A spectral sequence calculating the homology groups of some spaces of maps equivariant under compact group actions is described. For the main example, we calculate the rational homology groups of spaces of even and odd maps $S^m \to S^M$, $m<M$, or, which is the same, the stable homology groups of spaces of non-resultant homogeneous polynomial maps ${\mathbb R}^{m+1} \to {\mathbb R}^{M+1}$ of growing degrees. Also, we find the homology groups of spaces of ${\mathbb Z}_r$-equivariant maps of odd-dimensional spheres for any $r$. As a technical tool, we calculate the homology groups of configurat…
We show that the homology of ordered configuration spaces of finite trees with loops is torsion free. We introduce configuration spaces with sinks, which allow for taking quotients of the base space. Furthermore, we give a concrete generating set for all homology groups of configuration spaces of trees with loops and the first homology group of configuration spaces of general finite graphs. An important technique in the paper is the identification of the $E^1$-page and differentials of Mayer-Vietoris spectral sequences for configuration spaces.
Using factorization homology, we realize the rational homology of the unordered configuration spaces of an arbitrary manifold $M$, possibly with boundary, as the homology of a Lie algebra constructed from the compactly supported cohomology of $M$. By locating the homology of each configuration space within the Chevalley-Eilenberg complex of this Lie algebra, we extend theorems of Bödigheimer-Cohen-Taylor and Félix-Thomas and give a new, combinatorial proof of the homological stability results of Church and Randal-Williams. Our method lends itself to explicit calculations, examples of which we …
We provide a short proof that the dimensions of the mod $p$ homology groups of the unordered configuration space $B_k(T)$ of $k$ points in a torus are the same as its Betti numbers for $p>2$ and $k\leq p$. Hence the integral homology has no $p$-power torsion. The same argument works for the punctured genus $g$ surface with $g>0$, thereby recovering a result of Brantner-Hahn-Knudsen via Lubin-Tate theory.
We show that the homology over a field of the space of free maps from the n-sphere to the n-fold suspension of X depends only on the cohomology algebra of X and compute it explicitly. We compute also the homology of the closely related labelled configuration space on the n-sphere with labels in X and of its completion, that depends only on the homology of X. In many but not all cases the homology of the configuration space coincides with the homology of the mapping space. In particular we obtain the homology of the unordered configuration spaces on a sphere.
For a continuous angle-valued map defined on a compact ANR, a fixed field and any degree one proposes a refinement of the Novikov-Betti number and of the Novikov homology of the pair consisting of the ANR and the degree one integral cohomology class represented by the map. For each degree the first refinement is a configuration of points with multiplicity located in the punctured complex plane whose total cardinality is the Novikov-Betti number of the pair. The second refinement is a configuration of submodules of the Novikov homology whose direct sum is isomorphic to the Novikov homology and …
If $R$ is a commutative ring, $M$ a compact $R$-oriented manifold and $G$ a finite graph without loops or multiple edges, we consider the graph configuration space $M^G$ and a Bendersky-Gitler type spectral sequence converging to the homology $H_*(M^G, R)$. We show that its $E_1$ term is given by the graph cohomology complex $C_A(G)$ of the graded commutative algebra $A = H^*(M, R)$ and its higher differentials are obtained from the Massey products of $A$, as conjectured by Bendersky and Gitler for the case of a complete graph $G$. Similar results apply to the spectral sequence constructed fro…
Following ideas of Graeme Segal, we construct an equivariant con- figuration space that is a model of equivariant connective K-homology spec- trum for finite groups, as a consequence we obtain an induction structure for equivariant connective K-homology. We describe explicitly the homology with complex coefficients for the fixed points of this configuration space as a Hopf algebra.
The purpose of this note is to clarify some details in McDuff and Segal's proof of the group-completion theorem and to generalize both this and the homology fibration criterion of McDuff to homology with twisted coefficients. This will be used in forthcoming work to identify the limiting homology of "oriented" configuration spaces, which doubly cover the classical configuration spaces of distinct unordered points in a manifold.
To a pair (X,f), X compact ANR and f a continuous angle valued map defined on X, a fixed field and a nonnegative integer one assigns a finite configuration of complex numbers with multiplicities located in the punctured complex plane and a finite configuration of free modules over the ring of Laurent polynomials (with coefficients in the fixed field) indexed by the same complex numbers. This is done in analogy with the configuration of eigenvalues and of generalized eigenspaces of an invertible linear operator in a finite dimensional complex vector space. The configuration of complex numbers r…
We study stability patterns in the high dimensional rational homology of unordered configuration spaces of manifolds. Our results follow from a general approach to stability phenomena in the homology of Lie algebras, which may be of independent interest.
