Homotopy Gerstenhaber algebras

The goal of this paper is to complete Getzler-Jones' proof of Deligne's Conjecture, thereby establishing an explicit relationship between the geometry of configurations of points in the plane and the Hochschild complex of an associative algebra. More concretely, it is shown that the $B_\infty$-operad, which is generated by multilinear operations known to act on the Hochschild complex, is a quotient of a certain operad associated to the compactified configuration spaces. Different notions of homotopy Gerstenhaber algebras are discussed: one of them is a $B_\infty$-algebra, another, called a homotopy G-algebra, is a particular case of a $B_\infty$-algebra, the others, a $G_\infty$-algebra, an $\bar E^1$-algebra, and a weak $G_\infty$-algebra, arise from the geometry of configuration spaces. Corrections to the paper arXiv:q-alg/9602009 of Kimura, Zuckerman, and the author related to the use of a nonextant notion of a homotopy Gerstenhaber algebra are made.