How does one measure the failure of Hochschild homology to commute with colimits?
Here I relate this question to a major open problem about dynamics in contact manifolds -- the assertion that Reeb orbits exist and are detected by symplectic homology. More precisely, I show that for polarizably Weinstein fillable contact manifolds, said property is equivalent to the failure of Hochschild homology to commute with certain colimits of representation categories of tree quivers.
So as to be intelligible to algebraists, I try to include or black-box as much of the geometric background as possible.
We prove that geometric intersections between Weinstein handles induce algebraic relations in the wrapped Fukaya category, which we use to study the Grothendieck group. We produce a surjective map from middle-dimensional singular cohomology to the Grothendieck group, show that the geometric acceleration map to symplectic cohomology factors through the categorical Dennis trace map, and introduce a Viterbo functor for $C^0$-close Weinstein hypersurfaces, which gives an obstruction for Legendrians to be $C^0$-close. We show that symplectic flexibility is a geometric manifestation of Thomason's co…
We give an proof on the Weinstein conjecture on the cotangent bundles of open manifolds. Its proof is based on Gromov's nonlinear Fredholm alternative.
In this paper we describe a general strategy for approaching the Weinstein conjecture in dimension three. We apply this approach to prove the Weinstein conjecture for a new class of contact manifolds (planar contact manifolds). We also discuss how the present approach reduces the general Weinstein conjecture in dimension three to a compactness problem for the solution set of a first order elliptic PDE.
Hofer proved the Weinstein conjecture for a closed contact 3-manifold with an overtwisted disk. In this article we extend it to the virtual contact structure and provide a new explicit example of the virtual contact structure with an overtwisted disk via a Lutz twist.
A foliation is said to admit a foliated contact structure if there is a codimension 1 distribution in the tangent space of the foliation such that the restriction to any leaf is contact. We prove a version of the Weinstein conjecture in the presence of an overtwisted leaf. The result is shown to be sharp.
In this paper, we introduce the notions of an iterated planar Lefschetz fibration and an iterated planar open book decomposition and prove the Weinstein conjecture for contact manifolds supporting an open book that has iterated planar pages. For $n\geq 1$, we show that a $(2n+1)$-dimensional contact manifold $M$ supporting an iterated planar open book decomposition satisfies the Weinstein conjecture.
We prove the Weinstein conjecture for non-trivial contact connected sums under either of two topological conditions: non-trivial fundamental group or torsion-free homology.
In this paper, using pseudo-holomorphic curve method, one proves the Weinstein conjecture in the product $P_1\times P_2$ of two strongly geometrically bounded symplectic manifolds under some conditions with $P_1$. In particular, if $N$ is a closed manifold or a noncompact manifold of finite topological type, our result implies that the Weinstein conjecture in $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2\times T^*N$ holds.
We prove the strong Weinstein conjecture for closed contact manifolds that appear as the concave boundary of a symplectic cobordism admitting an essential local foliation by holomorphic spheres.
This is an introduction to Taubes's proof of the Weinstein conjecture, written for the AMS Current Events Bulletin. It is intended to be accessible to nonspecialists, so much of the article is devoted to background and context.
Helmut Hofer introduced in '93 a novel technique based on holomorphic curves to prove the Weinstein conjecture. Among the cases where these methods apply are all contact 3--manifolds $(M,ξ)$ with $π_2(M) \ne 0$. We modify Hofer's argument to prove the Weinstein conjecture for some examples of higher dimensional contact manifolds. In particular, we are able to show that the connected sum with a real projective space always has a closed contractible Reeb orbit.
Extending work of Chen, we prove the Weinstein conjecture in dimension three for strongly fillable contact structures with either non-vanishing first Chern class or with strong and exact filling having non-trivial canonical bundle. This implies the Weinstein conjecture for certain Stein fillable contact structures obtained by the Eliashberg-Gompf construction.For example we prove the Weinstein conjecture for the Brieskorn homology spheres $Σ(2,3,6n-1)$, $n\geq2$, oriented as the boundary of the corresponding Milnor fibre. Furthermore, for tight contact structures on odd lens spaces, non-contra…
In this article we prove that the Weinstein conjecture holds for contact manifolds $(Σ,ξ)$ for which $\mathrm{Cont}_0(Σ,ξ)$ is non-orderable in the sense of Eliashberg-Polterovich [EP00]. More precisely, we establish a link between orderable and hypertight contact manifolds. In addition, we prove for certain contact manifolds a conjecture by Sandon [San13b] on the existence of translated points in the non-degenerate case.
