English

Batalin-Vilkovisky structures on moduli spaces of flat connections

Quantum Algebra 2026-04-01 v2

Abstract

Let Σ\Sigma be a compact oriented 2-manifold (possibly with boundary), and let GΣ\mathcal G_{\Sigma} be the linear span of free homotopy classes of closed oriented curves on Σ\Sigma equipped with the Goldman Lie bracket [,]Goldman[\cdot, \cdot]_\mathrm{Goldman} defined in terms of intersections of curves. A theorem of Goldman gives rise to a Lie homomorphism Φeven\Phi^\mathrm{even} from (GΣ,[,]Goldman)(\mathcal G_{\Sigma}, [\cdot, \cdot]_\text{Goldman}) to functions on the moduli space of flat connections MΣ(G)\mathcal{M}_{\Sigma}(G) for G=U(N),GL(N)G=U(N), GL(N), equipped with the Atiyah-Bott Poisson bracket. The space GΣ\mathcal{G}_{\Sigma} also carries the Turaev Lie cobracket δTuraev\delta_\mathrm{Turaev} defined in terms of self-intersections of curves. In this paper, we address the following natural question: which geometric structure on moduli spaces of flat connections corresponds to the Turaev cobracket? We give a constructive answer to this question in the following context: for GG a Lie supergroup with an odd invariant scalar product on its Lie superalgebra, and for nonempty Σ\partial\Sigma, we show that the moduli space of flat connections MΣ(G)\mathcal{M}_{\Sigma}(G) carries a natural Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) structure, given by an explicit combinatorial Fock-Rosly formula. Furthermore, for the queer Lie supergroup G=Q(N)G=Q(N), we define a BV-morphism Φodd ⁣:GΣFun(MΣ(Q(N)))\Phi^\mathrm{odd}\colon \wedge \mathcal{G}_{\Sigma} \to \mathrm{Fun}(\mathcal{M}_{\Sigma}(Q(N))) which replaces the Goldman map, and which captures the information both on the Goldman bracket and on the Turaev cobracket. The map Φodd\Phi^\mathrm{odd} is constructed using the "odd trace" function on Q(N)Q(N).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2210.08944,
  title  = {Batalin-Vilkovisky structures on moduli spaces of flat connections},
  author = {Anton Alekseev and Florian Naef and Ján Pulmann and Pavol Ševera},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.08944},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

58 pages, many figures. Accepted version