The operad of framed little discs is shown to be equivalent to a cyclic operad. This answers a conjecture of Salvatore in the affirmative, posed at the workshop `Knots and Operads in Roma,' at Universita di Roma ``La Sapienza'' in July of 2006.
We prove that the operad of framed little 2-discs is formal. Tamarkin and Kontsevich each proved that the unframed 2-discs operad is formal. The unframed 2-discs is an operad in the category of S^1-spaces, and the framed 2-discs operad can be constructed from the unframed 2-discs by forming the operadic semidirect product with the circle group. The idea of our proof is to show that Kontsevich's chain of quasi-isomorphisms is compatible with the circle actions and so one can essentially take the operadic semidirect product with the homology of S^1 everywhere to obtain a chain of quasi-isomorphi…
The framed n-discs operad fD_n is studied as semidirect product of SO(n) and the little n-discs operad. Our equivariant recognition principle says that a grouplike space acted on by fD_n is equivalent to the n-fold loop space on a SO(n)-space. Examples of fD_2-spaces are nerves of ribbon braided monoidal categories. We compute the rational homology of fD_n. Koszul duality for semidirect product operads of chain complexes is defined and applied to compute the double loop space homology as BV-algebra.
We prove that the chain operad of the framed little balls (or disks) operad is not formal as a non-symmetric operad over the rationals if the dimension of their balls is odd and greater than 4.
Let G be a topological group. Then the based loopspace of G is an algebra over the cacti operad, while the double loopspace of the classifying space of G is an algebra over the framed little discs operad. This paper shows that these two algebras are equivalent, in the sense that they are weakly equivalent E-algebras, where E is an operad weakly equivalent to both framed little discs and cacti. We recover the equivalence between cacti and framed little discs, and Menichi's isomorphism between the BV-algebras obtained by taking the homology of the loopspace of G and of the double loopspace of BG…
This paper confirms the following suggestion of Kontsevich. In the appropriate derived sense, an action of the framed little disks operad and a trivialization of the circle action is the same information as an action of the Deligne-Mumford-Knudsen operad. This improves an earlier result of the author and Bruno Vallette.
We study the homotopy derivations of the framed little discs operads, which correspond to the homotopy derivations of the BV2n operads. By extending a result by Willwacher about the homotopy derivations of the en operads we show that the homotopy derivations of the BV2n operads may be described through the cohomology of a suitable graph complex. We will present an explicit quasi-isomorphic map.
We develop a higher genus version of Drinfeld associators by means of operad theory. We start by introducing a framed version of rational associators and Grothendieck-Teichmüller groups and show that their definition is independent of the framing data. Next, we define a framed version of the universal KZ connection and we use it to show that over the complex numbers, the rational framed Drinfeld torsor is not empty. Next, we concentrate on the higher genus version of this story. We define an operad module of framed parenthesized higher genus braidings in prounipotent groupoids and we define it…
The framed little 2-discs operad is homotopy equivalent to the Kimura-Stasheff-Voronov cyclic operad of moduli spaces of genus zero stable curves with tangent rays at the marked points and nodes. We show that this cyclic operad is formal, meaning that its chains and its homology (the Batalin-Vilkovisky operad) are quasi-isomorphic cyclic operads. To prove this we introduce a new complex of graphs in which the differential is a combination of edge deletion and contraction, and we show that this complex resolves BV as a cyclic operad.
We introduce framed formal curves, which are formal algebraic curves with boundary components parametrized by the punctured formal disk. We study the moduli space of nodal framed formal curves, which we endow with a logarithmic structure. We show that this moduli space is a smooth formal logarithmic stack. The remarkable property of our construction is that framed formal curves admit a natural operation of "gluing along the boundary" which works well in families and preserves smoothness (both in a formal and in a logarithmic sense), and this induces gluing maps on the level of moduli. Using mo…
The framed little 2-discs operad is homotopy equivalent to a cyclic operad. We show that the derived modular envelope of this cyclic operad (i.e., the modular operad freely generated in a homotopy invariant sense) is homotopy equivalent to the modular operad made from classifying spaces of diffeomorphism groups of 3-dimensional handlebodies with marked discs on their boundaries. A modification of the argument provides a new and elementary proof of K. Costello's theorem that the derived modular envelope of the associative operad is homotopy equivalent to the ``open string'' modular operad made …
First we argue that many BV and homotopy BV structures, including both familiar and new examples, arise from a common underlying construction. The input of this construction is a cyclic operad along with a cyclically invariant Maurer-Cartan element in an associated Lie algebra. Using this result we introduce and study the operad of cyclically invariant operations, with instances arising in cyclic cohomology and $S^1$ equivariant homology. We compute the homology of the cyclically invariant operations; the result being the homology operad of $\mathcal{M}_{0,n+1}$, the uncompactified moduli spac…
It is known that the bimodule derived mapping spaces between two operads have a delooping in terms of the operadic mapping space. We show a relative version of that statement. The result has applications to the spaces of disc embeddings fixed near the boundary and framed disc embeddings.
