English

The homology of the little disks operad

Algebraic Topology 2010-02-20 v3

Abstract

In this expository paper we give an elementary, hands-on computation of the homology of the little disks operad, showing that the homology of a $d-fold loop space is a Poisson algebra. One aim is to familiarize a greater audience with Euclidean configuration spaces, using tools accessible to second-year graduate students. We also give a brief introduction to the theory of operads. New results include identifying the pairing between homology and cohomology of these spaces as a pairing of graphs and trees, and treating the cooperad structure on cohomology.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0610236,
  title  = {The homology of the little disks operad},
  author = {Dev Sinha},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0610236},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

Expository paper. 17 pages, 7 figures. Typos corrected, notation cleaned up, and references given in revisions