$, $U_8$ and $U_9$ singularities. We use discrete symplectic invariants to distinguish symplectic singularities of the curves. We also give the geometric description of symplectic classes.
Our previous paper introduces topological notions of normal crossings symplectic divisor and variety and establishes that they are equivalent, in a suitable sense, to the desired geometric notions. Friedman's d-semistability condition is well-known to be an obstruction to the smoothability of a normal crossings variety in a one-parameter family with a smooth total space in the algebraic geometry category. We show that the direct analogue of this condition is the only obstruction to such smoothability in the symplectic topology category. Every smooth fiber of the families of smoothings we descr…
Let G be a finite group acting on a symplectic complex vector space V. Assume that the quotient V/G has a holomorphic symplectic resolution. We prove that G is generated by "symplectic reflectionsd"', i.e. symplectomorphisms with fixed space of codimension 2 in V. Symplectic resolutions are always semismall. A crepant resolution of V/G is always symplectic. We give a symplectic version of Nakamura conjectures.
We study the local symplectic algebra of curves. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic $T_7$ singularities. We define discrete symplectic invariants - the Lagrangian tangency orders. We use these invariants to distinguish symplectic singularities of classical $A-D-E$ singularities of planar curves, $S_5$ singularity and $T_7$ singularity. We also give the geometric description of these symplectic singularities.
We compute symplectic cohomology for Milnor fibres of certain compound Du Val singularities that admit small resolution by using homological mirror symmetry. Our computations suggest a new conjecture that the existence of a small resolution has strong implications for the symplectic cohomology and conversely. We also use our computations to give a contact invariant of the link of the singularities and thereby distinguish many contact structures on connected sums of $S^2 \times S^3$.
In this paper we introduce a notion of symplectic normal crossings divisor V and define the GW invariant of a symplectic manifold X relative such a divisor. Our definition includes normal crossings divisors from algebraic geometry. The invariants we define in this paper are key ingredients in symplectic sum type formulas for GW invariants, and extend those defined in our previous joint work with T.H. Parker [IP1], which covered the case V was smooth. The main step is the construction of a compact moduli space of relatively stable maps into the pair (X, V) in the case V is a symplectic normal c…
We study symplectic deformation types of minimal symplectic fillings of links of quotient surface singularities. In particular, there are only finitely many symplectic deformation types for each quotient surface singularity.
For any k<2n we construct a complete system of invariants in the problem of classifying singularities of immersed k-dimensional submanifolds of a symplectic 2n-manifold at a generic double point.
This paper presents a proof of the existence of standard symplectic coordinates near a set of smooth, orthogonally intersecting symplectic submanifolds. It is a generalization of the standard symplectic neighborhood theorem. Moreover, in the presence of a compact Lie group $G$ acting symplectically, the coordinates can be chosen to be $G$-equivariant.
In this paper we present a method to obtain resolutions of symplectic orbifolds arising from symplectic reduction of a Hamiltonian S^1-manifold at a regular value. As an application, we show that all isolated cyclic singularities of a symplectic orbifold admit a resolution and that pre-quantisations of symplectic orbifolds are symplectically fillable by a smooth manifold.
We derive a wall crossing formula for the symplectic vortex invariants of toric manifolds. As an application, we give a proof of Batyrev's formula for the quantum cohomology of a monotone toric manifold with minimal Chern number at least two.
Suppose that $C=(C_1,..., C_m)$ is a configuration of 2-dimensional symplectic submanifolds in a symplectic 4-manifold $(X,ω)$ with connected, negative definite intersection graph $Γ_C$. We show that by replacing an appropriate neighborhood of $\cup C_i$ with a smoothing $W_S$ of a normal surface singularity $(S, 0)$ with resolution graph $Γ_C$, the resulting 4-manifold admits a symplectic structure. This operation generalizes the rational blow-down operation of Fintushel-Stern for other configurations, and therefore extends Symington's result about symplectic rational blow-downs.
We use the techniques of integration of Poisson manifolds into symplectic Lie groupoids to build symplectic resolutions (= desingularizations) of the closure of a symplectic leaf. More generally, we show how Lie groupoids can be used to lift singularities, in particular when one imposes a compatibility condition with an additional structure given by a multi-vector field.