In this note we extend to non trivial Hamiltonian fibrations over symplectically uniruled manifolds a result of Lu's, \cite{Lu}, stating that any trivial symplectic product of two closed symplectic manifolds with one of them being symplectically uniruled verifies the Weinstein Conjecture for closed separating hypersurfaces of contact type, under certain technical conditions. The proof is based on the product formula for Gromov-Witten invariants ($GW$-invariant) of Hamiltonian fibrations derived in \cite{H}.
Let M denote a compact, oriented 3-manifold and let a denote a contact 1-form on M. This article proves that the vector field that generates the kernel of the 2-form da has at least one closed, integral curve.
We propose a theory of contact invariants and open string invariants, assuming that the almost complex $J$ is either non-degenerate or of Bott-type. We do not choose the complex structure $\tilde{J}$ such that $L_X\tilde{J}=0$ on periodic orbits.
We study holomorphic spheres in certain symplectic cobordisms and derive information about periodic Reeb orbits in the concave end of these cobordisms from the non-compactness of the relevant moduli spaces. We use this to confirm the strong Weinstein conjecture (predicting the existence of null-homologous Reeb links) for various higher-dimensional contact manifolds, including contact type hypersurfaces in subcritical Stein manifolds and in some cotangent bundles. The quantitative character of this result leads to the definition of a symplectic capacity.
The Weinstein conjecture, as the general existence problem for periodic orbits of Hamiltonian or Reeb flows, has been among the central questions in symplectic topology for over two decades and its investigation has led to understanding of some fundamental properties of Hamiltonian flows. In this paper we survey some recently developed and well-known methods of proving various particular cases of this conjecture and the closely related almost existence theorem. We also examine differentiability and continuity properties of the Hofer-Zehnder capacity function and relate these properties to the …
We show the existence of a contractible periodic Reeb orbit for any contact structure supported by an open book whose binding can be realised as a hypersurface of restricted contact type in a subcritical Stein manifold. A key ingredient in the proof is a higher-dimensional version of Eliashberg's theorem about symplectic cobordisms from a contact manifold to a symplectic fibration.
Let M denote a compact, orientable, 3-dimensional manifold and let a denote a contact 1-form on M; thus the wedge product of a with da is nowhere zero. This article explains how the Seiberg-Witten Floer homology groups as defined for any given Spin-C structure on M give closed, integral curves of the vector field that generates the kernel of da.
We use the equivalence between embedded contact homology and Seiberg-Witten Floer homology to obtain the following improvements on the Weinstein conjecture. Let Y be a closed oriented connected 3-manifold with a stable Hamiltonian structure, and let R denote the associated Reeb vector field on Y. We prove that if Y is not a T^2-bundle over S^1, then R has a closed orbit. Along the way we prove that if Y is a closed oriented connected 3-manifold with a contact form such that all Reeb orbits are nondegenerate and elliptic, then Y is a lens space. Related arguments show that if Y is a closed orie…
We prove that Lagrangian cocores and Lagrangian linking disks of a stopped Weinstein manifold generate the Lagrangian cobordism infinity-category. As a geometric consequence, we see that any brane (after stabilization) admits a Lagrangian cobordism to a disjoint union of some standard collection of branes (cocores, linking disks, and a zero object). For example, when our stopped Weinstein manifold is a point stopped by itself, we find that any exact brane in Euclidean space admits a Lagrangian cobordism to a disjoint union of cotangent fibers and a zero object. (This is a stronger statement th…
Let M be a smooth closed manifold and T*M its cotangent bundle endowed with the usual symplectic structure. A hypersurface S in T*M is said to be fiberwise starshaped if for each point q in M the intersection of S with the fiber at q is starshaped with respect to the origin. In this thesis we give lower bounds of the growth rate of the number of closed Reeb orbits on a fiberwise starshaped hypersurface in terms of the topology of the free loop space of M. We distinguish the two cases that the fundamental group of the base space M has an exponential growth of conjugacy classes or not. If the ba…
