HOMOTOPY AND GEOMETRY BANACH CENTER PUBLICATIONS, VOLUME 45 INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES WARSZAWA 1998 HOMOTOPY THEORY AND CIRCLE ACTIONS ON SYMPLECTIC MANIFOLDS JOHNOPREA Department of Mathematics, Cleveland State University Cleveland, Ohio 44115, U.S.A. E-mail:
[email protected] Introduction. Traditionally, soft techniques of algebraic topology have found much use in the world of hard geometry. In recent years, in particular, the subject of symplectic topology (see [McS]) has arisen from important and interesting connections between sym- plectic geometry and algebraic topology. In this paper, we will consider one application of homotopical methods to symplectic geometry. Namely, we shall discuss some aspects of the homotopy theory of circle actions on symplectic manifolds. Because this paper is meant to be accessible to both geometers and topologists, we shall try to review relevant ideas in homotopy theory and symplectic geometry as we go along. We also present some new results (e.g. see Theorem 2.12 and x5) which extend the methods reviewed earlier. This paper then serves two roles: as an exposition and survey of the homotopical ap- proach to symplectic circle actions and as a first step to extending the approach beyond the symplectic world. 1. Review of symplectic geometry. A manifold M 2n is symplectic if it possesses a nondegenerate 2-form ! which is closed (i.e. d! = 0). The nondegeneracy condition is equivalent to saying that !n is a true volume form (i.e. nonzero at each point) on M. Furthermore, the nondegeneracy of ! sets up an isomorphism between 1-forms and vector fields on M by assigning to a vector field X the 1-form iX ! = !(X; −).