Let $K$ be a compact Lie group with complexification $G$, and let $V$ be a unitary $K$-module. We consider the real symplectic quotient $M_0$ at level $0$ of the homogeneous quadratic moment map as well as the complex symplectic quotient, defined here as the complexification of $M_0$. We show that if $(V, G)$ is $3$-large, a condition that holds generically, then the complex symplectic quotient has symplectic singularities and is graded Gorenstein. This in particular implies that the real symplectic quotient is graded Gorenstein. In the case that $K$ is a torus or $\operatorname{SU}_2$, we sho…
We explain how a classical theorem by Arnol'd and Melrose on non-singular functions on a symplectic manifold with boundary can be proved in few lines, and we use the same method to obtain a new result, which is a normal form with functional invariants for the first occurring singularities
A log symplectic manifold is a complex manifold equipped with a complex symplectic form that has simple poles on a hypersurface. The possible singularities of such a hypersurface are heavily constrained. We introduce the notion of an elliptic point of a log symplectic structure, which is a singular point at which a natural transversality condition involving the modular vector field is satisfied, and we prove a local normal form for such points that involves the simple elliptic surface singularities $\tilde{E}_6,\tilde{E}_7$ and $\tilde{E}_8$. Our main application is to the classification of Po…
The goal of this paper is to classify symplectic toric stratified spaces with isolated singularities. This extends a result of Burns, Guillemin, and Lerman which carries out this classification in the compact connected case. In making this classification, it is necessary to classify symplectic toric cones. Via a well-known equivalence between symplectic toric cones and contact toric manifolds, this allows for the classification of contact toric manifolds as well, extending Lerman's classification of compact connected contact toric manifolds.
We use symplectic cobordism, and the localization result of Ginzburg, Guillemin, and Karshon, to find a wall-crossing formula for the signature of regular symplectic quotients of Hamiltonian torus actions. The formula is recursive, depending ultimately on fixed point data. In the case of a circle action, we obtain a formula for the signature of singular quotients as well. We also show how formulas for the Poincare polynomial and the Euler characteristic (equivalent to those of Kirwan) can be expressed in the same recursive manner.
We study the existence of symplectic resolutions of quotient singularities V/G where V is a symplectic vector space and G acts symplectically. Namely, we classify the symplectically irreducible and imprimitive groups, excluding those of the form $K \rtimes S_2$ where $K < \SL_2(\C)$, for which the corresponding quotient singularity admits a projective symplectic resolution. As a consequence, for $\dim V \neq 4$, we classify all quotient singularities $V/G$ admitting a projective symplectic resolution which do not decompose as a product of smaller-dimensional quotient singularities, except for …
We establish a connection between smooth symplectic resolutions and symplectic deformations of a (possibly singular) affine Poisson variety. In particular, let V be a finite-dimensional complex symplectic vector space and G\subset Sp(V) a finite subgroup. Our main result says that the so-called Calogero-Moser deformation of the orbifold V/G is, in an appropriate sense, a versal Poisson deformation. That enables us to determine the algebra structure on the rational cohomology H^*(X) of any smooth symplectic resolution X \to V/G (multiplicative McKay correspondence). We prove further that if G i…
We prove the generalised McKay correspondence for isolated singularities using Floer theory. Given an isolated singularity \C^n/G for a finite subgroup G in SL(n,\C) and any crepant resolution Y, we prove that the rank of positive symplectic cohomology SH_+(Y) is the number of conjugacy classes of G, and that twice the age grading on conjugacy classes is the \Z-grading on SH_+(Y) by the Conley-Zehnder index. The generalised McKay correspondence follows as SH_+(Y) is naturally isomorphic to ordinary cohomology H(Y), due to a vanishing result for full symplectic cohomology. In the Appendix we co…
We show that every negative definite configuration of symplectic surfaces in a symplectic 4--manifold has a strongly symplectically convex neighborhood. We use this to show that, if a negative definite configuration satisfies an additional negativity condition at each surface in the configuration, and if the complex singularity with resolution diffeomorphic to a neighborhood of the configuration has a smoothing, then the configuration can be symplectically replaced by the smoothing of the singularity. This generalizes the symplectic rational blowdown procedure used in recent constructions of s…
Let X be a minimal surface of general type with positive geometric genus ($b_+ > 1$) and let $K^2$ be the square of its canonical class. Building on work of Khodorovskiy and Rana, we prove that if X develops a Wahl singularity of length $\ell$ in a Q-Gorenstein degeneration, then $\ell \leq 4K^2 + 7$. This improves on the current best-known upper bound due to Lee ($\ell \leq 400(K^2)^4$). Our bound follows from a stronger theorem constraining symplectic embeddings of certain rational homology balls in surfaces of general type. In particular, we show that if the rational homology ball $B_{p,1}$…
We consider the canonical contact structures on links of rational surface singularities with reduced fundamental cycle. These singularities can be characterized by their dual resolution graphs: the graph is a tree, and the weight of each vertex is no greater than its negative valency. In a joint work with Starkston, we previously showed that if the weight of each vertex in the graph is at most -5, the contact structure has a unique symplectic filling (up to symplectic deformation and blow-up). The proof was based on a symplectic analog of de Jong-van Straten's description of smoothings of thes…
We define a suitably tame class of singular symplectic curves in 4-manifolds, namely those whose singularities are modeled on complex curve singularities. We study the corresponding symplectic isotopy problem, with a focus on rational curves with irreducible singularities (rational cuspidal curves) in the complex projective plane. We prove that every such curve is isotopic to a complex curve in degrees up to 5, and for curves with one singularity whose link is a torus knot. Classification results of symplectic isotopy classes rely on pseudo-holomorphic curves together with a symplectic version…
We prove that the moduli space of gauge equivalence classes of symplectic vortices with uniformly bounded energy in a compact Hamiltonian manifold admits a Gromov compactification by polystable vortices. This extends results of Mundet i Riera and Tian for circle actions to the case of arbitrary compact Lie groups. Our argument relies on an a priori estimate for vortices that allows us to apply techniques used by McDuff and Salamon in their proof of Gromov compactness for pseudoholomorphic curves. As an intermediate result we prove a removable singularity theorem for vortices.