In this paper we show that there is a well defined modified dbar-Neumann problem for a spin_c manifold with a strictly pseudoconvex boundary (in the contact geometry sense). We show that the index of the associated boundary value problem can be computed as the relative index between the Calderon projector on the boundary and the projector defining the boundary condition. To make sense of this statement we need to develop a considerable extension of the classical notion of a Fredholm pair of subspaces of a Hilbert space. We call this the theory of "tame Fredholm pairs;" it is presented in the a…
Motivated by Poincaré's orbits going to infinity in the (restricted) three-body (see [26] and [6]), we investigate the generic existence of heteroclinic-like orbits in a neighbourhood of the critical set of a $b$-contact form. This is done by using the singular counterpart [3] of Etnyre--Ghrist's contact/Beltrami correspondence [9], and genericity results concerning eigenfunctions of the Laplacian established by Uhlenbeck [29]. Specifically, we analyze the $b$-Beltrami vector fields on $b$-manifolds of dimension $3$ and prove that for a generic asymptotically exact $b$-metric they exhibit esca…
We prove that if a compact Kähler Poisson manifold has a symplectic leaf with finite fundamental group, then after passing to a finite étale cover, it decomposes as the product of the universal cover of the leaf and some other Poisson manifold. As a step in the proof, we establish a special case of Beauville's conjecture on the structure of compact Kähler manifolds with split tangent bundle.
In this article we study Weinstein structures endowed with a Lefschetz fibration in terms of the Legendrian front projection. First we provide a systematic recipe for translating from a Weinstein Lefschetz bifibration to a Legendrian handlebody. Then we present several applications of this technique to symplectic topology. This includes the detection of flexibility and rigidity for several families of Weinstein manifolds and the existence of closed exact Lagrangian submanifolds. In addition, we prove that the Koras--Russell cubic is Stein deformation equivalent to affine complex 3-space and ve…
We prove the existence of periodic orbits for steady $C^ω$ Euler flows on all Riemannian solid tori. By using the correspondence theorem from part I of this series, we reduce the problem to the Weinstein Conjecture for solid tori. We prove the Weinstein Conjecture on the solid torus via a combination of results due to Hofer et al. and a careful analysis of tight contact structures on solid tori.
The Fukaya category of a Weinstein manifold is an intricate symplectic invariant of high interest in mirror symmetry and geometric representation theory. This paper informally sketches how, in analogy with Morse homology, the Fukaya category might result from gluing together Fukaya categories of Weinstein cells. This can be formalized by a recollement pattern for Lagrangian branes parallel to that for constructible sheaves. Assuming this structure, we exhibit the Fukaya category as the global sections of a sheaf on the conic topology of the Weinstein manifold. This can be viewed as a symplecti…
We use the minimal coupling procedure of Sternberg and Weinstein and our pseudo-symplectic capacity theory to prove that every closed symplectic submanifold in any symplectic manifold has an open neighborhood with finite ($π_1$-sensitive) Hofer-Zehnder symplectic capacity. Consequently, the Weinstein conjecture holds near closed symplectic submanifolds in any symplectic manifold.
We prove the Arnold-Givental conjecture for a class of Lagrangian submanifolds in Marsden-Weinstein quotients which are fixpoint sets of some antisymplectic involution. For these Lagrangians the Floer homology cannot in general be defined by standard means due to the bubbling phenomenon. To overcome this difficulty we consider moment Floer homology whose boundary operator is defined by counting solutions of the symplectic vortex equations on the strip which have better compactness properties than the original Floer equations.
