arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Oscar Randal-Williams.
We determine $π_*(BDiff_\partial(D^{2n})) \otimes \mathbb{Q}$ for $2n \geq 6$ completely in degrees $* \leq 4n-10$, far beyond the pseudoisotopy stable range. Furthermore, above these degrees we discover a systematic structure in these homotopy groups: we determine them outside of certain "bands" of degrees.
We show that the topological Pontryagin classes are algebraically independent in the rationalised cohomology of BTop(d) for all $d \geq 4$.
We describe the ring structure of the rational cohomology of the Torelli groups of the manifolds $\#^g S^n \times S^n$ in a stable range, for $2n \geq 6$. Some of our results are also valid for $2n=2$, where they are closely related to unpublished results of Kawazumi and Morita.
We prove two theorems about the Malcev Lie algebra associated to the Torelli group of a surface of genus $g$: stably, it is Koszul and the kernel of the Johnson homomorphism consists only of trivial $Sp_{2g}(\mathbb{Z})$-representations lying in the centre.
We discuss several versions of the Family Signature Theorem: in rational cohomology using ideas of Meyer, in $KO[\tfrac{1}{2}]$-theory using ideas of Sullivan, and finally in symmetric $L$-theory using ideas of Ranicki. Employing recent developments in Grothendieck--Witt theory, we give a quite complete analysis of the resulting invariants. As an application we prove that the signature is multiplicative modulo 4 for fibrations of oriented Poincaré complexes, generalising a result of Hambleton, Korzeniewski and Ranicki, and discuss the multiplicativity of the de Rham invariant.
We explain how to interpret the complexes arising in the "classical" homology stability argument (e.g. in the framework of Randal-Williams--Wahl) in terms of higher algebra, which leads to a new proof of homological stability in this setting. The key ingredient is a theorem of Damiolini on the contractibility of certain arc complexes. We also explain how to directly compare the connectivities of these complexes with that of the "splitting complexes" of Galatius--Kupers--Randal-Williams.
We study the infinite generation in the homotopy groups of the group of diffeomorphisms of $S^1 \times D^{2n-1}$, for $2n \geq 6$, in a range of degrees up to $n-2$. Our analysis relies on understanding the homotopy fibre of a linearisation map from the plus-construction of the classifying space of certain space of self-embeddings of stabilisations of this manifold to a form of Hermitian $K$-theory of the integral group ring of $π_1(S^1)$. We also show that these homotopy groups vanish rationally.
We study generalized symmetries in a simplified arena in which the usual quantum field theories of physics are replaced with topological field theories and the smooth structure with which the symmetry groups of physics are usually endowed is forgotten. Doing so allows many questions of physical interest to be answered using the tools of homotopy theory. We study both global and gauge symmetries, as well as `t Hooft anomalies, which we show fall into one of two classes. Our approach also allows some insight into earlier work on symmetries (generalized or not) of topological field theories.
This note records the order of a higher dimensional Dehn twist in a range of topologically significant groups.
We use differential cohomology to systematically construct a large class of topological actions in physics, including Chern-Simons terms, Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten terms, and theta terms (continuous or discrete). We introduce a notion of invariant differential cohomology and use it to describe theories with global symmetries and we use equivariant differential cohomology to describe theories with gauge symmetries. There is a natural map from equivariant to invariant differential cohomology whose failure to surject detects 't Hooft anomalies, i.e. global symmetries which cannot be gauged. We describe a number of simple examples from quantum mechanics, such as a rigid body or an electric charge coupled to a magnetic monopole. We also describe examples of sigma models, such as those describing non-abelian bosonization in two dimensions, for which we offer an intrinsically bosonic description of the mod-2-valued 't Hooft anomaly that is traditionally seen by passing to the dual theory of Majorana fermions. Along the way, we describe a smooth structure on equivariant differential cohomology and prove various exactness and splitting properties that help with the characterization of both the equivariant and invariant theories.
I describe what is currently known, for $d \geq 5$, about the rational homotopy type of the group of diffeomorphisms of the $d$-disc relative to its boundary, and the closely related group of homeomorphisms of $d$-dimensional Euclidean space.
It is well known that Sullivan showed that the mapping class group of a simply connected high-dimensional manifold is commensurable with an arithmetic group, but the meaning of "commensurable" in this statement seems to be less well known. We explain why this result fails with the now standard definition of commensurability by exhibiting a manifold whose mapping class group is not residually finite. We do not suggest any problem with Sullivan's result: rather we provide a gloss for it.
We construct a ring homomorphism comparing the tautological ring, fixing a point, of a closed smooth manifold with that of its stabilisation by $S^{2a} \times S^{2b}$.
We explain the existence of a smooth $HP^2$-bundle over $S^4$ whose total space has nontrivial $\hat{A}$-genus. Combined with an argument going back to Hitchin, this answers a question of Schick and implies that the space of Riemannian metrics of positive sectional curvature on a closed manifold can have nontrivial higher rational homotopy groups.
We compute the set of framings of $W_{g,1} = D^{2n} \# (S^n \times S^n)^{\# g}$, up to homotopy and diffeomorphism relative to the boundary.
In 2+1-dimensions (2+1D), a gapped quantum phase with no symmetry (i.e. a topological order) can have a thermal Hall conductance $κ_{xy}=c \frac{π^2 k_B^2}{3h}T$, where the dimensionless $c$ is called chiral central charge. If there is a $U_1$ symmetry, a gapped quantum phase can also have a Hall conductance $σ_{xy}=ν\frac{e^2}{h}$, where the dimensionless $ν$ is called filling fraction. In this paper, we derive some quantization conditions of $c$ and $ν$, via a cobordism approach to define Chern--Simons topological invariants which are associated with $c$ and $ν$. In particular, we obtain quantization conditions that depend on the ground state degeneracies on Riemannian surfaces, and quantization conditions that depend on the type of spacetime manifolds where the topological partition function is non-zero.
The Torelli group of $W_g = \#^g S^n \times S^n$ is the subgroup of the diffeomorphisms of $W_g$ fixing a disc which act trivially on $H_n(W_g;Z)$. The rational cohomology groups of the Torelli group are representations of an arithmetic subgroup of $Sp_{2g}(Z)$ or $O_{g,g}(Z)$. In this paper we prove that for $2n \geq 6$ and $g \geq 2$, they are in fact algebraic representations. Combined with previous work, this determines the rational cohomology of the Torelli group in a stable range. We further prove that the classifying space of the Torelli group is nilpotent.
We completely describe the algebraic part of the rational cohomology of the Torelli groups of the manifolds $\#^g S^n \times S^n$ relative to a disc in a stable range, for $2n \geq 6$. Our calculation is also valid for $2n=2$ assuming that the rational cohomology groups of these Torelli groups are finite dimensional in a stable range.