We construct a new equivariant cohomology theory for a certain class of differential vertex algebras, which we call the chiral equivariant cohomology. A principal example of a differential vertex algebra in this class is the chiral de Rham complex of Malikov-Schechtman-Vaintrob of a manifold with a group action. The main idea in this paper is to synthesize the algebraic approach to classical equivariant cohomology due to H. Cartan, with the theory of differential vertex algebras, by using an appropriate notion of invariant theory. We also construct the vertex algebra analogues of the Mathai-Quillen isomorphism, the Weil and the Cartan models for equivariant cohomology, and the Chern-Weil map. We give interesting cohomology classes in the new theory that have no classical analogues.
This is the third of a series of papers on a new equivariant cohomology that takes values in a vertex algebra, and contains and generalizes the classical equivariant cohomology of a manifold with a Lie group action a la H. Cartan. In this paper, we compute this cohomology for spheres and show that for any simple connected group G, there is a sphere with infinitely many actions of G which have distinct chiral equivariant cohomology, but identical classical equivariant cohomology. Unlike the classical case, the description of the chiral equivariant cohomology of spheres requires a substantial am…
We propose the notion of a supercategory as an alternative approach to supermathematics. We show that this setting is rich to carry out many of the basic constructions of supermathematics. We also prove generalizations of a number of results in equivariant cohomology, including the Chern-Weil theorem for an arbitrary rigid Lie algebra object. For a quadratic Lie algebra object we obtain a proof of the Duflo isomorphism along the lines of Alekseev-Meinrenken, thereby generalizing their result to Lie superalgebras.
On the basis of Brylinski's work, we introduce a notion of equivariant smooth Deligne cohomology group, which is a generalization of both the ordinary smooth Deligne cohomology and the ordinary equivariant cohomology. Using the cohomology group, we classify equivariant circle bundles with connection, and equivariant gerbes with connection.
We use localization formulas in the theory of equivariant cohomology to rederive the wall crossing formulas of Li-Liu and Okonek-Teleman for Seiberg-Witten invariants.
For a compact Lie group acting on a smooth manifold, we define the differential cohomology of a certain quotient stack involving principal bundles with connection. This produces differential equivariant cohomology groups that map to the Cartan-Weil equivariant forms and to Borel's equivariant integral cohomology. We show the Chern-Weil homomorphism for equivariant vector bundles with connection naturally factors through differential equivariant cohomology.
In this article, we will discuss a new operator $d_{C}$ on $W(\mathfrak{g})\otimesΩ^{*}(M)$ and to construct a new Cartan model for equivariant cohomology. We use the new Cartan model to construct the corresponding BRST model and Weil model, and discuss the relations between them.
For a closed Kähler manifold with a Hamiltonian action of a connected compact Lie group by holomorphic isometries, we construct a formal Frobenius manifold structure on the equivariant cohomology by exploiting a natural DGBV algebra structure on the Cartan model.
In this paper, we study the perturbative aspects of the half-twisted variant of Witten's topological A-model coupled to a non-dynamical gauge field with Kahler target space X being a G-manifold. Our main objective is to furnish a purely physical interpretation of the equivariant cohomology of the chiral de Rham complex, recently constructed by Lian and Linshaw in [arXiv:math/0501084], called the "chiral equivariant cohomology". In doing so, one finds that key mathematical results such as the vanishing in the chiral equivariant cohomology of positive weight classes, lend themselves to straightf…
We give two generalizations of the Atiyah-Bott-Berline-Vergne localization theorem for the equivariant cohomology of a torus action: 1) replacing the torus action by a compact connected Lie group action, 2) replacing the manifold having a torus action by an equivariant map. This provides a systematic method for calculating the Gysin homomorphism in ordinary cohomology of an equivariant map. As an example, we recover a formula of Akyildiz-Carrell for the Gysin homomorphism of flag manifolds.
We show that the equivariant cohomology of any hyperpolar action of a compact and connected Lie group on a symmetric space of compact type is a Cohen-Macaulay ring. This generalizes some results previously obtained by the authors.
We describe the Cartan and Weil models of twisted equivariant cohomology together with the Cartan homomorphism among the two, and we extend the Chern-Weil homomorphism to the twisted equivariant cohomology. We clarify that in order to have a cohomology theory, the coefficients of the twisted equivariant cohomology must be taken in the completed polynomial algebra over the dual Lie algebra of $G$. We recall the relation between the equivariant cohomology of exact Courant algebroids and the twisted equivariant cohomology, and we show how to endow with a generalized complex structure the finite d…
This is a survey on the equivariant cohomology of Lie group actions on manifolds, from the point of view of de Rham theory. Emphasis is put on the notion of equivariant formality, as well as on applications to ordinary cohomology and to fixed points.
