arXiv subjects

Ben Walter

Publications and source records attributed to Ben Walter.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Bar cohomology of links: beyond Milnor invariants

We develop bar cohomology of link complements as an invariant of links in homology spheres. In this setting, bar cohomology is a Hopf algebra which is calculable using surfaces and their intersection curves in a link complement. In this first in a sequence of works, we introduce the invariant and show that it defines a canonical subspace of the tensor Hopf algebra, which already encodes information about Milnor's link invariants and provides geometrically significant information beyond them.

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arXiv2024

Infinitesimal calculations in fundamental groups

We show that Hopf invariants, defined by evaluation in Harrison cohomology of the commutative cochains of a space, calculate the logarithm map from a fundamental group to its Malcev Lie algebra. They thus present the zeroth Harrison cohomology as a universal dual object to the Malcev Lie algebra. This structural theorem supports explicit calculations in algebraic topology, geometric topology, and combinatorial group theory. In particular, we give the first algorithm to determine whether a power of a word is a k-fold nested commutator while encoding commutator structure in any group presented by generators and relations.

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arXiv2011

Lie coalgebras and rational homotopy theory II: Hopf invariants

We give a new solution of the "homotopy periods" problem, as highlighted by Sullivan, which places explicit geometrically meaningful formulae first dating back to Whitehead in the context of Quillen's formalism for rational homotopy theory and Koszul-Moore duality. Geometrically, we show that homotopy groups are rationally given by "generalized linking/intersection invariants" of cochain data. Moreover, we give a method for determining when two maps from $S^n$ to $X$ are homotopic after allowing for multiplication by some integer. For applications, we investigate wedges of spheres and homogeneous spaces (where homotopy is given by classical linking numbers), and configuration spaces (where homotopy is given by generalized linking numbers); also we propose a generalization of the Hopf invariant one question.

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arXiv2010

Lie algebra configuration pairing

We give an algebraic construction of the topological graph-tree configuration pairing of Sinha and Walter beginning with the classical presentation of Lie coalgebras via coefficients of words in the associative Lie polynomial. Our work moves from associative algebras to preLie algebras to graph complexes, justifying the use of graph generators for Lie coalgebras by iteratively expanding the set of generators until the set of relations collapses to two simple local expressions. Our focus is on new computational methods allowed by this framework and the efficiency of the graph presentation in proofs and calculus involving free Lie algebras and coalgebras. This outlines a new way of understanding and calculating with Lie algebras arising from the graph presentation of Lie coalgebras.

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arXiv2010

The configuration basis of a Lie algebra and its dual

We use the Lie coalgebra and configuration pairing framework presented previously by Sinha and Walter to derive a new, left-normed monomial basis for free Lie algebras (built from associative Lyndon-Shirshov words), as well as a dual monomial basis for Lie coalgebras. Our focus is on computational dexterity gained by using the configuration framework and basis. We include several explicit examples using the dual coalgebra basis and configuration pairing to perform Lie algebra computations. As a corollary of our work, we get a new multiplicative basis for the shuffle algebra.

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arXiv2009

Lie coalgebras and rational homotopy theory, I: Graph coalgebras

We develop a new, intrinsic, computationally friendly approach to Lie coalgebras through graph coalgebras, which are new and likely to be of independent interest. Our graph coalgebraic approach has advantages both in finding relations between coalgebra elements and in having explicit models for linear dualities. As a result, proofs in the realm of Lie coalgebras are often simpler to give through graph coalgebras than through classical methods, and for some important statements we have only found proofs in the graph coalgebra setting. For applications, we investigate the word problem for Lie coalgebras, we revisit Harrison homology, and we unify the two standard Quillen functors between differential graded commutative algebras and Lie coalgebras.

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arXiv2006

Rational Homotopy Calculus of Functors

This is a (slightly edited) version of the PhD dissertation of the author, submitted to Brown University in July 2005. We construct a homotopy calculus of functors in the sense of Goodwillie for the categories of rational homotopy theory. More precisely, given a homotopy functor between any of the categories of differential graded vector spaces (DG), reduced differential graded vector spaces, differential graded Lie algebras (DGL), and differential graded coalgebras (DGC), we show that there is an associated approximating "rational Taylor tower" of excisive functors. The fibers in this tower are homogeneous functors which factor as homogeneous endomorphisms of the category of differential graded vector spaces. Furthermore, we develop very straightforward and simple models for all of the objects in this tower. Constructing these models entails first building very simple models for homotopy pushouts and pullbacks in the categories DG, DGL, and DGC. We end with a short example of the usefulness of our computationally simple models for rational Taylor towers, as well as a preview of some further results dealing with the structure of rational (and non-rational) Taylor towers.

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