English

String topology and the based loop space

Algebraic Topology 2011-04-01 v1

Abstract

For M a closed, connected, oriented manifold, we obtain the Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) algebra of its string topology through homotopy-theoretic constructions on its based loop space. In particular, we show that the Hochschild cohomology of the chain algebra C_*\Omega M carries a BV algebra structure isomorphic to that of the loop homology H(LM)\mathbb{H}_*(LM). Furthermore, this BV algebra structure is compatible with the usual cup product and Gerstenhaber bracket on Hochschild cohomology. To produce this isomorphism, we use a derived form of Poincar\'e duality with C_*\Omega M-modules as local coefficient systems, and a related version of Atiyah duality for parametrized spectra connects the algebraic constructions to the Chas-Sullivan loop product.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1103.6198,
  title  = {String topology and the based loop space},
  author = {Eric J. Malm},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1103.6198},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

38 pages. Condensed version of the author's Stanford University Ph.D. thesis

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:47:43.980Z