Holomorphic Invariants in Symplectic Topology

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

Symplectic geometry is an area of mathematics that dates back to the 19th century and the modern formulation in physics of Newtonian mechanics. In the past few decades, it has become an exciting and fundamental area of mathematical research, due in part to close connections with many other parts of mathematics as well as physics. Symplectic geometry has had especially striking recent applications to low-dimensional topology, the mathematical study of three- and four-dimensional spaces. The Principal Investigator will pursue one particularly promising technique along these lines, in the setting of the theory of knots, or loops of string that are tied together at their ends. This technique has proven to be of interest to the physics community, providing tantalizing clues of an as-yet-undiscovered framework that combines portions of mathematics (in particular, symplectic geometry) and theoretical physics (in particular, string theory, which provides a model for the fundamental forces that shape the universe). The present project will work to uncover this framework, facilitating the exchange of ideas between mathematics and physics. As part of this project, the Principal Investigator will also promote the training of future mathematicians, running research programs and mathematical competitions for both undergraduate students and local high school students. The unifying approach to symplectic geometry in this project is provided by holomorphic curves. Since pioneering work by Gromov in the 1980s, holomorphic curves have become a central tool in symplectic geometry, combining powerful analytical and geometric techniques with a computable combinatorial flavor. The research supported by this award applies holomorphic curves to the setting of knots. Previous work by the Principal Investigator and collaborators led to the development of knot contact homology, a powerful knot invariant in the spirit of Symplectic Field Theory, which has evolved into a subject that has many unexpected and intriguing connections to various areas of mathematics and physics. Recent results have opened the door to a detailed exploration of these connections, which will be carried out in this project. Within symplectic geometry, knot contact homology motivates a close study of a new type of Floer theory (partially wrapped Floer homology); in knot theory, it is conjecturally related to topological concepts like Seifert genus and concordance; in topological string theory, it is conjectured to be determined by a certain Calabi-Yau manifold that has been the object of much study in recent years. Besides tackling these conjectures, the Principal Investigator will pursue a related project, following on a recently discovered connection between constructible sheaves (from algebraic geometry) on one side, and holomorphic curves on the other. This project will develop this connection, in particular working to define an analogue of the Fukaya category for contact manifolds and applying this to facilitate computations in Fukaya categories and mirror symmetry.