Symplectic geometry is a mathematical framework for the study of classical and quantum mechanics. It centers around questions about the structures and symmetries of a symplectic manifold--an even-dimensional space that locally looks like the phase space containing the position and momentum of a moving particle. Modern physics has led to the discoveries of many important and sophisticated invariants of symplectic manifolds, and has predicted a number of deep connections to different fields of mathematics. Current definitions and approaches to these invariants are based on the analysis of a special kind of mapping of a surface to a symplectic manifold, known as the theory of holomorphic curves. The primary goal of the project is to develop an alternative approach to some of these invariants, which is more accessible and which will form the foundations of effective calculations. The approach is based on the microlocal sheaf theory, which was invented as an algebraic and topological method to study differential equations. The project will have many applications in the field of representation theory, a rich subject focusing on the study of symmetries appearing in mathematics and physics. The PI will also continue to organize seminars on related topics, disseminate her results through academic events, and provide research opportunities for undergraduate students.
More specifically, the PI will use microlocal sheaf theory to quantize Lagrangian submanifolds in an exact symplectic manifold, and will give the definition of a microlocal sheaf category of a symplectic manifold, which is expected to be equivalent to the important symplectic invariant, known as the Fukaya category. The approach is purely topological, and it allows the coefficient ring to be a ring spectrum, which opens up interesting connections to stable homotopy theory. The PI will develop a parallel story in the complex setting of holomorphic Lagrangians in an exact holomorphic symplectic manifold, which exhibits new and richer structures and which will have important applications in geometric representation theory. The PI will use this to quantize holomorphic Lagrangians in symplectic resolutions, a class of holomorphic symplectic manifolds in the center of modern representation theory, with the goal of understanding the mysterious phenomena of symplectic duality. Other applications to representation theory involve calculations in the Hecke category using sheaf quantizations of the braid group action as symplectomorphisms and a proposal to realize the nonabelian Hodge theory using microlocal perverse sheaves.
