We study the moduli space of flat $GL(1|1)$-connections on a punctured surface from the point of view of graph connections. To each fatgraph, a system of coordinates is assigned, which involves two bosonic and two fermionic variables per edge, subject to certain relations. In the case of trivalent graphs, we provide a closed explicit formula for the Whitehead moves. In addition, we discuss the invariant Poisson bracket.
Motivated by Khovanov homology and relations between the Jones polynomial and graph polynomials, we construct a homology theory for embedded graphs from which the chromatic polynomial can be recovered as the Euler characteristic. For plane graphs, we show that our chromatic homology can be recovered from the Khovanov homology of an associated link. We apply this connection with Khovanov homology to show that the torsion-free part of our chromatic homology is independent of the choice of planar embedding of a graph. We extend our construction and categorify the Bollobas-Riordan polynomial (a ge…
We define an invariant $\nabla_G(M)$ of pairs M,G, where M is a 3-manifold obtained by surgery on some framed link in the cylinder $S\times I$, S is a connected surface with at least one boundary component, and G is a fatgraph spine of S. In effect, $\nabla_G$ is the composition with the $ι_n$ maps of Le-Murakami-Ohtsuki of the link invariant of Andersen-Mattes-Reshetikhin computed relative to choices determined by the fatgraph G; this provides a basic connection between 2d geometry and 3d quantum topology. For each fixed G, this invariant is shown to be universal for homology cylinders, i.e.,…
SU(2) flat connection on 2D Riemann surface is shown to relate to the generalized twisted geometry in 3D space with cosmological constant. Various flat connection quantities on Riemann surface are mapped to the geometrical quantities in discrete 3D space. We propose that the moduli space of SU(2) flat connections on Riemann surface generalizes the phase space of twisted geometry or Loop Quantum Gravity to include the cosmological constant.
Let G be a simple complex algebraic group. By using a notion of a G-category we define invariants of tangles with flat G-connections in their complements. We also show that quantized universal enveloping algebras at roots of unity provide examples of G-categories.
Let M be the moduli space of irreducible flat PSL(2,R) connections on a punctured surface of finite type with parabolic holonomies around punctures. By using a notion of admissibility of an ideal arc, M is covered by dense open subsets associated to ideal triangulations of the surface. A principal bundle over M is constructed which, when restricted to the Teichmuller component of M, is isomorphic to the decorated Teichmuller space of Penner. The construction gives a generalization to M of Penner's coordinates for the Teichmuller space.
Resurgence of Chern-Simons theory at the trivial flat connection
International Center for Mathematics, Department of Mathematics Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学数学系国际数学中心）；Université de Genève（日内瓦大学）；Shing-Tung Yau Center and School of Physics Southeast University（东南大学物理学院杨振宁中心）；Max Planck Institute for Mathematics（马克斯·普朗克数学研究所）
A correspondence between three-dimensional flat connections and constant curvature four-dimensional simplices is used to give a novel quantization of geometry via complex SL(2,C) Chern-Simons theory. The resulting quantum geometrical states are hence represented by the 3d blocks of analytically continued Chern-Simons theory. In the semiclassical limit of this quantization the three-dimensional Chern-Simons action, remarkably, becomes the discrete Einstein-Hilbert action of a 4-simplex, featuring the appropriate boundary terms as well as the essential cosmological term proportional to the simpl…
Flat surfaces that correspond to $k$-differentials on compact Riemann surfaces are of finite area provided there is no pole of order $k$ or higher. We denote by \textit{flat surfaces with poles of higher order} those surfaces with flat structures defined by a $k$-differential with at least one pole of order at least $k$. Flat surfaces with poles of higher order have different geometrical and dynamical properties than usual flat surfaces of finite area. In particular, they can have a finite number of saddle connections. We give lower and upper bounds for the number of saddle connections and rel…
We construct a flat (and fake-flat) 2-connection in the configuration space of $n$ indistinguishable particles in the complex plane, which categorifies the $sl(2,C)$-Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov connection obtained from the adjoint representation of $sl(2,C)$. This will be done by considering the adjoint categorical representation of the string Lie 2-algebra and the notion of an infinitesimal 2-Yang-Baxter operator in a differential crossed module. Specifically, we find an infinitesimal 2-Yang-Baxter operator in the string Lie 2-algebra, proving that any (strict) categorical representation of the st…
R. Kashaev and N. Reshetikhin introduced the notion of holonomy braiding extending V. Turaev's homotopy braiding to describe the behavior of cyclic representations of the unrestricted quantum group $U_qsl_2$ at root of unity. In this paper, using quandles and biquandles we develop a general theory for Reshetikhin-Turaev ribbon type functor for tangles with quandle representations. This theory applies to the unrestricted quantum group $U_qsl_2$ and produces an invariant of links with a gauge class of quandle representations.
We construct an explicit bundle with flat connection on the configuration space of n points of a complex curve. This enables one to recover the `formality' isomorphism between the Lie algebra of the prounipotent completion of the pure braid group of n points on a surface and an explicitly presented Lie algebra t_{g,n} (Bezrukavnikov), and to extend it to a morphism from the full braid group of the surface to the semidirect product exp(hat t_{g,n}) rtimes S_n.
This thesis studies moduli spaces of singular connections on 3-manifolds and manifolds with cylindrical ends. A Chern-Simons functional is defined for singular connections on 3-manifolds which are singular along a knot. The critical points of that Chern-Simons functional are flat singular connections. The Hodge-de Rham theory of singular flat connections is presented, yielding a topological condition for determining when a singular flat connection is isolated. Finally, moduli spaces of anti-self-dual singular connections are investigated on manifolds with cylindrical ends. The main analytical …
The work of Ray and Singer which introduced analytic torsion, a kind of determinant of the Laplacian operator in topological and holomorphic settings, is naturally generalized in both settings. The couplings are extended in a direct way in the topological setting to general flat bundles and in the holomorphic setting to bundles with (1,1) connections, which using the Newlander-Nirenberg Theorem are seen to be the bundles with both holomorphic and anti-holomorphic structures. The resulting natural generalizations of Laplacians are not always self-adjoint and the corresponding generalizations of…
Let $G \to P \to M$ be a flat principal bundle over a closed and oriented manifold $M$ of dimension $m=2d$. We construct a map of Lie algebras $Ψ: \H_{2\ast} (L M) \to ø(\Mc)$, where $\H_{2\ast} (LM)$ is the even dimensional part of the equivariant homology of $LM$, the free loop space of $M$, and $\Mc$ is the Maurer-Cartan moduli space of the graded differential Lie algebra $Ω^\ast (M, \adp)$, the differential forms with values in the associated adjoint bundle of $P$. For a 2-dimensional manifold $M$, our Lie algebra map reduces to that constructed by Goldman in \cite{G2}. We treat different …
