Symmetry in monotone Lagrangian Floer theory

Abstract

In this thesis we study the self-Floer theory of a monotone Lagrangian submanifold $L$ of a closed symplectic manifold $X$ in the presence of various kinds of symmetry. First we consider the group $\mathrm{Symp}(X, L)$ of symplectomorphisms of $X$ preserving $L$ setwise, and extend its action on the Oh spectral sequence to coefficients of arbitrary characteristic, working over an enriched Novikov ring. This imposes constraints on the differentials in the spectral sequence which force them to vanish in certain situations. We then specialise to the case where $L$ is $K$-homogeneous for a compact Lie group $K$, meaning roughly that $X$ is Kaehler, $K$ acts on $X$ by holomorphic automorphisms, and $L$ is a Lagrangian orbit. By studying holomorphic discs with boundary on $L$ we compute the image of low codimension $K$-invariant subvarieties of $X$ under the length zero closed-open string map. This places restrictions on the self-Floer cohomology of $L$ which generalise and refine the Auroux-Kontsevich-Seidel criterion. These often result in the need to work over fields of specific positive characteristics in order to obtain non-zero cohomology. The disc analysis is then developed further, with the introduction of the notion of poles and a reflection mechanism for completing holomorphic discs into spheres. This theory is applied to two main families of examples. The first is the collection of four Platonic Lagrangians in quasihomogeneous threefolds of $\mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb{C})$, starting with the Chiang Lagrangian in $\mathbb{CP}^3$. These were previously studied by Evans and Lekili, who computed the self-Floer cohomology of the latter. We simplify their argument, which is based on an explicit construction of the Biran-Cornea pearl complex, and deal with the remaining three cases. The second is a family of $\mathrm{PSU}(n)$-homogeneous Lagrangians in products of projective spaces. Here the presence of both discrete and continuous symmetries leads to some unusual properties: in particular we obtain non-displaceable monotone Lagrangians which are narrow in a strong sense. We also discuss related examples including applications of Perutz's symplectic Gysin sequence and quilt functors. The thesis concludes with a discussion of directions for further research and a collection of technical appendices.