We study the Rouquier dimension of wrapped Fukaya categories of Liouville manifolds and pairs, and apply this invariant to various problems in algebraic and symplectic geometry. On the algebro-geometric side, we introduce a new method based on symplectic flexibility and mirror symmetry to bound the Rouquier dimension of derived categories of coherent sheaves on certain complex algebraic varieties and stacks. These bounds are sharp in dimension at most $3$. As a result, we resolve a well-known conjecture of Orlov for a large class of new examples, including all toric $3$-folds and certain log C…
Let $(M,ω_M)$ be a monotone or negatively monotone symplectic manifold, or a Weinstein manifold. One can construct an "action" of $H^1(M,\mathbb{G}_m)$ on the Fukaya category (wrapped Fukaya category in the exact case) that reflects the action of $Symp^0(M,ω_M)$ on the set of Lagrangian branes. A priori this action is only analytic. The purpose of this work is to show the algebraicity of this action under some assumptions. We use this to prove a tameness result for the sheaf of Lagrangian Floer homology groups obtained by moving one of the Lagrangians via global symplectic isotopies. We also s…
We show that contact homology distinguishes infinitely many tight contact structures on any orientable, toroidal, irreducible 3-manifold. As a consequence of the contact homology computations, on a very large class of toroidal manifolds, all known examples of universally tight contact structures with nonvanishing torsion satisfy the Weinstein conjecture. ----- On montre que l'homologie de contact distingue une infinite de structures de contact tendues sur toute variete toroidale irreductible et orientable de dimension trois. En consequence des calculs d'homologie de contact, sur une tres large…
The Chekanov-Eliashberg dg-algebra is an algebraic invariant of Legendrian submanifolds of contact manifolds, whose definition recently has been extended to singular Legendrians. We describe a way of constructing simpler models of this dg-algebra for singular Legendrian knots in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$, and give the first examples of singular knots for which the full cohomology can be computed. This includes the $A_{n}$-Legendrians. An important question in the study of the Chekanov-Eliashberg dg-algebra is to understand how its quasi-isomorphism type changes when the Legendrian undergoes Weinstein r…
We propose that geometric quantization of symplectic manifolds is the arrow part of a functor, whose object part is deformation quantization of Poisson manifolds. The `quantization commutes with reduction' conjecture of Guillemin and Sternberg then becomes a special case of the functoriality of quantization. In fact, our formulation yields almost unlimited generalizations of the Guillemin--Sternberg conjecture, extending it, for example, to arbitrary Lie groups or even Lie groupoids. Technically, this involves symplectic reduction and Weinstein's dual pairs on the classical side, and Kasparov'…
Motivated by recent developments in proving the Weinstein conjecture we introduce the notion of covering contact connected sum for virtually contact manifolds and construct virtually contact structures on boundaries of subcritical handle bodies.
Embedded contact homology (ECH) is a kind of Floer homology for contact three-manifolds. Taubes has shown that ECH is isomorphic to a version of Seiberg-Witten Floer homology (and both are conjecturally isomorphic to a version of Heegaard Floer homology). This isomorphism allows information to be transferred between topology and contact geometry in three dimensions. In this article we first give an overview of the definition of embedded contact homology. We then outline its applications to generalizations of the Weinstein conjecture, the Arnold chord conjecture, and obstructions to symplectic …
We prove that on closed Riemannian manifolds with infinite abelian, but not cyclic, fundamental group, any isometry that is homotopic to the identity possesses infinitely many invariant geodesics. We conjecture that the result remains true if the fundamental group is infinite cyclic. We also formulate a generalization of the isometry-invariant geodesics problem, and a generalization of the celebrated Weinstein conjecture: on a closed contact manifold with a selected contact form, any strict contactomorphism that is contact-isotopic to the identity possesses an invariant Reeb orbit.
In this note we observe that while all overtwisted contact structures on compact 3--manifolds are supported by planar open book decompositions, not all contact structures are. This has relevance to invariants of contact structures and also to the Weinstein conjecture via work of Abbas Cieliebak and Hofer.
The goal of this paper is to set up the general framework of higher-dimensional Heegaard Floer homology, define the contact class, and use it to give an obstruction to the Liouville fillability of a contact manifold and a sufficient condition for the Weinstein conjecture to hold. We discuss several classes of examples including those coming from analyzing a close cousin of symplectic Khovanov homology and the analog of the Plamenevskaya invariant of transverse links.
We show that every open book decomposition of a contact 3-manifold can be represented (up to isotopy) by a smooth R-invariant family of pseudoholomorphic curves on its symplectization with respect to a suitable stable Hamiltonian structure. In the planar case, this family survives small perturbations, and thus gives a concrete construction of a stable finite energy foliation that has been used in various applications to planar contact manifolds, including the Weinstein conjecture and equivalence of strong and Stein fillability.
