arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Haller.
We consider the question whether an orientable 5-manifold can be equipped with a rank two distribution of Cartan type and what 2-plane bundles can be realized. We obtain a complete answer for open manifolds. In the closed case, we settle the topological part of this problem and present partial results concerning its geometric aspects and new examples.
In this paper one presents a collection of results about the "bar codes" and "Jordan blocks" introduced by Burghelea-Day as "computer friendly" invariants of a tame angle-valued map and one relates these invariants to the Betti numbers, Novikov Betti numbers and the monodromy of the underlying space and map. Among others, one organizes the bar codes as two configurations of points in C\0 and one establishes their main properties: stability property and when the underlying space is a closed topological manifold, Poincaré duality property. One also provides an alternative "computer friendly" definition of the monodromy of an angle valued map based on the algebra of linear relations as well as a refinement of Morse and Morse-Novikov inequalities.
In this paper we review the definition of the invariants "bar codes" and "Jordan cells" of real and angle valued tame maps as proposed in Burghelea and Dey and Carlsson et al and prove the homotopy invariance of the sum # B^c_r +#B^o_{r-1}$ and of the Jordan cells. Here B^c_r resp. B^o_r denote the sets of closed resp. open bar codes in dimension r and # denotes cardinality. In addition we provide calculation of some familiar topological invariants in terms of bar codes and Jordan cells. The presentation provides a different perspective on Morse-Novikov theory based on critical values, bar codes and Jordan cells rather than on critical points instantons and closed trajectories of a gradient of a real or angle valued map.
Given a result of Herman, we provide a new elementary proof of the fact that the connected component of the group of compactly supported diffeomorphisms is perfect and hence simple. Moreover, we show that every diffeomorphism $g$, which is sufficiently close to the identity, can be represented as a product of four commutators, $g=[h_1,k_1]\circ...\circ[h_4,k_4]$, where the factors $h_i$ and $k_i$ can be chosen to depend smoothly on $g$.
We show that every de Rham cohomology class on the total space of a symplectic fiber bundle with closed Lefschetz fibers, admits a Poisson harmonic representative in the sense of Brylinski. The proof is based on a new characterization of closed Lefschetz manifolds.
In this paper we extend and Poincare dualize the concept of Euler structures, introduced by Turaev for manifolds with vanishing Euler-Poincare characteristic, to arbitrary manifolds. We use the Poincare dual concept, co-Euler structures, to remove all geometric ambiguities from the Ray-Singer torsion by providing a slightly modified object which is a topological invariant. We show that when the co-Euler structure is integral then the modified Ray-Singer torsion when regarded as a function on the variety of generically acyclic complex representations of the fundamental group of the manifold is the absolute value of a rational function which we call in this paper the Milnor-Turaev torsion.
In the spirit of Ray and Singer we define a complex valued analytic torsion using non-selfadjoint Laplacians. We establish an anomaly formula which permits to turn this into a topological invariant. Conjecturally this analytically defined invariant computes the complex valued Reidemeister torsion, including its phase. We establish this conjecture in some non-trivial situations.
In this paper we extend Witten-Helffer-Sjöstrand theory from selfadjoint Laplacians based on fiber wise Hermitian structures, to non-selfadjoint Laplacians based on fiber wise non-degenerate symmetric bilinear forms. As an application we verify, up to sign, the conjecture about the comparison of the Milnor-Turaev torsion with the complex valued analytic torsion, for odd dimensional manifolds. This is done along the lines of Burghelea, Friedlander and Kappeler's proof of the Cheeger-Müller theorem.
Riemannian Geometry, Topology and Dynamics permit to introduce partially defined holomorphic functions on the variety of representations of the fundamental group of a manifold. The functions we consider are the complex valued Ray-Singer torsion, the Milnor-Turaev torsion, and the dynamical torsion. They are associated essentially to a closed smooth manifold equipped with a (co)Euler structure and a Riemannian metric in the first case, a smooth triangulation in the second case, and a smooth flow of type described in section 2 in the third case. In this paper we define these functions, describe some of their properties and calculate them in some case. We conjecture that they are essentially equal and have analytic continuation to rational functions on the variety of representations. We discuss the case of one dimensional representations and other relevant situations when the conjecture is true. As particular cases of our torsions, we recognize familiar rational functions in topology such as the Lefschetz zeta function of a diffeomorphism, the dynamical zeta function of closed trajectories, and the Alexander polynomial of a knot. A numerical invariant derived from Ray-Singer torsion and associated to two homotopic acyclic representations is discussed in the last section.
We consider a vector field $X$ on a closed manifold which admits a Lyapunov one form. We assume $X$ has Morse type zeros, satisfies the Morse--Smale transversality condition and has non-degenerate closed trajectories only. For a closed one form $η$, considered as flat connection on the trivial line bundle, the differential of the Morse complex formally associated to $X$ and $η$ is given by infinite series. We introduce the exponential growth condition and show that it guarantees that these series converge absolutely for a non-trivial set of $η$. Moreover the exponential growth condition guarantees that we have an integration homomorphism from the deRham complex to the Morse complex. We show that the integration induces an isomorphism in cohomology for generic $η$. Moreover, we define a complex valued Ray--Singer kind of torsion of the integration homomorphism, and compute it in terms of zeta functions of closed trajectories of $X$. Finally, we show that the set of vector fields satisfying the exponential growth condition is $C^0$--dense.
