This paper studies groups of symplectomorphisms of ruled surfaces for symplectic forms with varying cohomology class. This class is characterized by the ratio R of the size of the base to that of the fiber. By considering appropriate spaces of almost complex structures, we investigate how the topological type of these groups changes as R increases. If the base is a sphere, this changes precisely when R passes an integer, and for general bases it stabilizes as R goes to infinity. Our results extend and make more precise some of the conclusions of Abreu--McDuff concerning the rational homotopy type of these groups for rational ruled surfaces.
By a result of Kedra and Pinsonnault, we know that the topology of groups of symplectomorphisms of symplectic 4-manifolds is complicated in general. However, in all known (very specific) examples, the rational cohomology rings of symplectomorphism groups are finitely generated. In this paper, we compute the rational homotopy Lie algebra of symplectomorphism groups of the 3-point blow-up of the projective plane (with an arbitrary symplectic form) and show that in some cases, depending on the sizes of the blow-ups, it is infinite dimensional. Moreover, we explain how the topology is generated by…
The graph of a real symplectic linear transformation is an R-Lagrangian subspace of a complex symplectic vector space. The restriction of the complex symplectic form is thus purely imaginary and may be expressed in terms of the generating function of the transformation. We provide explicit formulas; moreover, as an application, we give an explicit general formula for the metaplectic representation of the real symplectic group.
In this paper we apply Donaldson's general moment map framework for the action of a symplectomorphism group on the corresponding space of compatible (almost) complex structures to the case of rational ruled surfaces. This gives a new approach to understanding the topology of their symplectomorphism groups, based on a result of independent interest: the space of compatible integrable complex structures on any symplectic rational ruled surface is (weakly) contractible. We also explain how in general, under this condition, there is a direct relationship between the topology of a symplectomorphism…
Let $(X,ω)$ be a symplectic rational 4 manifold. We study the space of tamed almost complex structures $\mathcal{J}_ω$ using a fine decomposition via smooth rational curves and a relative version of the infinite-dimensional Alexander duality. This decomposition provides new understandings of both the variation and stability of the symplectomorphism group $Symp(X,ω)$ when deforming $ω$. In particular, we compute the rank of $π_1(Symp(X,ω))$ with Euler number $χ(X)\leq 7$ in terms of the number $N$ of -2 symplectic sphere classes.
In this paper, we generalize Medos-Wang's arguments and results on the mean curvature flow deformations of symplectomorphisms of $\CP^n$ in \cite{MeWa} to complex Grassmann manifold $G(n, n+m;\C)$ and compact totally geodesic Kähler-Einstein submanifolds of $G(n, 2n;\C)$ such as irreducible Hermitian symmetric spaces $SO(2n)/U(n)$ and $Sp(n)/U(n)$ (in the terminology of \cite[p. 518]{He}). We also give an abstract result and discuss the case of complex tori.
We prove that there exist diffeomorphisms of tori, supported in a disc, which are not isotopic to symplectomorphisms with respect to any symplectic structure. This yields a partial negative answer to a question of Benson and Gordon about the existence of symplectic structures on tori with exotic differential structure.