Let $M$ be a smooth manifold and $G$ a compact connected Lie group acting on $M$ by isometries. In this paper, we study the equivariant cohomology of ${\bf X}=T^\ast M$, and relate it to the cohomology of the Marsden-Weinstein reduced space via certain residue formulae. In case that $\bf X$ is a compact symplectic manifold with a Hamiltonian $G$-action, similar residue formulae were derived by Jeffrey, Kirwan et al.
We construct and analyse models of equivariant cohomology for differentiable stacks with Lie group actions extending classical results for smooth manifolds due to Borel, Cartan and Getzler. We also derive various spectral sequences for the equivariant cohomology of a differentiable stack generalising among others Bott's spectral sequence which converges to the cohomology of the classifying space of a Lie group.
We will discuss the equivariant cohomology of a manifold endowed with the action of a Lie group. Localization formulae for equivariant integrals are explained by a vanishing theorem for equivariant cohomology with generalized coefficients. We then give applications to integration of characteristic classes on symplectic quotients and to indices of transversally elliptic operators. In particular, we state a conjecture for the index of a transversally elliptic operator linked to a Hamiltonian action. In the last part, we describe algorithms for numerical computations of values of multivariate spl…
We present a simple proof of a precise version of the localization theorem in equivariant cohomology. As an application, we describe the cohomology algebra of any compact symplectic variety with a multiplicity-free action of a compact Lie group. This applies in particular to smooth, projective spherical varieties.
We introduce and study a new spectral sequence associated with a Poisson group action on a Poisson manifold and an equivariant momentum mapping. This spectral sequence is a Poisson analog of the Leray spectral sequence of a fibration. The spectral sequence converges to the Poisson cohomology of the manifold and has the $E_2$-term equal to the tensor product of the cohomology of the Lie algebra and the equivariant Poisson cohomology of the manifold. The latter is defined as the equivariant cohomology of the multi-vector fields made into a G-differential complex by means of the momentum mapping.…
The main result of the paper is a Borel type description of the $Sp(1)^n$-equivariant cohomology ring of the manifold $Fl_n(\mathbb{H})$ of all complete flags in $\mathbb{H}^n$. To prove this, we obtain a Goresky-Kottwitz-MacPherson type description of that ring.
We construct a deformed Morse complex computing the equivariant cohomology of a manifold M endowed with a smooth S^1-action. The deformation of the coboundary operator is given by counting gradient flow lines of a Morse function f that are allowed to "jump" along orbits of the S^1-action for finite time intervalls.
The construction of characteristic classes via the curvature form of a connection is one motivation for the refinement of integral cohomology by de Rham cocycles -- known as differential cohomology. We will discuss the analog in the case of a group action on the manifold: The definition of equivariant characteristic forms in the Cartan model due to Nicole Berline and Michèle Vergne motivates a refinement of equivariant integral cohomology by all Cartan cocycles. In view of this, we will also review previous definitions critically, in particular the one given by Kiyonori Gomi.
We define the category of manifolds with extended tangent bundles, we study their symmetries and we consider the analogue of equivariant cohomology for actions of Lie groups in this category. We show that when the action preserves the splitting of the extended tangent bundle, our definition of extended equivariant cohomology agrees with the twisted equivariant de Rham model of Cartan, and for this case we show that there is localization at the fixed point set, à la Atiyah-Bott.
Using mirror symmetry as described by Hori and Vafa, we compute the quantum equivariant cohomology ring of toric manifolds. This ring arises naturally in topological gauged sigma-models and is related to the Hamiltonian Gromov-Witten invariants of the target manifold.
A refined form of the `Folk Theorem' that a smooth action by a compact Lie group can be (canonically) resolved, by iterated blow up, to have unique isotropy type was established by the authors in the context of manifolds with corners; the canonical construction induces fibrations on the boundary faces of the resolution resulting in an `equivariant resolution structure'. Here, equivariant K-theory and the Cartan model for equivariant cohomology are tracked under the resolution procedure as is the delocalized equivariant cohomology of Baum, Brylinski and MacPherson. This leads to resolved models…
Let M be a spin manifold with a circular action. Given an elliptic curve E, we introduce, as in Grojnowski, elliptic bouquets of germs of holomorphic equivariant cohomology classes on M. Following Bott-Taubes and Rosu, we show that integration of an elliptic bouquet is well defined. In particular, this imply Witten's rigidity theorem. We emphasize the similarity between integration in K-theory and in elliptic cohomology.
