Higher Massey Products Research Articles

On the behavior of Massey products under field extension

We show that global vanishing of Massey products on a commutative differential graded algebra is not invariant under field extension. Non-vanishing triple Massey products remain non-vanishing upon field extension, while higher Massey products can generally vanish. If the field being extended is algebraically closed, all non-vanishing Massey products remain non-vanishing on a finite type commutative differential graded algebra.

Rational homotopy and intersection-formality of complex algebraic varieties

A homotopical treatment of intersection cohomology recently developed by Chataur–Saralegui–Tanre associates a perverse algebraic model to every topological pseudomanifold, extending Sullivan’s presentation of rational homotopy theory to intersection cohomology. In this context, there is a notion of intersection-formality, measuring the vanishing of higher Massey products in intersection cohomology. In the present paper, we study the perverse algebraic model of complex projective varieties with isolated singularities. We then use mixed Hodge theory to prove some intersection-formality results for large families of complex projective varieties, such as isolated surface singularities and varieties of arbitrary dimension with ordinary isolated singularities.

On formality of Sasakian manifolds

We investigate some topological properties, in particular formality, of compact Sasakian manifolds. Answering some questions raised by Boyer and Galicki, we prove that all higher (than three) Massey products on any compact Sasakian manifold vanish. Hence, higher Massey products do obstruct Sasakian structures. Using this we produce a method of constructing simply connected K-contact non-Sasakian manifolds. On the other hand, for every $n \geq 3$, we exhibit the first examples of simply connected compact Sasakian manifolds of dimension $2n + 1$ which are non-formal. They are non-formal because they have a non-zero triple Massey product. We also prove that arithmetic lattices in some simple Lie groups cannot be the fundamental group of a compact Sasakian manifold.

Homology cobordism and Seifert fibered $3$-manifolds

It is known that every closed oriented 3-manifold is homology cobordant to a hyperbolic 3-manifold. By contrast we show that many homology cobordism classes contain no Seifert fibered 3-manifold. This is accomplished by determining the isomorphism type of the rational cohomology ring of all Seifert fibered 3-manifolds with no 2-torsion in their first homology. Then we exhibit families of examples of 3-manifolds (obtained by surgery on links), with fixed linking form and cohomology ring, that are not homology cobordant to any Seifert fibered space (as shown by their rational cohomology ring). These examples are shown to represent distinct homology cobordism classes using higher Massey products and Milnor's u-invariants for links.

Wheeled Pro(p)file of Batalin-Vilkovisky Formalism

Using a technique of wheeled props we establish a correspondence between the homotopy theory of unimodular Lie 1-bialgebras and the famous Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism. Solutions of the so-called quantum master equation satisfying certain boundary conditions are proven to be in 1-1 correspondence with representations of a wheeled dg prop which, on the one hand, is isomorphic to the cobar construction of the prop of unimodular Lie 1-bialgebras and, on the other hand, is quasi-isomorphic to the dg wheeled prop of unimodular Poisson structures. These results allow us to apply properadic methods for computing formulae for a homotopy transfer of a unimodular Lie 1-bialgebra structure on an arbitrary complex to the associated quantum master function on its cohomology. It is proven that in the category of quantum BV manifolds associated with the homotopy theory of unimodular Lie 1-bialgebras quasi-isomorphisms are equivalence relations.It is shown that Losev-Mnev’s BF theory for unimodular Lie algebras can be naturally extended to the case of unimodular Lie 1-bialgebras (and, eventually, to the case of unimodular Poisson structures). Using a finite-dimensional version of the Batalin-Vilkovisky quantization formalism it is rigorously proven that the Feynman integrals computing the effective action of this new BF theory describe precisely homotopy transfer formulae obtained within the wheeled properadic approach to the quantum master equation. Quantum corrections (which are present in our BF model to all orders of the Planck constant) correspond precisely to what are often called “higher Massey products” in the homological algebra.

Zeros of closed 1-forms, homoclinic orbits and Lusternik-Schnirelman theory

In this paper we study topological lower bounds on the number of zeros of closed $1$-forms without Morse type assumptions. We prove that one may always find a representing closed $1$-form having at most one zero. We introduce and study a generalization ${\rm cat}(X,\xi)$ of the notion of the Lusternik-Schnirelman category, depending on a topological space $X$ and a $1$-dimensional real cohomology class $\xi\in H^1(X;\mathbb R)$. We prove that any closed $1$-form $\omega$ in class $\xi$ has at least ${\rm cat}(X,\xi)$ zeros assuming that $\omega$ admits a gradient-like vector field with no homoclinic cycles. We show that the number ${\rm cat}(X,\xi)$ can be estimated from below in terms of the cup-products and higher Massey products. This paper corrects some my statements made in [ Lusternik–Schnirelman theory for closed $1$-forms , Comment. Math. Helv. 75 (2000), 156–170] and [ Topology of closed $1$-forms and their critical points, Topology 40 (2001), 235–258].

The spectral flow of the odd signature operator and higher Massey products

We show how to compute the spectral flow of the odd signature operator $\pm *d_{a_t}-d_{a_t}*$ along an analytic path of flat connections $a_t$ on a bundle over a closed odd-dimensional manifold in terms of Massey products in the DGLA of bundle-valued differential forms. To obtain this information, we set up a sequence of cochain complexes $\{\calg^*_n,\delta_n\}$, for $n=0,1,2,\ldots$ and Hermitian forms $$Q_n:\calg_n\times\calg_n\ra \bbbC$$ whose signatures determine the spectral flow through $t=0$. The complexes and Hermitian forms are constructed using Massey products.