We consider the following properties of compact oriented irreducible graph-manifolds: to contain a $π_1$-injective surface (immersed, virtually embedded or embedded), be (virtually) fibered over $S^1$, and to carry a metric of nonpositive sectional curvature.
It turns out that all these properties can be described from a unified point of view.
In this paper, we will use Kahn-Markovic's almost totally geodesic surfaces to construct certain $π_1$-injective 2-complexes in closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Such 2-complexes are locally almost totally geodesic except along a 1-dimensional subcomplex. Using Agol and Wise's result that fundamental groups of hyperbolic 3-manifolds are LERF and quasi-convex subgroups are virtual retract, we will show that closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds virtually contain any prescribed homological torsion: For any finite abelian group $A$, and any closed hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$, there exists a finite cover $N$ o…
We prove that the cardinality of the torsion subgroups in homology of a closed hyperbolic manifold of any dimension can be bounded by a doubly exponential function of its diameter. It would follow from a conjecture by Bergeron and Venkatesh that the order of growth in our bound is sharp. We also determine how the number of non-commensurable closed hyperbolic manifolds of dimension at least 3 and bounded diameter grows. The lower bound implies that the fraction of arithmetic manifolds tends to zero as the diameter goes up.
We investigate to what extend the density of $Z_n$-maps in the characterization of $Q$-manifolds, and the density of maps $f\in C(\mathbb N\times Q,X)$ having discrete images in the $l_2$-manifolds characterization can be weakened to the density of homological $Z_n$-maps and homological $Z$-maps, respectively. As a result, we obtain homological characterizations of $Q$-manifolds and $l_2$-manifolds.
We prove a homological stability theorem for unlinked circles in $3$-manifolds and give an application to certain groups of diffeomorphisms of 3-manifolds.
Bredon has constructed a 2-dimensional compact cohomology manifold which is not homologically locally connected, with respect to the singular homology. In the present paper we construct infinitely many such examples (which are in addition metrizable spaces) in all remaining dimensions $n \ge 3$.
We prove a homological stability theorem for moduli spaces of manifolds of dimension $2n$, for attaching handles of index at least $n$, after these manifolds have been stabilised by countably many copies of $S^n \times S^n$. Combined with previous work of the authors, we obtain an analogue of the Madsen--Weiss theorem for any simply-connected manifold of dimension $2n \geq 6$.
We prove a homological stability theorem for the moduli spaces of manifolds diffeomorphic to $\#^{g}(S^{n+1}\times S^{n})$, provided $n \geq 4$. This is an odd dimensional analogue of a recent homological stability result of S. Galatius and O. Randal Williams for the moduli space of manifolds diffeomorphic to $\#^{g}(S^{n}\times S^{n})$ for $n \geq 3$.
We prove that given any finite abelian group $A$ and any irreducible $3$-manifold $M$ with empty or toroidal boundary which is not a graph manifold there exists a finite cover $M' \to M$ so that $A$ is a direct factor in $H_1(M',\mathbb{Z})$. This generalizes results of Sun and of Friedl-Herrmann.
We relate the Gromov norm on homology classes to the harmonic norm on the dual cohomology and obtain double sided bounds in terms of the volume and other geometric quantities of the underlying manifold. Along the way, we provide comparisons to other related norms and quantities as well.
We establish a new homological lower bound for the Thurston norm on 1-cohomology of 3-manifolds. This generalizes previous results of C. McMullen, S. Harvey, and the author. We also establish an analogous lower bound for 1-cohomology of 2-dimensional CW-complexes.
We prove a homological stability theorem for moduli spaces of simply-connected manifolds of dimension $2n > 4$, with respect to forming connected sum with $S^n \times S^n$. This is analogous to Harer's stability theorem for the homology of mapping class groups. Combined with previous work of the authors, it gives a calculation of the homology of the moduli spaces of manifolds diffeomorphic to connected sums of $S^n \times S^n$ in a range of degrees.
In this paper we consider two connected closed Haken manifolds denoted by M^3 and N^3, with the same Gromov simplicial volume. We give a simple homological criterion to decide when a given map f: M^3-->N^3 between M^3 and N^3 can be changed by a homotopy to a homeomorphism. We then give a convenient process for constructing maps between M^3 and N^3 satisfying the homological hypothesis of the map f.
Let C_n(M) be the configuration space of n distinct ordered points in M. We prove that if M is any connected orientable manifold (closed or open), the homology groups H_i(C_n(M); Q) are representation stable in the sense of [Church-Farb]. Applying this to the trivial representation, we obtain as a corollary that the unordered configuration space B_n(M) satisfies classical homological stability: for each i, H_i(B_n(M); Q) is isomorphic to H_i(B_{n+1}(M); Q) for n > i. This improves on results of McDuff, Segal, and others for open manifolds. Applied to closed manifolds, this provides natural exa…
We prove a homological stability theorem for moduli spaces of high-dimensional, highly connected manifolds, with respect to forming the connected sum with the product of spheres $S^{p}\times S^{q}$, for $p < q < 2p - 2$. This result is analogous to recent results of S. Galatius and O. Randal-Williams regarding the homological stability for the moduli spaces of manifolds of dimension $2n > 4$, with respect to forming connected sums with $S^{n}\times S^{n}$.