Let $M$ be either $S^2\times S^2$ or the one point blow-up $\cp# \bcp$ of $\cp$. In both cases $M$ carries a family of symplectic forms $\om_\la$, where $\la > -1$ determines the cohomology class $[\om_\la]$. This paper calculates the rational (co)homology of the group $G_\la$ of symplectomorphisms of $(M,\om_\la)$ as well as the rational homotopy type of its classifying space $BG_\la$. It turns out that each group $G_\la$ contains a finite collection $K_k, k = 0,...,\ell = \ell(\la)$, of finite dimensional Lie subgroups that generate its homotopy. We show that these subgroups "asymptotically …
We show that, for certain families $ϕ_{\mathbf{s}}$ of diffeomorphisms of high-dimensional spheres, the commutator of the Dehn twist along the zero-section of $T^*S^n$ with the family of pullbacks $ϕ^*_{\mathbf{s}}$ gives a noncontractible family of compactly-supported symplectomorphisms. In particular, we find examples: where the Dehn twist along a parametrised Lagrangian sphere depends up to Hamiltonian isotopy on its parametrisation; where the symplectomorphism group is not simply-connected, and where the symplectomorphism group does not have the homotopy-type of a finite CW-complex. We sho…
The symplectomorphism group of a 2-dimensional surface is homotopy equivalent to the orbit of a filling system of curves. We give a generalization of this statement to dimension 4. The filling system of curves is replaced by a decomposition of the symplectic 4-manifold (M, omega) into a disjoint union of an isotropic 2-complex L and a disc bundle over a symplectic surface Sigma which is Poincare dual to a multiple of the form omega. We show that then one can recover the homotopy type of the symplectomorphism group of M from the orbit of the pair (L, Sigma). This allows us to compute the homoto…
In this note we investigate the structure of the space $\Jj$ of smooth almost complex structures on $S^2\times S^2$ that are compatible with some symplectic form. This space has a natural stratification that changes as the cohomology class of the form changes and whose properties are very closely connected to the topology of the group of symplectomorphisms of $S^2\times S^2$. By globalizing standard gluing constructions in the theory of stable maps, we show that the strata of $\Jj$ are Fréchet manifolds of finite codimension, and that the normal link of each stratum is a finite dimensional str…
Each element of the commutator subgroup of a group can be represented as a product of commutators. The minimal number of factors in such a product is called the commutator length of the element. The commutator length of a group is defined as the supremum of commutator lengths of elements of its commutator subgroup. We show that for certain closed symplectic manifolds, including complex projective spaces and Grassmannians, the universal cover of the group of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms of the manifold has infinite commutator length. In particular, we present explicit examples of elements in …
Hamiltonian quantization of an integral compact symplectic manifold M depends on a choice of compatible almost complex structure J. For open sets U in the set of compatible almost complex structures and small enough values of Planck's constant, the Hilbert spaces of the quantization form a bundle over U with a natural connection. In this paper we examine the dependence of the Hilbert spaces on the choice of J, by computing the semi-classical limit of the curvature of this connection. We also show that parallel transport provides a link between the action of the group Symp(M) of symplectomorphi…
This is a brief review of the main results of our paper arXiv:1101.1759 that contains a complete global treatment of the compactified trigonometric Ruijsenaars-Schneider system by quasi-Hamiltonian reduction. Confirming previous conjectures of Gorsky and collaborators, we have rigorously established the interpretation of the system in terms of flat SU(n) connections on the one-holed torus and demonstrated that its self-duality symplectomorphism represents the natural action of the standard mapping class generator S on the phase space. The pertinent quasi-Hamiltonian reduced phase space turned …
Let $π: P\to B$ be a locally trivial fiber bundle over a connected CW complex $B$ with fiber equal to the closed symplectic manifold $(M,\om)$. Then $π$ is said to be a symplectic fiber bundle if its structural group is the group of symplectomorphisms $\Symp(M,\om)$, and is called Hamiltonian if this group may be reduced to the group $\Ham(M,\om)$ of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms. In this paper, building on prior work by Seidel and Lalonde, McDuff and Polterovich, we show that these bundles have interesting cohomological properties. In particular, for many bases $B$ (for example when $B$ is a…
This article is a contribution to the understanding of the geometry of the twistor space of a symplectic manifold. We consider the bundle $Z$ with fibre the Siegel domain Sp(2n,R)/U(n) existing over any given symplectic 2n-manifold M. Then, after recalling the construction of the almost complex structure induced on $Z$ by a symplectic connection on M, we study and find some specific properties of both. We show a few examples of twistor spaces, develop the interplay with the symplectomorphisms of M, find some results about a natural almost Hermitian structure on $Z$ and finally prove its n+1-ho…
In this paper we study the topology of the space $\I_ω$ of complex structures compatible with a fixed symplectic form $ω$, using the framework of Donaldson. By comparing our analysis of the space $\I_ω$ with results of McDuff on the space $\cat J_ω$ of compatible almost complex structures on rational ruled surfaces, we find that $\I_ω$ is contractible in this case. We then apply this result to study the topology of the symplectomorphism group of a rational ruled surface, extending results of Abreu and McDuff.
