Moduli spaces of (bi)algebra structures in topology and geometry

TL;DR

This paper surveys the use of derived geometry and homotopical methods to parametrize and classify algebraic structures in topology, geometry, and physics, focusing on moduli spaces and deformation theory.

Contribution

It introduces a formalism for parametrizing algebraic structures up to homotopy and applies derived geometry to study their moduli spaces and deformation theory.

Findings

Development of a high-level formalism for algebraic structures in topology and geometry.

Application of derived geometry to classify structures up to weak equivalence.

Results related to deformation theory of bialgebras, $E_n$-algebras, and quantum groups.

Abstract

After introducing some motivations for this survey, we describe a formalism to parametrize a wide class of algebraic structures occurring naturally in various problems of topology, geometry and mathematical physics. This allows us to define an "up to homotopy version" of algebraic structures which is coherent (in the sense of $\infty$-category theory) at a high level of generality. To understand the classification and deformation theory of these structures on a given object, a relevant idea inspired by geometry is to gather them in a moduli space with nice homotopical and geometric properties. Derived geometry provides the appropriate framework to describe moduli spaces classifying objects up to weak equivalences and encoding in a geometrically meaningful way their deformation and obstruction theory. As an instance of the power of such methods, I will describe several results of a joint work with Gregory Ginot related to longstanding conjectures in deformation theory of bialgebras, $E_n$-algebras and quantum group theory.