We consider vector fields $X$ on a closed manifold $M$ with rest points of Morse type. For such vector fields we define the property of exponential growth. A cohomology class $ξ\in H^1(M;\mathbb R)$ which is Lyapunov for $X$ defines counting functions for isolated instantons and closed trajectories. If $X$ has exponential growth property we show, under a mild hypothesis generically satisfied, how these counting functions can be recovered from the spectral geometry associated to $(M,g,ω)$ where $g$ is a Riemannian metric and $ω$ is a closed one form representing $ξ$. This is done with the help of Dirichlet series and their Laplace transform.
We define the geometric complex associated to a Morse-Bott-Smale vector field, cf. [Austin-Braam, 1995], and its associated spectral sequence. We prove an extension of the Bismut-Zhang theorem to Morse-Bott-Smale functions. The proof is based on the Bismut-Zhang theorem for Morse-Smale functions, see [Bismut-Zhang, 1992].
For a given manifold $M$ we consider the non-linear Grassmann manifold $Gr_n(M)$ of $n$-dimensional submanifolds in $M$. A closed $(n+2)$-form on $M$ gives rise to a closed 2-form on $Gr_n(M)$. If the original form was integral, the 2-form will be the curvature of a principal $S^1$-bundle over $Gr_n(M)$. Using this $S^1$-bundle one obtains central extensions for certain groups of diffeomorphisms of $M$. We can realize $Gr_{m-2}(M)$ as coadjoint orbits of the extended group of exact volume preserving diffeomorphisms and the symplectic Grassmannians $SGr_{2k}(M)$ as coadjoint orbits in the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms. We also generalize the vortex filament equation as a Hamiltonian equation on $Gr_{m-2}(M)$.
Let $M$ be a closed symplectic manifold and suppose $M\to P\to B$ is a Hamiltonian fibration. Lalonde and McDuff raised the question whether one always has $H^*(P;\mathbb Q)=H^*(M;\mathbb Q)\otimes H^*(B;\mathbb Q)$ as vector spaces. This is known as the c--splitting conjecture. They showed, that this indeed holds whenever the base is a sphere. Using their theorem we will prove the c--splitting conjecture for arbitrary base $B$ and fibers $M$ which satisfy a weakening of the Hard Lefschetz condition.
We show that on a closed smooth manifold $M$ equipped with $k$ fiber bundle structures whose vertical distributions span the tangent bundle, every smooth diffeomorphism $f$ of $M$ sufficiently close to the identity can be written as a product $f=f_1... f_k$, where $f_i$ preserves the $i^{\text{th}}$-fiber. The factors $f_i$ can be chosen smoothly in $f$. We apply this result to show that on a certain class of closed smooth manifolds every diffeomorphism sufficiently close to the identity can be written as product of commutators and the factors can be chosen smoothly. Furthermore we get concrete estimates on how many commutators are necessary.
For a closed symplectic manifold $(M,ω)$, a compatible almost complex structure $J$, a 1-periodic time dependent symplectic vector field $Z$ and a homotopy class of closed curves $γ$ we define a Floer complex based on 1-periodic trajectories of $Z$ in the homotopy class $γ$. We suppose that the closed 1-form $i_{Z_t}ω$ represents a cohomology class $β(Z):=β$, independent of $t$. We show how to associate to $(M,ω,γ,β)$ and to two pairs $(Z_i,J_i)$, $i=1,2$ with $β(Z_i)=β$ an invariant, the relative symplectic torsion, which is an element in the Whitehead group $Wh(Λ_0)$, of a Novikov ring $Λ_0$ associated with $(M,ω,Z,γ)$. If the cohomology of the Floer complex vanishes or if $γ$ is trivial we derive an invariant, the symplectic torsion for any pair $(Z,J)$. We prove, that when $β(γ)\neq 0$, or when $γ$ is non-trivial and $β$ is 'small', the cohomology of the Floer complex is trivial, but the symplectic torsion can be non-trivial. Using the first fact we conclude results about non-contractible 1-periodic trajectories of 1-periodic symplectic vector fields. In this version we will only prove the statements for closed weakly monotone manifolds, but note that they remain true as formulated for arbitrary closed symplectic manifolds.
We determine the Riemannian manifolds for which the group of exact volume preserving diffeomorphisms is a totally geodesic subgroup of the group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms, considering right invariant $L^2$-metrics. The same is done for the subgroup of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms as a subgroup of the group of symplectic diffeomorphisms in the Kähler case. These are special cases of totally geodesic subgroups of diffeomorphisms with Lie algebras big enough to detect the vanishing of a symmetric 2-tensor field.
We consider systems $(M,ω,g)$ with $M$ a closed smooth manifold, $ω$ a real valued closed one form and $g$ a Riemannian metric, so that $(ω,g)$ is a Morse-Smale pair, Definition~2. We introduce a numerical invariant $ρ(ω,g)\in[0,\infty]$ and improve Morse-Novikov theory by showing that the Novikov complex comes from a cochain complex of free modules over a subring $Λ'_{[ω],ρ}$ of the Novikov ring $Λ_{[ω]}$ which admits surjective ring homomorphisms $\ev_s:Λ'_{[ω],ρ}\to\C$ for any complex number $s$ whose real part is larger than $ρ$. We extend Witten-Helffer-Sjöstrand results from a pair $(h,g)$ where $h$ is a Morse function to a pair $(ω,g)$ where $ω$ is a Morse one form. As a consequence we show that if $ρ<\infty$ the Novikov complex can be entirely recovered from the spectral geometry of $(M,ω,g)$.