We prove that the group of Hamiltonian automorphisms of a symplectic 4-manifold contains only finitely many conjugacy classes of maximal compact tori with respect to the action of the full symplectomorphism group. We also extend to rational and ruled manifolds a result of Kedra which asserts that, if $M$ is a simply connected symplectic 4-manifold with $b_{2}\geq 3$, and if $\widetilde{M}_δ$ denotes a blow-up of $M$ of small enough capacity $δ$, then the rational cohomology algebra of the Hamiltonian group of $\widetilde{M}_δ)$ is not finitely generated. Both results are based on the fact that…
T.-J. Li and W. Zhang defined an almost complex structure $J$ on a manifold $X$ to be {\em \Cpf}, if the second de Rham cohomology group can be decomposed as a direct sum of the subgroups whose elements are cohomology classes admitting $J$-invariant and $J$-anti-invariant representatives. It turns out (see T. Draghici, T.-J. Li and W. Zhang) that any almost complex structure on a 4-dimensional compact manifold is \Cpf. We study the $J$-invariant and $J$-anti-invariant cohomology subgroups on almost complex manifolds, possibly non compact. In particular, we prove an analytic continuation result…
We look at methods to select triples $(M,ω,J)$ consisting of a symplectic manifold $(M,ω)$ endowed with a compatible positive almost complex structure $J$, in terms of the Nijenhuis tensor $N^J$ associated to $J$. We study in particular the image distribution $\Image N^J$.
The periodic Floer homology of a surface symplectomorphism, defined by the first author and M. Thaddeus, is the homology of a chain complex which is generated by certain unions of periodic orbits, and whose differential counts certain embedded pseudoholomorphic curves in R cross the mapping torus. It is conjectured to recover the Seiberg-Witten Floer homology of the mapping torus for most spin-c structures, and is related to a variant of contact homology. In this paper we compute the periodic Floer homology of some Dehn twists.
In this paper, motivated by Chen--Ruan's stringy orbifold theory on almost complex orbifolds, we construct a new cohomology ring $\mathscr H^\ast_{G,cs}(X)$ for an equivariant almost complex pair $(X,G)$, where $X$ is a compact connected almost complex manifold, $G$ is a connected compact Lie group which acts on $X$ and preserves the almost complex structure.
We prove that a compact Riemann surface can be realized as a pseudo-holomorphic curve of $(\mathbb{R}^4,J)$, for some almost complex structure $J$ if and only if it is an elliptic curve. Furthermore we show that any (almost) complex $2n$-torus can be holomorphically embedded in $(\mathbb{R}^{4n},J)$ for a suitable almost complex structure $J$. This allows us to embed any compact Riemann surface in some almost complex Euclidean space and to show many explicit examples of almost complex structure in $\mathbb{R}^{2n}$ which can not be tamed by any symplectic form.
Complete hyperbolicity of small Euclidean balls with respect to a C^1-smooth almost complex structure standard at origin is improved to give a complete hyperbolicity of strictly pseudoconvex domains. More precise (and lower) regularity assumptions on almost complex structure are made also for another results.
We prove that the maximum of two smooth strictly plurisubharmonic functions on an almost complex manifold can be uniformly approximated by smooth strictly plurisubharmonic functions.
An isomorphism of symplectically tame smooth pseudocomplex structures on the complex projective plane which is a homeomorphism and differentiable of full rank at two points is smooth.
For a compact almost complex 4-manifold $(M,J)$, we study the subgroups $H^{\pm}_J$ of $H^2(M, \mathbb{R})$ consisting of cohomology classes representable by $J$-invariant, respectively, $J$-anti-invariant 2-forms. If $b^+ =1$, we show that for generic almost complex structures on $M$, the subgroup $H^-_J$ is trivial. Computations of the subgroups and their dimensions $h^{\pm}_J$ are obtained for almost complex structures related to integrable ones. We also prove semi-continuity properties for $h^{\pm}_J$.