Let O be a cyclic topological operad with multiplication. In the framework of the cosimplicial machinery by McClure and Smith, we prove that the totalization of the cosimplicial space associated to O has an action of an operad equivalent to the framed little 2-discs operad.
This paper is an introduction to a series of papers in which we give combinatorial models for certain important operads (including A-infinity and E-infinity operads, the little n-cubes operads, and the framed little disks operad) and combinatorial conditions for them to act on a given space or chain complex. The paper does not assume any prior knowledge of operads--Sections 2, 6 and 9, which can be read independently, are an introduction to the theory of operads.
We give a direct combinatorial proof that the modular envelope of the cyclic operad Ass is the modular operad of (the homeomorphism classes of) 2D compact surfaces with boundary with marked points.
We propose a $λ$-calculus-style formal language, called the $μ$-syntax, as a lightweight representation of the structure of cyclic operads. We illustrate the rewriting methods behind the formalism by giving a complete step-by-step proof of the equivalence between the unbiased and biased definitions of cyclic operads.
We introduce the notion of homotopy inner products for any cyclic quadratic Koszul operad $\mathcal O$, generalizing the construction already known for the associative operad. This is done by defining a colored operad $\widehat{\mathcal O}$, which describes modules over $\mathcal O$ with invariant inner products. We show that $\widehat{\mathcal O}$ satisfies Koszulness and identify algebras over a resolution of $\widehat{\mathcal O}$ in terms of derivations and module maps. As an application we construct a homotopy inner product over the commutative operad on the cochains of any Poincaré duali…
We introduce the notion of homotopy inner products for any cyclic quadratic Koszul operad $\mathcal O$, generalizing the construction already known for the associative operad. This is done by defining a colored operad $\hat{\mathcal O}$, which describes modules over $\mathcal O$ with invariant inner products. We show that $\hat{\mathcal O}$ satisfies Koszulness and identify algebras over a resolution of $\hat{\mathcal O}$ in terms of derivations and module maps. An application to Poincaré duality on the chain level of a suitable topological space is given.
This paper introduces a chain model for the Deligne-Mumford operad formed by homotopically trivializing the circle in a chain model for the framed little disks. We then show that under degeneration of the Hochschild to cyclic cohomology spectral sequence, a known action of the framed little disks on Hochschild cochains lifts to an action of this new chain model. We thus establish homotopy hyper-commutative algebra structures on both Hochschild and cyclic cochain complexes, and we interpret the gravity brackets on cyclic cohomology as obstructions to degeneration of this spectral sequence. Our …
We show that the space of long knots in an euclidean space of dimension larger than three is a double loop space, proving a conjecture by Sinha. We construct also a double loop space structure on framed long knots, and show that the map forgetting the framing is not a double loop map in odd dimension. However there is always such a map in the reverse direction expressing the double loop space of framed long knots as a semidirect product. A similar compatible decomposition holds for the homotopy fiber of the inclusion of long knots into immersions. We show also via string topology that the spac…
Motivated by string topology and the arc operad, we introduce the notion of quasi-operads and consider four (quasi)-operads which are different varieties of the operad of cacti. These are cacti without local zeros (or spines) and cacti proper as well as both varieties with fixed constant size one of the constituting loops. Using the recognition principle of Fiedorowicz, we prove that spineless cacti are equivalent as operads to the little discs operad. It turns out that in terms of spineless cacti Cohen's Gerstenhaber structure and Fiedorowicz' braided operad structure are given by the same ex…
First we describe a class of homotopy Frobenius algebras via cyclic operads which we call cyclic $A_\infty$ algebras. We then define a suitable new combinatorial operad which acts on the Hochschild cochains of such an algebra in a manner which encodes the homotopy BV structure. Moreover we show that this operad is equivalent to the cellular chains of a certain topological (quasi)-operad of CW complexes whose constituent spaces form a homotopy associative version of the Cacti operad of Voronov. These cellular chains thus constitute a chain model for the framed little disks operad, proving a cyc…
We introduce a convenient definition for weak cyclic operads, which is based on unrooted trees and Segal conditions. More specifically, we introduce a category $Ξ$ of trees, which carries a tight relationship to the Moerdijk-Weiss category of rooted trees $Ω$. We prove a nerve theorem exhibiting colored cyclic operads as presheaves on $Ξ$ which satisfy a Segal condition. Finally, we produce a Quillen model category whose fibrant objects satisfy a weak Segal condition, and we consider these objects as an up-to-homotopy generalization of the concept of cyclic operad.