We provide a construction of free factorization algebras in algebraic geometry and link factorization homology of a scheme with coefficients in a free factorization algebra to the homology of its (unordered) configuration spaces. As an application, this construction allows for a purely algebro-geometric proof of homological stability of configuration spaces.
Recently, the homology and cohomology of non-k-overlapping discs, or, equivalently, no k-equal subspaces of Euclidean space, were calculated by Dobrinskaya and Turchin. We calculate the homology and cohomology of two classes of more general spaces: decreasing polychromatic configuration spaces and bicolored configuration spaces. Instead of all points behaving similarly, we allow for varying behavior between points.
In this note we study the homology of configuration spaces of closed manifolds. We sharpen the eventual periodicity results of Nagpal and Cantero-Palmer, prove integral homological stability for configuration spaces of odd-dimensional manifolds and introduce a stabilization map on the homology with $Z[1/2]$-coefficients of configuration spaces of odd-dimensional manifolds.
Given a finite graph G and a topological space Z, the graphical configuration space Conf(G, Z) is the space of functions V(G) -> Z so that adjacent vertices map to distinct points. We provide a homotopy decomposition of Conf(G, X x Y) in terms of the graphical configuration spaces in X and Y individually. By way of application, we prove a stabilization result for homology of configuration space in X x C^p as p goes to infinity. We also compute the homology of Conf(K_3,T)/T, the space of ordered triples of distinct points in a torus T of rank r, where configurations are considered up to transla…
The aim of this paper is to make sample computations with the Salvetti complex of the "center of mass" arrangement introduced in [arXiv:math/0611732] by Cohen and Kamiyama. We compute the homology of the Salvetti complex of these arrangements with coefficients in the sign representation of symmetric groups on F_p in the case of four particles. We show, when p is an odd prime, the homology is isomorphic to the homology of the configuration space F(C,4) of distinct four points in the complex plane with the same coefficients. When p=2, we show the homology is different from that of F(C,4), hence …
We propose a refinement of the Betti numbers and of the homology with coefficients in a field of a compact ANR in the presence of a continuous real valued function. The refinement of Betti numbers consists of finite configurations of points with multiplicities in the complex plane whose total cardinality are the Betti numbers and the refinement of homology consists of configurations of vector spaces indexed by points in complex plane, with the same support as the first, whose direct sum is isomorphic to the homology. When the homology is equipped with a scalar product these vector spaces are c…
The homology of configuration spaces of point-particles in manifolds has been studied intensively since the 1970s; in particular it is known to be stable if the underlying manifold is connected and open. Closely related to configuration spaces are moduli spaces of manifolds with marked points, and in [Tillmann, 2016] this relation was used to show that the homology of these moduli spaces is also stable as the number of marked points goes to infinity. Since a disc neighbourhood of a marked point may be viewed as the cone on its boundary sphere, we may think of marked points as inessential conic…
We produce explicit geometric representatives of nontrivial homology classes in the space of long knots in R^d, when d is even. We generalize results of Cattaneo, Cotta-Ramusino and Longoni to define cycles which live off of the vanishing line of a homology spectral sequence due to Sinha. We use configuration space integrals to show our classes pair nontrivially with cohomology classes due to Longoni.
We let the mapping class group $Γ_{g,1}$ of a genus $g$ surface $Σ_{g,1}$ with one boundary component act on the homology $H_*(F_{n}(Σ_{g,1});\mathbb{Q})$ of the $n^{th}$ ordered configuration space of the surface. We prove that the action is non-trivial when restricted to the $(n-1)^{st}$ stage of the Johnson filtration, for all $n\ge 1$ and $g\ge 2$. We deduce an analogous result for closed surfaces.
We calculate a certain homological obstruction introduced by De Concini, Procesi and Salvetti in their study of the Schwartz genus of the fibration from the space of ordered configuration of points in the plane to the space of the unordered configurations. We show that their obstruction group vanishes in almost all, but not all, the hitherto unknown cases. It follows that if $n$ is not a power of a prime, or twice the power of a prime, then the genus is less than $n$. The case of $n=2p^k$ where $p$ is an odd prime remains undecided for some $p$ and $k$.
In this expository paper we give an elementary, hands-on computation of the homology of the little disks operad, showing that the homology of a $d-fold loop space is a Poisson algebra. One aim is to familiarize a greater audience with Euclidean configuration spaces, using tools accessible to second-year graduate students. We also give a brief introduction to the theory of operads. New results include identifying the pairing between homology and cohomology of these spaces as a pairing of graphs and trees, and treating the cooperad structure on cohomology.
