Collaborative Research: Chromatic homotopy theory and open string theory

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AbstractAward: DMS-0705233, 0705381Principal Investigator: Matthew Ando, Eric R. SharpeAndo and Sharpe will investigate several questions in ellipticcohomology suggested by the physics of open string theory. Inphysics, elliptic genera arise in closed string theory, but therecent work of Stolz and Teichner and of Borisov and Libgover andGanter strongly suggests that open string theory plays animportant role in elliptic cohomology. Ando and Sharpe propose tointroduce recent developments in open string theory, particularlyideas about D-branes and K-theory, to the study of ellipticcohomology. For example they hope to use open string theory toinvestigate the relationship between elliptic cohomology and theK-theory of K-theory, as studied by Baas, Dundas, Richter, andRognes. They also hope to give a unified account of the McKaycorrespondence for elliptic genera, due to Borisov and Libgober,and for sheaves, due to Bridgeland, King, and Reid.Elliptic cohomology arises from topology, and it signals aprofound relationship between physics, particularly the physicsof string theory, and at least two branches of mathematics,topology and number theory. Precisely how these things arerelated through elliptic cohomology remains mysterious: thephysicist Edward Witten called elliptic cohomology "a piece of21st century mathematics that happened to fall into the 20thcentury." Until very recently, the study of the physics ofelliptic cohomology has focused mainly on "closed" string theory,in which particles are replaced by loops of string. There is nowa rich theory of "open" strings, in which particles may also beunlooped strands of string. Ando and Sharpe suggest that thephysics of open string theory has deep implications in ellipticcohomology. They propose to investigate several of theseimplications, which they hope will shed light on some of theimportant mysteries in the subject.