In this paper we apply homotopical localization to the framework of differential graded algebras over an operad. We get plus construction by performing nullification with respect to an universal acyclic algebra. This plus construction for Lie and Leibniz algebras up to homotopy yields two new homology theories for associative algebras. They are closely related to cyclic and Hochschild homologies. We also compute their first homology groups.
We provide a new combinatorial approach to studying the collection of N-infinity-operads in G-equivariant homotopy theory for G a finite cyclic group. In particular, we show that for G the cyclic group of order p^n the natural order on the collection of N-infinity-operads stands in bijection with the poset structure of the (n+1)-associahedron. We further provide a lower bound for the number of possible N-infinity-operads for any finite cyclic group G.
In this note, we show that the normalized Hochschild co--chains of an associative algebra with a non--degenerate, symmetric, invariant inner product are an algebra over a chain model of the framed little discs operad which is given by cacti. In particular, in this sense they are a BV algebra up to homotopy and the Hochschild cohomology of such an algebra is a BV algebra whose induced bracket coincides with Gerstenhaber's bracket. To show this, we use a cellular chain model for the framed little disc operad in terms of normalized cacti. This model is given by tensoring our chain model for the l…
In this article, we show under what additional ingredients a comp (or opposite) module over an operad with multiplication can be given the structure of a cyclic k-module and how the underlying simplicial homology gives rise to a Batalin-Vilkovisky module over the cohomology of the operad. In particular, one obtains a generalised Lie derivative and a generalised (cyclic) cap product that obey a Cartan-Rinehart homotopy formula, and hence yield the structure of a noncommutative differential calculus in the sense of Nest, Tamarkin, Tsygan, and others. Examples include the calculi known for the Ho…
The equivalence between dg duality and Verdier duality has been established for cyclic operads earlier. We propose a generalization of this correspondence from cyclic operads and dg duality to twisted modular operads and Feynman transform. Specifically, for each twisted modular operad $\mathcal{P}$ (taking values in dg-vector spaces over a field $k$ of characteristic 0), there is a certain sheaf $\mathcal{F}$ associated with it on the moduli space of stable metric graphs such that the Verdier dual sheaf $D\mathcal{F}$ is associated with the Feynman transform $F\mathcal{P}$ of $\mathcal{P}$. In…
We introduce twisted arrow categories of operads and of algebras over operads. Up to equivalence of categories, the simplex category $Δ$, Segal's category $Γ$, Connes cyclic category $Λ$, Moerdijk-Weiss dendroidal category $Ω$, and categories similar to graphical categories of Hackney-Robertson-Yau are twisted arrow categories of symmetric or cyclic operads. Twisted arrow categories of operads admit Segal presheaves and 2-Segal presheaves, or decomposition spaces. Twisted arrow category of an operad $P$ is the $(\infty, 1)$-localization of the corresponding category $Ω/P$ by the boundary prese…
We construct a canonical chain of formality quasiisomorphisms for the operad of chains on framed little disks and the operad of chains on little disks. The construction is done in terms of logarithmic algebraic geometry and is remarkable for being rational (and indeed definable integrally) in de Rham cohomology.
We exhibit the simplex category $Δ$ and Segal's category $Γ$ as $\infty$-categorical localizations of the dendroidal categories $Ω_π$ and $Ω$ introduced by Moerdijk and Weiss. As an application we obtain an equivalence of $\infty$-categories between invertible $\infty$-operads and the $2$-Segal spaces of Dyckerhoff and Kapranov. Finally, we describe a cyclic version of the dendroidal category and explain how it $\infty$-localizes to Connes's cyclic category $Λ$.
We construct explicit minimal models for the (hyper)operads governing modular, cyclic and ordinary operads, and wheeled properads, respectively. Algebras for these models are homotopy versions of the corresponding structures.
Transfer systems are combinatorial objects which classify $N_\infty$ operads up to homotopy. By results of A. Blumberg and M. Hill, every transfer system associated to a linear isometries operad is also saturated (closed under a particular two-out-of-three property). We investigate saturated and linear isometric transfer systems with equivariance group $C_{p^mq^n}$, the cyclic group of order $p^mq^n$ for $p,q$ distinct primes and $m,n\ge 0$. We give a complete enumeration of saturated transfer systems for $C_{p^mq^n}$. We also prove J. Rubin's saturation conjecture for $C_{pq^n}$; this says th…
We introduce and study several new topological operads that should be regarded as nonsymmetric analogues of the operads of little 2-disks, framed little 2-disks, and Deligne-Mumford compactifications of moduli spaces of genus zero curves with marked points. These operads exhibit all the remarkable algebraic and geometric features that their classical analogues possess; in particular, it is possible to define a noncommutative analogue of the notion of cohomological field theory with similar Givental-type symmetries. This relies on rich geometry of the analogues of the Deligne-Mumford spaces, co…