Lev Rozansky

Matrix factorizations and link homology II

For each positive integer n the HOMFLY polynomial of links specializes to a one-variable polynomial that can be recovered from the representation theory of quantum sl(n). For each such n we build a doubly-graded homology theory of links with this polynomial as the Euler characteristic. The core of our construction utilizes the theory of matrix factorizations, which provide a linear algebra description of maximal Cohen-Macaulay modules on isolated hypersurface singularities.

S- and T-matrices for the super U (1,1) WZW model application to surgery and 3-manifolds invariants based on the Alexander-Conway polynomial

Abstract We carry on (in a self-contained fashion) the study of the Alexander-Conway invariant from the quantum field theory point of view started earlier. We investigate for that purpose various aspects of WZW models on supergroups. We first discuss in details S - and T -matrices for the U(1,1) super WZW model and obtain, for the level k an integer, new finite-dimensional representations of the modular group. These have the remarkable property that some of the S -matrix elements are infinite (we show how to properly handle such divergences). Moreover, typical and atypical representations as well as indecomposable blocks are mixed: truncation to maximally atypical representations, as advocated in some recent papers, is not consistent. Using our approach, multivariable Alexander invariants for links in S 3 can now be fully computed by surgery. Examples of torus and cable knots are discussed. Consistency with classical results provides independent checks of the solution of the U(1,1) WZW model. The main topological application of this work is the computation of Alexander invariants for 3-manifolds and more generally for links in 3-manifolds. Invariants of 3-manifolds themselves seem to depend trivially on the level k , but still contain interesting topological information. For Seifert manifolds for instance, they essentially coincide with the order (number of elements) of the first homology group. Examples of invariants of links in 3-manifolds are given. They exhibit interesting arithmetic properties.

On the Relation Between Open and Closed Topological Strings

We discuss the relation between open and closed string correlators using topological string theories as a toy model. We propose that one can reconstruct closed string correlators from the open ones by considering the Hochschild cohomology of the category of D-branes. We compute the Hochschild cohomology of the category of D-branes in topological Landau-Ginzburg models and partially verify the conjecture in this case.

Wheels, wheeling, and the Kontsevich integral of the Unknot

We conjecture an exact formula for the Kontsevich integral of the unknot, and also conjecture a formula (also conjectured independently by Deligne [De]) for the relation between the two natural products on the space of uni-trivalent diagrams. The two formulas use the related notions of “Wheels” and “Wheeing”. We prove these formulas ‘on the level of Lie algebras’ using standard techniques from the theory of Vassiliev invariants and the theory of Lie algebras. In a brief epilogue we report on recent proofs of our full conjectures, by Kontsevich [Ko2] and by DBN, DPT, and T. Q. T. Le, [BLT].

Three-dimensional topological field theory and symplectic algebraic geometry I

We study boundary conditions and defects in a three-dimensional topological sigma-model with a complex symplectic target space X (the Rozansky–Witten model). We show that boundary conditions correspond to complex Lagrangian submanifolds in X equipped with complex fibrations. The set of boundary conditions has the structure of a 2-category; morphisms in this 2-category are interpreted physically as one-dimensional defect lines separating parts of the boundary with different boundary conditions. This 2-category is a categorification of the Z_2-graded derived category of X; it is also related to categories of matrix factorizations and a categorification of deformation quantization (quantization of symmetric monoidal categories). In Appendix B we describe a deformation of the B-model and the associated category of branes by forms of arbitrary even degree.

Khovanov homology of a unicolored B-adequate link has a tail

C. Armond, S. Garoufalidis and T.Le have shown that a unicolored Jones polynomial of a B-adequate link has a stable tail at large colors. We categorify this tail by showing that Khovanov homology of a unicolored link also has a stable tail, whose graded Euler characteristic coincides with the tail of the Jones polynomial.

Knot homology and sheaves on the Hilbert scheme of points on the plane

For each braid

The Århus integral of rational homology 3-spheres I: A highly non trivial flat connection on S 3

\beta \in \mathfrak {Br}_n