We determine a one-to-one correspondence between Milnor fibers and minimal symplectic fillings of a quotient surface singularity (up to diffeomorphism type) by giving an explicit algorithm to compare them mainly via techniques from the minimal model program for 3-folds and Pinkham's negative weight smoothing. As by-products, we show that: -- Milnor fibers associated to irreducible components of the reduced versal deformation space of a quotient surface singularity are not diffeomorphic to each other with a few obvious exceptions. For this, we classify minimal symplectic fillings of a quotient …
We construct simply connected, minimal, symplectic 4-manifolds with exotic smooth structures and each with one Seiberg-Witten basic class up to sign, on the Noether line and between the Noether and half Noether lines by star surgeries introduced by Karakurt and Starkston, and by using complex singularities. We also construct certain configurations of complex singularities in the rational elliptic surfaces geometrically, without using any monodromy arguments. By using these configurations, we give symplectic embeddings of star shaped plumbings inside (some blow-ups of) elliptic surfaces.
Inspired by the log Gromov-Witten (or GW) theory of Gross-Siebert/Abramovich-Chen, we introduce a geometric notion of log J-holomorphic curve relative to a simple normal crossings symplectic divisor defined in [FMZ1]. Every such moduli space is characterized by a second homology class, genus, and contact data. For certain almost complex structures, we show that the moduli space of stable log J-holomorphic curves of any fixed type is compact and metrizable with respect to an enhancement of the Gromov topology. In the case of smooth symplectic divisors, our compactification is often smaller than…
In the present paper, we consider a smooth $C^\infty$ symplectic classification of Lagrangian fibrations near cusp singularities, parabolic orbits and cuspidal tori. We show that for these singularities as well as for an arrangement of singularities known as a flap, which arises in the integrable subcritical Hamiltonian Hopf bifurcation, the action variables form a complete set of $C^\infty$ symplectic invariants. We also give a symplectic classification for parabolic orbits in the real-analytic case. Namely, we prove that a complete symplectic invariant in this case is given by a real-analyti…
In this paper, we determine the Euler characteristics and signatures of the exact symplectic fillings of the contact double, 3-fold or 4-fold cyclic covers of the standard contact 3-sphere branched over certain transverse quasi-positive links. These links include all quasi-positive knots with crossing numbers smaller than 11 and all quasi-positive links with crossing numbers smaller than 12 and nonzero nullity.
We prove that any two irreducible cuspidal Hurwitz curves $C_0$ and $C_1$ (or more generally, curves with A-type singularities) in the Hirzebruch surface $F_N$ with coinciding homology classes and sets of singularities are regular homotopic; and symplectically regular homotopic if $C_0$ and $C_1$ are symplectic with respect to a compatible symplectic form.
An important class of contact 3--manifolds are those that arise as links of rational surface singularities with reduced fundamental cycle. We explicitly describe symplectic caps (concave fillings) of such contact 3--manifolds. As an application, we present a new obstruction for such singularities to admit rational homology disk smoothings.
This article gives a classification, up to symplectic equivalence, of singular Lagrangian foliations given by a completely integrable system of a 4-dimensional symplectic manifold, in a full neighbourhood of a singular leaf of focus-focus (=nodal) type.
We survey the theory of Poisson traces (or zeroth Poisson homology) developed by the authors in a series of recent papers. The goal is to understand this subtle invariant of (singular) Poisson varieties, conditions for it to be finite-dimensional, its relationship to the geometry and topology of symplectic resolutions, and its applications to quantizations. The main technique is the study of a canonical D-module on the variety. In the case the variety has finitely many symplectic leaves (such as for symplectic singularities and Hamiltonian reductions of symplectic vector spaces by reductive gr…
The first part of this paper deals with electrical networks and symplectic reductions. We consider two operations on electrical networks (the "trace map" and the "gluing map") and show that they correspond to symplectic reductions. We also give several general properties about symplectic reductions, in particular we study the singularities of symplectic reductions when considered as rational maps on Lagrangian Grassmannians. This is motivated by [23] where a renormalization map was introduced in order to describe the spectral properties of self-similar lattices. In this text, we show that this…
We present a collection of examples borrowed from celestial mechanics and projective dynamics. In these examples symplectic structures with singularities arise naturally from regularization transformations, Appell's transformation or classical changes like McGehee coordinates, which end up blowing up the symplectic structure or lowering its rank at certain points. The resulting geometrical structures that model these examples are no longer symplectic but symplectic with singularities which are mainly of two types: $b^m$-symplectic and $m$-folded symplectic structures. These examples comprise t…