We prove a result on removing singularities of almost complex structures pulled back by a non-diffeomorphic map. As an application we prove the existence of global J-holomorphic discs with boundaries attached to real tori.
We show that almost complex circle actions with exactly three fixed points do not exist in dimension 8 and present an infinite series of 6-dimensional manifolds possessing an almost complex circle action with exactly two fixed points.
An \emph{$ω$-admissible almost complex structure} on a $2n$-dimensional symplectic manifold $(M,ω)$ is a $ω$-calibrated almost complex structure $J$ admitting a nowhere vanishing $\bar{\partial}_J$-closed $(n,0)$-form $ψ$. After giving some examples we consider the moduli space of admissible almost complex structures and we study infinitesimal deformations. As special case, we write down explicit computations for the complex torus.
We prove the existence of stationary discs in the ball for small almost complex deformations of the standard structure. We define a local analogue of the Riemann map and establish its main properties. These constructions are applied to study the local geometry of almost complex manifolds and their morphisms.
We introduce certain homology and cohomology subgroups for any almost complex structure and study their pureness, fullness and duality properties. Motivated by a question of Donaldson, we use these groups to relate J-tamed symplectic cones and J-compatible symplectic cones over a large class of almost complex manifolds, including all Kahler manifolds, almost Kahler 4-manifolds and complex surfaces.
We give several explicit examples of compact manifolds with a $1$-parameter family of almost complex structures having arbitrarily small Nijenhuis tensor in the $C^0$-norm. The $4$-dimensional examples possess no complex structure, whereas the $6$-dimensional example does not possesses a left invariant complex structure, and whether it possesses a complex structure appears to be unknown.
In this paper, firstly, for some $4n$-dimensional almost complex manifolds $M_{i}, ~1\le i \le α$, we prove that $\left(\sharp_{i=1}^α M_{i}\right) \sharp (α{-}1) \mathbb{C} P^{2n}$ must admits an almost complex structure, where $α$ is a positive integer. Secondly, for a $2n$-dimensional almost complex manifold $M$, we get that $M\sharp \overline{\mathbb{C} P^{n}}$ also admits an almost complex structure. At last, as an application, we obtain that $α\mathbb{C} P^{2n}\sharp β\overline{\mathbb{C} P^{2n}}$ admits an almost complex structure if and only if $α$ is odd.
We show the intersection of a compact almost complex subvariety of dimension $4$ and a compact almost complex submanifold of codimension $2$ is a $J$-holomorphic curve. This is a generalization of positivity of intersections for $J$-holomorphic curves in almost complex $4$-manifolds to higher dimensions. As an application, we discuss pseudoholomorphic sections of a complex line bundle. We introduce a method to produce $J$-holomorphic curves using the differential geometry of almost Hermitian manifolds. When our main result is applied to pseudoholomorphic maps, we prove the singularity subset o…
This is the first of a series of papers, in which we study the plurigenera, the Kodaira dimension and more generally the Iitaka dimension on compact almost complex manifolds. Based on the Hodge theory on almost complex manifolds, we introduce the plurigenera, Kodaira dimension and Iitaka dimension on compact almost complex manifolds. We show that the plurigenera and the Kodaira dimension as well as the irregularity are birational invariants in almost complex category, at least in dimension $4$, where a birational morphism is defined to be a degree one pseudoholomorphic map. However, they are n…
This is the second of a series of papers where we study the plurigenera, the Kodaira dimension and the Iitaka dimension on compact almost complex manifolds. By using the pseudoholomorphic pluricanonical map, we define the second version of Kodaira dimension as well as Iitaka dimension on compact almost complex manifolds. We show the almost complex structures with the top Kodaira dimension are integrable. For compact almost complex 4-manifolds with Kodaira dimension one, we obtain elliptic fibration like structural description. Some vanishing theorems in complex geometry are generalized to the …