Starting from the results in math.DG:1212.3161 we prove that for a given Bianchi group, certain natural coefficent modules and a lot of sequences of congruence subgroups of the size of the torsion subgroup of the first homology grows exponentially with the index (we give an explicit rate). We also prove limit multiplicity results for the irreducible components of the space of cuspidal forms.
By work of Berglund and Madsen, the rings of rational characteristic classes of fibrations and smooth block bundles with fibre $D^{2n}\sharp(S^n\times S^n)^{\sharp g}$, relative to the boundary, are for $2n\ge 6$ independent of $g$ in degrees $*\le (g-6)/2$. In this note, we explain how this range can be improved to $*\le g-2$ using cohomological vanishing results due to Borel and classical invariant theory. This implies that the analogous ring for smooth bundles is independent of $g$ in the same range, provided the degree is small compared to the dimension.
We prove that group homology of the diffeomorphism group of $\#^g S^n \times S^n$ as a discrete group is independent of $g$ in a range, provided that $n>2$. This answers the high dimensional version of a question posed by Morita about surface diffeomorphism groups made discrete. The stable homology is isomorphic to the homology of a certain infinite loop space related to the Haefliger's classifying space of foliations. One geometric consequence of this description of the stable homology is a splitting theorem that implies certain classes called generalized Mumford-Morita-Miller classes can be …
By studying spaces of flow graphs in a closed oriented manifold, we construct operations on its cohomology, parametrized by the homology of the moduli spaces of compact Riemann surfaces with boundary marked points. We show that the operations satisfy the gluing axiom of an open homological conformal field theory. This complements previous constructions due to R. Cohen et al., K. Costello and M. Kontsevich and is also the Morse theoretic counterpart to a conjectural construction of operations on the Lagrangian Floer homology of the zero section of a cotangent bundle, obtained by studying uncomp…
We show that the systolic constant, the minimal entropy, and the spherical volume of a manifold depend only on the image of the fundamental class under the classifying map of the universal covering. Moreover, we compute the systolic constant of manifolds with fundamental group of order two (modulo the value on the real projective space) and derive an inequality between the minimal entropy and the systolic constant.
Let S be an orientable surface with negative Euler characteristic, let ψ\in\Mod(S) be a mapping class of S, and let T_ψ be the mapping torus of ψ. We study the action of lifts of ψon the homology of finite covers of S via the torsion homology growth of towers of finite covers of T_ψ. We show that ψadmits a lift to a finite cover with a homological eigenvalue of length greater than one if and only if the mapping torus T_ψ admits a finite cover X and a certain tower of abelian covers which have exponential torsion homology growth. We show that the existence of such a lift of ψis intrinsic to T_ψ…
We calculate homological blocks for a knot in Seifert manifolds when the gauge group is $SU(N)$. We obtain the homological blocks with a given representation of the gauge group from the expectation value of the Wilson loop operator by analytically continuing the Chern-Simons level. We also obtain homological blocks with the analytically continued level and representation for a knot in the Seifert integer homology spheres.
Given a graded $E_1$-module over an $E_2$-algebra in spaces, we construct an augmented semi-simplicial space up to higher coherent homotopy over it, called its canonical resolution, whose graded connectivity yields homological stability for the graded pieces of the module with respect to constant and abelian coefficients. We furthermore introduce a notion of coefficient systems of finite degree in this context and show that, without further assumptions, the corresponding twisted homology groups stabilize as well. This generalizes a framework of Randal-Williams and Wahl for families of discrete…
We observe that the Poincare duality isomorphism for a string manifold is an isomorphism of modules over the subalgebra A(2) of the modulo 2 Steenrod algebra. In particular, the pattern of the operations Sq^1, Sq^2, and Sq^4 on the cohomology of a string manifold has a symmetry around the middle dimension. We characterize this kind of cohomology operation duality in term of the annihilator of the Thom class of the negative tangent bundle, and in terms of the vanishing of top-degree cohomology operations. We also indicate how the existence of such an operation-preserving duality implies the int…
We give an affirmative answer to the Halperin-Carlsson conjecture for the homologically injective torus actions on closed manifolds. This class contains holomorphic torus actions on compact Kahler manifolds, torus actions on compact Riemannian flat manifolds.
In this paper we prove a stability theorem for block diffeomorphisms of 2d-dimensional manifolds that are connected sums of S^d x S^d. Combining this with a recent theorem of S. Galatius and O. Randal-Williams and Morlet's lemma of disjunction, we determine the homology of the classifying space of their diffeomorphism groups relative to an embedded disk in a stable range.