Let M be an open, connected manifold. A classical theorem of McDuff and Segal states that the sequence of configuration spaces of n unordered, distinct points in M is homologically stable with coefficients in Z: in each degree, the integral homology is eventually independent of n. The purpose of this note is to prove that this phenomenon also holds for homology with twisted coefficients. We first define an appropriate notion of finite-degree twisted coefficient system for configuration spaces and then use a spectral sequence argument to deduce the result from the untwisted homological stabilit…
We compute the cycle index sum of the symmetric group action on the homology of the configuration spaces of points in a Euclidean space with the condition that no $k$ of them are equal.
Consider the space of continuous functions on a geometric tree $X$ whose persistent homology gives rise to a finite generic barcode $D$. We show that there are exactly as many path connected components in this space as there are merge trees whose barcode is $D$. We find that each component is homotopy equivalent to a configuration space on $X$ with specialized constraints encoded by the merge tree. For barcodes $D$ with either one or two intervals, our method also allows us to compute the homotopy type of this space of functions.
We present a mathematical framework for describing the topology of configuration spaces for particles on one-connected graphs. In particular, we compute the homology groups over integers for different classes of one-connected graphs. Our approach is based on some fundamental combinatorial properties of the configuration spaces, Mayer-Vietoris sequences for different parts of configuration spaces and some limited use of discrete Morse theory. As one of the results, we derive a closed-form formulae for ranks of the homology groups for indistinguishable particles on tree graphs. We also give a de…
This paper consists of two related parts. In the first part we give a self-contained proof of homological stability for the spaces C_n(M;X) of configurations of n unordered points in a connected open manifold M with labels in a path-connected space X, with the best possible integral stability range of 2* \leq n. Along the way we give a new proof of the high connectivity of the complex of injective words. If the manifold has dimension at least three, we show that in rational homology the stability range may be improved to * \leq n. In the second part we study to what extent the homology of the …
We study topology of configuration spaces of planar linkages having one leg of variable length. Such telescopic legs are common in modern robotics where they are used for shock absorbtion and serve a variety of other purposes. Using a Morse theoretic technique, we compute explicitly, in terms of the metric data, the Betti numbers of configuration spaces of these mechanisms.
The aim of this article is to provide space level maps between configuration spaces of graphs that are predicted by algebraic manipulations of cellular chains. More explicitly, we consider edge contraction and half-edge deletion, and identify the homotopy cofibers in terms of configuration spaces of simpler graphs. The construction's main benefit lies in making the operations functorial - in particular, graph minors give rise to compatible maps at the level of fundamental groups as well as generalized (co)homology theories. As applications we provide a long exact sequence for half-edge deletio…
By considering labeled configurations of ``bounded multiplicity'', one can construct a functor that fits between homology and stable homotopy. Based on previous work, we are able to give an equivalent description of this labeled construction in terms of loop space functors and symmetric products. This yields a direct generalization of the May-Milgram model for iterated loop spaces, and answers questions of Carlsson and Milgram posed in the handbook. We give a classifying space formulation of our results hence extending an older result of Segal. We finally relate our labeled construction to a t…
We explicitly study the extremal stability of configuration spaces of complex projective spaces of any dimension, and show that the homology groups are vanish in extremal stable range. As a consequence, we give an affirmative answer of the question of Knudsen, Miller and Tosteson.
For a given bundle $ξ\colon E \to M$ over a manifold, configuration-section spaces on $ξ$ parametrise finite subsets $z \subseteq M$ equipped with a section of $ξ$ defined on $M \smallsetminus z$, with prescribed "charge" in a neighbourhood of the points $z$. These spaces may be interpreted physically as spaces of fields that are permitted to be singular at finitely many points, with constrained behaviour near the singularities. As a special case, they include the Hurwitz spaces, which parametrise branched covering spaces of the $2$-disc with specified deck transformation group. We prove that …
Using the language of twisted skew-commutative algebras, we define \emph{secondary representation stability}, a stability pattern in the {\it unstable} homology of spaces that are representation stable in the sense of Church, Ellenberg, and Farb. We show that the rational homology of configuration spaces of ordered points in noncompact manifolds satisfies secondary representation stability. While representation stability for the homology of configuration spaces involves stabilizing by introducing a point ``near infinity,'' secondary representation stability involves stabilizing by introducing …
We propose a new method of computing cohomology groups of spaces of knots in $\R^n$, $n \ge 3$, based on the topology of configuration spaces and two-connected graphs, and calculate all such classes of order $\le 3.$ As a byproduct we define the higher indices, which invariants of knots in $\R^3$ define at arbitrary singular knots. More generally, for any finite-order cohomology class of the space of knots we define its principal symbol, which lies in a cohomology group of a certain finite-dimensional configuration space and characterizes our class modulo the classes of smaller filtration.