Let Z^{LMO} be the 3-manifold invariant of [LMO]. It is shown that Z^{LMO}(M)=1, if the first Betti number of M, b_{1}(M), is greater than 3. If b_{1}(M)=3, then Z^{LMO}(M) is completely determined by the cohomology ring of M. A relation of Z^{LMO} with the Rozansky-Witten invariants Z_{X}^{RW}[M] is established at a physical level of rigour. We show that Z_{X}^{RW}[M] satisfies appropriate connected sum properties suggesting that the generalized Casson invariant ought to be computable from the LMO invariant.
Link invariants, for 3-manifolds, are defined in the context of the Rozansky-Witten theory. To each knot in the link one associates a holomorphic bundle over a holomorphic symplectic manifold X. The invariants are evaluated for b_{1}(M) \geq 1 and X Hyper-Kaehler. To obtain invariants of Hyper-Kaehler X one finds that the holomorphic vector bundles must be hyper-holomorphic. This condition is derived and explained. Some results for X not Hyper-Kaehler are presented.
We prove the additivity of the Casson-Seiberg-Witten invariant of integral homology $S^1 \times S^3$ under fiber sum along embedded curves and embedded tori, which is the $4$-dimensional analogue of the additivity of the Casson invariant under connected-sum and splicing along knots.
We prove a surgery formula of the Casson-Seiberg-Witten invariant of integral homology $S^1 \times S^3$ along an embedded torus, which could either be regarded as an extension of the product formula for Seiberg-Witten invariants or a manifestation of the surgery exact triangle in $4$-dimensional Seiberg-Witten theory of homology $S^1 \times S^3$. As an application, we compute this invariant for mapping tori of $3$-manifolds under diffeomorphisms of finite order and fixed-point set being a simple closed curve. This computation generalizes the result of Lin-Ruberman-Saveliev.
By studying Rozansky-Witten theory with non-compact target spaces we find new connections with knot invariants whose physical interpretation was not known. This opens up several new avenues, which include a new formulation of $q$-series invariants of 3-manifolds in terms of affine Grassmannians and a generalization of Akutsu-Deguchi-Ohtsuki knot invariants.
This is a survey of our recent work with Tom Mrowka on Seiberg-Witten gauge theory and index theory for manifolds with periodic ends. We explain how this work leads to a new invariant, which is related to the classical Rohlin invariant of homology 3-spheres and to the Furuta-Ohta invariant originating in Yang-Mills gauge theory. We give some new calculations of our invariant for 4-dimensional mapping tori.
We investigate the perturbative aspects of Rozansky-Witten's 3d $σ$-model using Costello's approach to the Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) formalism. We show that the BV quantization (in Costello's sense) of the model, which produces a perturbative quantum field theory, can be obtained via the configuration space method of regularization due to Kontsevich and Axelrod-Singer. We also study the factorization algebra structure for quantum observables following Costello-Gwilliam. In particular, we show that the cohomology of local quantum observables on a genus $g$ handle body is given by $H^*(X,(\wedge^*…
The SU(3)-Casson invariant for integral homology 3-spheres as studied by Boden-Herald possesses a 'spectral flow obstruction' to being an integer valued invariant which depends only on the non-degenerate (perturbed) moduli space of flat SU(3)-connections. This obstruction is the non-trivial spectral flow of a family of twisted signature operators in 3-dimensions. The parallel U(2)-Seiberg-Witten construction also has an obstruction but from the non-trivial spectral flow of a family of twisted Dirac operators. By taking the SU(3)-flat and U(2)-Seiberg-Witten equations simultaneously the obstruc…
We establish the exact triangle in Seiberg-Witten-Floer theory relating the monopoloe homologies of any two closed 3-manifolds which are obtained from each other by $\pm 1$-surgery. We also show that the sum of the modified version of the Seiberg-Witten invariants for any closed rational homology 3-sphere $Y$ over all $Spin^c$ structures equals to $\frac 12 |H_1(Y, \Z)| λ(Y)$ where $λ(Y)$ is the Casson-Walker invariant.