Let $n \geq 2$. We prove a homological stability theorem for the diffeomorphism groups of $(4n+1)$-dimensional manifolds, with respect to forming the connected sum with $(2n-1)$-connected, $(4n+1)$-dimensional manifolds that are stably parallelizable. Our techniques involve the study of the action of the diffeomorphism group of a manifold $M$, on the linking form associated to the homology groups of $M$. In particular, we construct a geometric model for the linking form using the intersections of embedded and immersed $\mathbb{Z}/k$-manifolds. In addition to our main homological stability theo…
In the framework of homological characterizations of relative hyperbolicity, Groves and Manning posed the question of whether a simply connected $2$-complex $X$ with a linear homological isoperimetric inequality, a bound on the length of attaching maps of $2$-cells and finitely many $2$-cells adjacent to any edge must have a fine $1$-skeleton. We provide a positive answer to this question. We revisit a homological characterization of relative hyperbolicity, and show that a group $G$ is hyperbolic relative to a collection of subgroups $\mathcal P$ if and only if $G$ acts cocompactly with finite…
Gukov-Pei-Putrov-Vafa constructed $q$-series invariants called homological blocks in a physical way in order to categorify Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev (WRT) invariants and conjectured that radial limits of homological blocks are WRT invariants. In this paper, we prove their conjecture for unimodular H-graphs. As a consequence, it turns out that the WRT invariants of H-graphs yield quantum modular forms of depth two and of weight one with the quantum set $\mathbb{Q}$. In the course of the proof of our main theorem, we first write the invariants as finite sums of rational functions. We second carr…
We calculate the homological blocks for Seifert manifolds from the exact expression for the $G=SU(N)$ Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants of Seifert manifolds obtained by Lawrence, Rozansky, and Mariño. For the $G=SU(2)$ case, it is possible to express them in terms of the false theta functions and their derivatives. For $G=SU(N)$, we calculate them as a series expansion and also discuss some properties of the contributions from the abelian flat connections to the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants for general $N$. We also provide an expected form of the $S$-matrix for general cases and the…
We show that simply connected contact manifolds that are subcritically Stein fillable have a unique symplectically aspherical filling up to diffeomorphism. Various extensions to manifolds with non-trivial fundamental group are discussed. The proof rests on homological restrictions on symplectic fillings derived from a degree-theoretic analysis of the evaluation map on a suitable moduli space of holomorphic spheres. Applications of this homological result include a proof that compositions of right-handed Dehn twists on Liouville domains are of infinite order in the symplectomorphism group. We a…
We give a homological interpretation of the coefficients of the Hilbert series for an algebra associated with a directed graph and its dual algebra. This allows us to obtain necessary conditions for Koszulity of such algebras in terms of homological properties of the graphs. We use our results to construct algebras with a prescribed Hilbert series.
We prove homological stability for sequences of "oriented configuration spaces" as the number of points in the configuration goes to infinity. These are spaces of configurations of n points in a connected manifold M of dimension at least 2 which 'admits a boundary', with labels in a path-connected space X, and with an orientation: an ordering of the points up to even permutations. They are double covers of the corresponding unordered configuration spaces, where the points do not have this orientation. To prove our result we adapt methods from a paper of Randal-Williams, which proves homologica…
Motivated by physical constructions of homological knot invariants, we study their analogs for closed 3-manifolds. We show that fivebrane compactifications provide a universal description of various old and new homological invariants of 3-manifolds. In terms of 3d/3d correspondence, such invariants are given by the Q-cohomology of the Hilbert space of partially topologically twisted 3d N=2 theory T[M_3] on a Riemann surface with defects. We demonstrate this by concrete and explicit calculations in the case of monopole/Heegaard Floer homology and a 3-manifold analog of Khovanov-Rozansky link ho…
We give a homological construction of aperiodic tiles for certain open Riemannian surfaces admitting actions of Grigorchuk groups of intermediate growth.
We introduce supergroup analogues of 3-manifold invariants $\hat{Z}$, also known as homological blocks, which were previously considered for ordinary compact semisimple Lie groups. We focus on superunitary groups, and work out the case of SU(2|1) in details. Physically these invariants are realized as the index of BPS states of a system of intersecting fivebranes wrapping a 3-manifold in M-theory. As in the original case, the homological blocks are q-series with integer coefficients. We provide an explicit algorithm to calculate these q-series for a class of plumbed 3-manifolds and study quant…
We show that from an even degree symplectic NQ-manifold, whose homological vector field Q preserves the symplectic form, one can construct a weight system for tri-valent graphs with values in the Q-cohomology ring, satisfying the IHX relation. Likewise, given a representation of the homological vector field, one can construct a weight system for the chord diagrams, satisfying the IHX and STU relations. Moreover we show that the use of the 'Gronthendieck connection' in the construction is essential in making the weight system dependent only on the choice of the NQ-manifold and its representatio…