Let X be a simply connected Riemannian manifold. Until now, quantitative topology has used Sullivan's rational homotopy theory as the bridge between geometric information on X and torsion-free homotopy theoretic information on X. In this paper we introduce Chen's iterated integrals on the based loop space of X as a new bridge between these two areas. We give two applications: finding upper bounds for Gromov's distortion of higher homotopy groups on X and also proving the non-existence of homologically non-trivial small-volume cycles in the space of loops on X of length at most L.
In this paper we investigate what kind of manifolds arise as the total spaces of iterated $S^1$-bundles. A real Bott tower studied in \cite{CMO}, \cite{KM} and \cite{KN} is an example of an iterated $S^1$-bundle. We show that the total space of an iterated $S^1$-bundle is homeomorphic to an infra-nilmanifold. A real Bott manifold, which is the total space of a real Bott tower, provides an example of a closed flat Riemannian manifold. We also show that real Bott manifolds are the only closed flat Riemannian manifolds obtained from iterated $\bbr{P}^1$-bundles. Finally we classify the homeomorph…
In this paper we study the topological structure of moment-angle complexes $\mathcal{Z_K}$. We consider two classes of simplicial complexes. The first class $B_Δ$ consists of simplicial complexes $\mathcal{K}$ for which $\mathcal{Z_K}$ is homotopy equivalent to a wedge spheres. The second class $W_Δ$ consists of $\mathcal{K}\in B_Δ$ such that all spheres in the wedge are realized by iterated higher Whitehead products. Buchstaber and Panov asked if it is true that $B_Δ = W_Δ$. In this paper we show that this is not the case. Namely, we give an example of a simplicial complex whose corresponding…
In this article we discuss a relation between the string topology and differential forms based on the theory of Chen's iterated integrals and the cyclic bar complex.
We use factorization homology and higher Hochschild (co)chains to study various problems in algebraic topology and homotopical algebra, notably brane topology, centralizers of $E_n$-algebras maps and iterated bar constructions. In particular, we obtain an $E_{n+1}$-algebra model on the shifted integral chains of the mapping space of the n-sphere into an orientable closed manifold $M$. We construct and use $E_\infty$-Poincaré duality to identify higher Hochschild cochains, modeled over the $n$-sphere, with the chains on the above mapping space, and then relate Hochschild cochains to the deforma…
For any (n+1)-dimensional weight vector χ of positive integers, the weighted projective space P(χ) is a projective toric variety, and has orbifold singularities in every case other than CP^n. We study the algebraic topology of P(χ), paying particular attention to its localisation at individual primes p. We identify certain p-primary weight vectors π for which P(π) is homeomorphic to an iterated Thom space over S^2, and discuss how any P(χ) may be reconstructed from its p-primary factors. We express Kawasaki's computations of the integral cohomology ring H^*(P(χ);Z) in terms of iterated Thom is…
It is well known since Stasheff's work that 1-fold loop spaces can be described in terms of the existence of higher homotopies for associativity (coherence conditions) or equivalently as algebras of contractible non-symmetric operads. The combinatorics of these higher homotopies is well understood and is extremely useful. For $n \ge 2$ the theory of symmetric operads encapsulated the corresponding higher homotopies, yet hid the combinatorics and it has remain a mystery for almost 40 years. However, the recent developments in many fields ranging from algebraic topology and algebraic geometry to…
In this paper we study the relationship between the moment-angle complex Z_k and the Davis-Januskiewicz space DJ(K) for a class of complexes K named missing-face complexes. If K has n vertices we consider the homotopy fibration sequence Z_k --> DJ(K) --> M where M is a product of n copies of infinite complex projective space. We observe that for such K, Z_k is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres, and then show that under this equivalence the map Z_k --> DJ(K) is homotopic to a wedge sum of higher Whitehead products and iterated Whitehead products.
We establish enhanced bounds on Cheeger-Gromov rho-invariants for general 3-manifolds and yet stronger bounds for special classes of 3-manifold. As key ingredients, we construct chain null-homotopies whose complexity is linearly bounded by its boundary's. This result can be regarded as an algebraic topological analogue of Gromov's conjecture for quantitative topology. The author hopes for applications to various fields including the smooth knot concordance group, quantitative topology, and complexity theory.
For a closed PL manifold M, we consider the configuration space F(M,k) of ordered k-tuples of distinct points in M. We show that a suitable iterated suspension of F(M,k) is a homotopy invariant of M. The number of suspensions we require depends on three parameters: the number of points k, the dimension of M and the connectivity of M. Our proof uses a mixture of Poincare embedding theory and fiberwise algebraic topology.
Let M be a closed Riemannian manifold. We extend the product of Goresky-Hingston, on the cohomology of the free loop space of M relative to the constant loops, to a nonrelative product. It is graded associative and commutative, and compatible with the length filtration on the loop space, like the original product. We prove the following new geometric property of the dual homology coproduct: the nonvanishing of the k-th iterate of the coproduct on a homology class ensures the existence of a loop with a (k+1)-fold self-intersection in every representative of the class. For spheres and projective…
We introduce a new algebraic concept of an algebra which is "almost" commutative (more precisely "quasi-commutative differential graded algebra" or ADGQ, in French). We associate to any simplicial set X an ADGQ - called D(X) - and show how we can recover the homotopy type of the topological realization of X from this algebraic structure (assuming some finiteness conditions). The theory is sufficiently general to include also ringed spaces X. The construction is by itself interesting since it uses the difference calculus (instead of the differential calculus of Sullivan's theory) and a new type…
We study the space ${\mathcal X}^{d}(G)$ of pictures of a graph $G$ in complex projective $d$-space. The main result is that the homology groups (with integer coefficients) of ${\mathcal X}^{d}(G)$ are completely determined by the Tutte polynomial of $G$. One application is a criterion in terms of the Tutte polynomial for independence in the {\it $d$-parallel matroids} studied in combinatorial rigidity theory. For certain special graphs called \defterm{orchards}, the picture space is smooth and has the structure of an iterated projective bundle. We give a Borel presentation of the cohomology r…
Mysterious Duality was discovered by Iqbal, Neitzke, and Vafa in 2001 as a convincing, yet mysterious correspondence between certain symmetry patterns in toroidal compactifications of M-theory and del Pezzo surfaces, both governed by the root system series $E_k$. It turns out that the sequence of del Pezzo surfaces is not the only sequence of objects in mathematics that gives rise to the same $E_k$ symmetry pattern. We present a sequence of topological spaces, starting with the four-sphere $S^4$, and then forming its iterated cyclic loop spaces $\mathcal{L}_c^k S^4$, within which we discover t…
In toric topology, to a simplicial complex $K$ with $m$ vertices, one associates two spaces, the moment-angle complex $\mathcal{Z}_K$ and the Davis-Januszkiewicz space $DJ_K$. These spaces are connected by a homotopy fibration $\mathcal{Z}_K\to DJ_K\to(\mathbb{C}P^\infty)^m$. In this paper, we show that the map $\mathcal{Z}_K\to DJ_K$ is identified with a wedge of iterated (higher) Whitehead products for a certain class of simplicial complexes $K$ including dual shellable complexes. We will prove the result in a more general setting of polyhedral products.