Casson-type invariants emerging from Donaldson theory over certain negative definite 4-manifolds were recently suggested by Andrei Teleman. These are defined by a count of a zero-dimensional moduli space of flat instantons. Motivated by the cobordism program of proving Witten's conjecture, we use a moduli space of PU(2) Seiberg-Witten monopoles to exhibit an oriented one-dimensional cobordism of the instanton moduli space to the empty space. The Casson-type invariant must therefore vanish.
The goal of this paper is to give a new proof of a theorem of Meng and Taubes that identifies the Seiberg-Witten invariants of 3-manifolds with Milnor torsion. The point of view here will be that of topological quantum field theory. In particular, we relate the Seiberg-Witten equations on a 3-manifold with the Abelian vortex equations on a Riemann surface. These techniques also give a new proof of the surgery formula for the Casson invariant, interpreted as an invariant of a homology S^2 x S^1.
We prove that the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a rational homology sphere are determined in a very explicit fashion by the Casson-Walker invariant and the Reidemeister torsion
We consider Donaldson-Witten theory on four-manifolds of the form $X=Y \times {\bf S}^1$ where $Y$ is a compact three-manifold. We show that there are interesting relations between the four-dimensional Donaldson invariants of $X$ and certain topological invariants of $Y$. In particular, we reinterpret a result of Meng-Taubes relating the Seiberg-Witten invariants to Reidemeister-Milnor torsion. If $b_1(Y)>1$ we show that the partition function reduces to the Casson-Walker-Lescop invariant of $Y$, as expected on formal grounds. In the case $b_1(Y)=1$ there is a correction. Consequently, in the …
By studying the Seiberg-Witten equations on end-periodic manifolds, we give an obstruction on the existence of positive scalar curvature metric on compact $4$-manifolds with the same homology as $S^{1}\times S^{3}$. This obstruction is given in terms of the relation between the Frøyshov invariant of the generator of $H_{3}(X;Z)$ with the $4$-dimensional Casson invariant $λ_{SW}(X)$ defined by Mrowka-Ruberman-Saveliev. Along the way, we develop a framework that can be useful in further study of the Seiberg-Witten theory on general end-periodic manifolds.
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 verify the conjecture formulated in math.AG/0111298 for suspension singularities of type $g(x,y,z)= f(x,y)+z^n$, where $f$ is an irreducible plane curve singularity. More precisely, we prove that the modified Seiberg-Witten invariant of the link $M$ of $g$, associated with the canonical $spin^c$ structure, equals $-σ(F)/8$, where $σ(F)$ is the signature of the Milnor fiber of $g$. In order to do this, we prove general splicing formulae for the Casson-Walker invariant and for the sign refined Reidemeister-Turaev torsion (in particular, for the modified Seiberg-Witten invariant too). These pr…
We consider the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants or Chern-Simons partition function at or around roots of unity $q=e^{2πi \frac{1}{K}}$ with rational level $K=\frac{r}{s}$ where $r$ and $s$ are coprime integers. From the exact expression for the $G=SU(2)$ Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants of Seifert manifolds at other roots of unity obtained by Lawrence and Rozansky, we provide an expected form of the structure of the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants in terms of the homological blocks at other roots of unity. Also, we discuss the asymptotic expansion of knot invariants around roots …
These introductory lectures show how to define finite type invariants of links and 3-manifolds by counting graph configurations in 3-manifolds, following ideas of Witten and Kontsevich. The linking number is the simplest finite type invariant for 2-component links. It is defined in many equivalent ways in the first section. As an important example, we present it as the algebraic intersection of a torus and a 4-chain called a propagator in a configuration space. In the second section, we introduce the simplest finite type 3-manifold invariant, which is the Casson invariant (or the Theta-invaria…
We develop an explicit skein theoretical algorithm to compute the Alexander polynomial of a 3-manifold from a surgery presentation employing the methods used in the construction of quantum invariants of 3-manifolds. As a prerequisite we establish and prove a rather unexpected equivalence between the topological quantum field theory constructed by Frohman and Nicas using the intersection homology of U(1)-representation varieties on the one side and the combinatorially constructed Hennings-TQFT based on the quasitriangular Hopf algebra ${\cal N}=\Z/2\ltimes \ext *\R^2$ on the other side. We find…
