Generalized Sums over Histories for Quantum Gravity I. Smooth Conifolds

This paper proposes to generalize the histories included in Euclidean functional integrals from manifolds to a more general set of compact topological spaces. This new set of spaces, called conifolds, includes nonmanifold stationary points that arise naturally in a semiclasssical evaluation of such integrals; additionally, it can be proven that sequences of approximately Einstein manifolds and sequences of approximately Einstein conifolds both converge to Einstein conifolds. Consequently, generalized Euclidean functional integrals based on these conifold histories yield semiclassical amplitudes for sequences of both manifold and conifold histories that approach a stationary point of the Einstein action. Therefore sums over conifold histories provide a useful and self-consistent starting point for further study of topological effects in quantum gravity. Postscript figures available via anonymous ftp at black-hole.physics.ubc.ca (137.82.43.40) in file gen1.ps.Comment: 81pp., plain TeX, To appear in Nucl. Phys.

Geometric Cobordism Categories

In this paper we study cobordism categories consisting of manifolds which are endowed with geometric structure. Examples of such geometric structures include symplectic structures, flat connections on principal bundles, and complex structures along with a holomorphic map to a target complex manifold. A general notion of "geometric structure" is defined using sheaf theoretic constructions. Our main theorem is the identification of the homotopy type of such cobordism categories in terms of certain Thom spectra. This extends work of Galatius-Madsen-Tillmann-Weiss who identify the homotopy type of cobordism categories of manifolds with fiberwise structures on their tangent bundles. Interpretations of the main theorem are discussed which have relevance to topological field theories, moduli spaces of geometric structures, and h-principles. Applications of the main theorem to various examples of interest in geometry, particularly holomorphic curves, are elaborated upon.Comment: 82 pages. Second version with remarks on higher category approaches and various minor correction

The homotopy type of the topological cobordism category

We define a cobordism category of topological manifolds and prove that if $d \neq 4$ its classifying space is weakly equivalent to $\Omega^{\infty -1} MTTop(d)$, where $MTTop(d)$ is the Thom spectrum of the inverse of the canonical bundle over $BTop(d)$. We also give versions with tangential structures and boundary. The proof uses smoothing theory and excision in the tangential structure to reduce the statement to the computation of the homotopy type of smooth cobordism categories due to Galatius-Madsen-Tillman-Weiss.Comment: 61 pages, 9 figures. Minor correction

Generalized Sums over Histories for Quantum Gravity II. Simplicial Conifolds

This paper examines the issues involved with concretely implementing a sum over conifolds in the formulation of Euclidean sums over histories for gravity. The first step in precisely formulating any sum over topological spaces is that one must have an algorithmically implementable method of generating a list of all spaces in the set to be summed over. This requirement causes well known problems in the formulation of sums over manifolds in four or more dimensions; there is no algorithmic method of determining whether or not a topological space is an n-manifold in five or more dimensions and the issue of whether or not such an algorithm exists is open in four. However, as this paper shows, conifolds are algorithmically decidable in four dimensions. Thus the set of 4-conifolds provides a starting point for a concrete implementation of Euclidean sums over histories in four dimensions. Explicit algorithms for summing over various sets of 4-conifolds are presented in the context of Regge calculus. Postscript figures available via anonymous ftp at black-hole.physics.ubc.ca (137.82.43.40) in file gen2.ps.Comment: 82pp., plain TeX, To appear in Nucl. Phys. B,FF-92-

Lie group structures on groups of smooth and holomorphic maps on non-compact manifolds

We study Lie group structures on groups of the form C^\infty(M,K)}, where M is a non-compact smooth manifold and K is a, possibly infinite-dimensional, Lie group. First we prove that there is at most one Lie group structure with Lie algebra C^\infty(M,k) for which the evaluation map is smooth. We then prove the existence of such a structure if the universal cover of K is diffeomorphic to a locally convex space and if the image of the left logarithmic derivative in \Omega^1(M,k) is a smooth submanifold, the latter being the case in particular if M is one-dimensional. We also obtain analogs of these results for the group O(M,K) of holomorphic maps on a complex manifold with values in a complex Lie group. We show that there exists a natural Lie group structure on O(M,K) if K is Banach and M is a non-compact complex curve with finitely generated fundamental group.Comment: 39 page