We define exotic twisted $S^1$-equivariant cohomology for the loop space $LZ$ of a smooth manifold $Z$ via the invariant differential forms on $LZ$ with coefficients in the (typically non-flat) holonomy line bundle of a gerbe, with differential an equivariantly flat superconnection. We introduce the twisted Bismut-Chern character form, a loop space refinement of the twisted Chern character form, which represent classes in the completed periodic exotic twisted $S^1$-equivariant cohomology of $LZ$. We establish a localisation theorem for the completed periodic exotic twisted $S^1$-equivariant co…
The `Folk Theorem' that a smooth action by a compact Lie group can be (canonically) resolved, by iterated blow up, to have unique isotropy type is proved in the context of manifolds with corners. This procedure is shown to capture the simultaneous resolution of all isotropy types in a `resolution tower' which projects to a resolution, with iterated boundary fibration, of the quotient. Equivariant K-theory and the Cartan model for equivariant cohomology are tracked under the resolution procedure as is the delocalized equivariant cohomology of Baum, Brylinski and MacPherson. This leads to resolv…
We investigate the equivariant cohomology of the natural torus action on a K-contact manifold and its relation to the topology of the Reeb flow. Using the contact moment map, we show that the equivariant cohomology of this action is Cohen-Macaulay, which is a generalization of equivariant formality for torus actions without fixed points. As a consequence, a generic component of the contact moment map is a perfect Morse-Bott function for the basic cohomology of the orbit foliation F of the Reeb flow. Assuming that the closed Reeb orbits are isolated, we show that the basic cohomology of F is tr…
We prove a localization formula for a "holomorphic equivariant cohomology" attached to the Atiyah algebroid of an equivariant holomorphic vector bundle. This generalizes Feng-Ma, Carrell-Liebermann, Baum-Bott and K. Liu's localization formulas.
We give a classifying theory for $LG$-bundles, where $LG$ is the loop group of a compact Lie group $G$, and present a calculation for the string class of the universal $LG$-bundle. We show that this class is in fact an equivariant cohomology class and give an equivariant differential form representing it. We then use the caloron correspondence to define (higher) characteristic classes for $LG$-bundles and to prove for the free loop group an analogue of the result for characteristic classes for based loop groups in Murray-Vozzo (J. Geom. Phys., 60(9), 2010). These classes have a natural interpr…
Let G be a compact, connected Lie group, acting smoothly on a manifold M. Goresky-Kottwitz-MacPherson described a small Cartan model for the equivariant cohomology of M, quasi-isomorphic to the standard Cartan complex of equivariant differential forms. In this paper, we construct an explicit cochain map from the small Cartan model into the standard Cartan model, inducing an isomorphism in cohomology. The construction involves the solution of a remarkable inhomogeneous Maurer-Cartan equation. This solution has further applications to the theory of transgression in the Weil algebra, and to the C…
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.
Q-groupoids and Q-algebroids are, respectively, supergroupoids and superalgebroids that are equipped with compatible homological vector fields. These new objects are closely related to the double structures of Mackenzie; in particular, we show that Q-groupoids are intermediary objects between Mackenzie's LA-groupoids and double complexes, which include as a special case the simplicial model of equivariant cohomology. There is also a double complex associated to a Q-algebroid, which in the above special case is the BRST model of equivariant cohomology. Other special cases include models for the…
Let M be a manifold carrying the action of a Lie group G, and A a Lie algebroid on M equipped with a compatible infinitesimal G-action. Out of these data we construct an equivariant Lie algebroid cohomology and prove for compact G a related localization formula. As an application we prove a Bott-type formula.
In this paper an analytic proof of a generalization of a theorem of Bismut ([Bis1, Theorem 5.1]) is given, which says that, when $v$ is a transversal holomorphic vector field on a compact complex manifold $X$ with a zero point set $Y$, the embedding $j:Y\to X$ induces a natural isomorphism between the holomorphic equivariant cohomology of $X$ via $v$ with coefficients in $ξ$ and the Dolbeault cohomology of $Y$ with coefficients in $ξ|_Y$, where $ξ\to X$ is a holomorphic vector bundle over $X$.
