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# Configuration space and Massey products

## 1 The $`E_1`$ term in the Bendersky-Gitler spectral sequence

To go further in the description of the $`E_1`$ term of the Bendersky-Gitler spectral sequence, we introduce for any differential graded commutative algebra $`(A,d)`$ the differential bigraded algebra $`E(n,A)`$ defined as follows: As an an algebra $`E(n,A)`$ is the quotient of

$$A^n(e_{ij})$$

where

the generators $`e_{i,j},1i<jn`$, have bidegree $`(0,1)`$

the elements $`a_1\mathrm{}a_n1`$ has bidegree $`(|a_1|,0))`$

by the the ideal generated by the elements

$$(e_ie_j)(a)e_{ij}$$

where $`e_i(a)=1\mathrm{}a1\mathrm{}1`$, with $`a`$ appearing in the $`i^{th}`$ position.

The differential $`d`$ is defined by

$$d=d^{}+d^{\prime \prime }$$

where $`d^{}`$ is the multiplication by $`e_{ij}`$ and $`d^{\prime \prime }`$ is the differential induced by the differential $`d`$ on $`A`$.

We are particulary interested in the case when $`A`$ is a commutative model of $`M`$ over $`lk`$. Such a commutative model exists in the following situations

1. $`M`$ is a $`lk`$-formal space, any $`lk`$ (with $`A=H^{}(M;lk)`$), , ,
2. $`M`$ is $`r`$-connected and the characteristic $`p`$ of the field $`lk`$ satisfies $`p>\frac{m}{r}`$ (),
3. $`lk=`$, (with $`A=A_{PL}(M)`$ or any Sullivan model of $`M`$), , ,
4. $`lk=`$, (with $`A`$ = the de Rham complex of $`M`$).

By filtering $`E(n,A)`$ by the powers of the ideal generated by the $`e_{ij}`$, Bendersky and Gitler construct a new spectral sequence. They prove (cf. Theorems 2.7 and 3.1 in )

Theorem A. For any field $`lk`$, the cohomology $`H^{}(E_1,d_1)`$ of the Bendersky-Gitler spectral sequence is isomorphic to $`H^{}(E(n,H^{}(M;lk)))`$.

Theorem B. Let $`A`$ be a commutative model of $`M`$ over $`lk`$. The spectral sequence associated to the double complexe $`E(n,A)`$ is isomorphic to the Bendersky-Gitler spectral sequence for $`H_{mn}(F(M,n);lk)`$ from the $`E_2`$ term.

Following Bendersky and Gitler , it is convenient to describe $`E(n,A)`$ in terms of oriented graphs.

Let $`n`$ be a fixed integer and let $`𝒢(n)`$ be the set of graphs $`G`$ with set of vertices $`V(G)=\{1,2,\mathrm{},n\}`$ and set of edges $`E(G)\{(i,j),i,jV(G),i<j\}`$. We note $`e_G=e_{i_1j_1}\mathrm{}e_{i_kj_k}`$, if $`E(G)=\{(i_1,j_1)\mathrm{}(i_k,j_k)\}`$, where the $`(i_k,j_k)`$ are ordered by lexicographic order.

We denote by $`S_1`$, $`S_2`$, $`\mathrm{}`$, $`S_{l(G)}`$ the components of $`G`$ ordered by the smallest vertex, and if $`S_i`$ is the ordered set $`\{i_1,i_2,\mathrm{},i_r\}`$ by $`a_{S_i}`$ the product $`a_{i_1}a_{i_2}\mathrm{}a_{i_r}A`$.

Then the natural map $`a_1\mathrm{}a_ne_G\epsilon _Ga_{S_1}\mathrm{}a_{S_{l(G)}}e_G`$ ($`\epsilon _G`$ is the graded signature) induces an isomorphism of graded vector spaces

$$\mathrm{\Phi }:E(n,A)_{G𝒢(n)}A^{l(G)}e_G:=𝒜(𝒢(n)).$$

In particular, the differential $`d^{}`$ on $`E(n,A)`$ induces a differential, also denoted by $`d^{}`$, on $`𝒜(𝒢(n))`$:

$$\begin{array}{c}d^{}(a_1a_2\mathrm{}a_{l(G)}e_G)=\hfill \\ _{\begin{array}{c}i<j\hfill \\ i,jS_s\hfill \end{array}}a_1\mathrm{}a_{l(G)}e_Ge_{ij}\hfill \\ +_{\begin{array}{c}i<j\hfill \\ iS_s,jS_t\hfill \\ s<t\hfill \end{array}}(1)^{\tau _{s,t}}a_1\mathrm{}a_sa_t\mathrm{}\widehat{a_t}\mathrm{}a_{l(G)}e_Ge_{ij}\hfill \end{array}$$

For instance, if $`n=3`$ and $`G`$ the discrete graph ($`e_G=1`$), then

$$d^{}(abc)=(abc)e_{12}+(abc)e_{23}+(1)^{|b||c|}(acb)e_{13}.$$

It is easy to prove that the differential of $`A`$ induces a differential $`d^{\prime \prime }`$ on the graded space $`𝒜(𝒢(n))`$ such that $`(d^{}+d^{\prime \prime })^2=0`$. Then Proposition 2.6 of  extends in:

Theorem C. For any differential graded commutative algebra $`A`$, the isomorphism

$$\mathrm{\Phi }:E(n,A)𝒜(𝒢(n)).$$

is an isomorphism of bicomplexes.

For any sub-family of graphs $`\mathrm{\Gamma }𝒢(n)`$ which is stable by adjonction of edges, we consider the subcomplex of $`𝒜(𝒢(n))`$

$$𝒜\mathrm{\Gamma }=_{G\mathrm{\Gamma }}A^{l(G)}e_G.$$

We will use the above description of the bicomplex $`E(n,A)`$ in order to replace it by a smaller one.

Proposition 1. The ideal $`J`$ of $`E(n,A)`$ generated by the products $`e_{ir}e_{jr}`$, $`i,j=1,\mathrm{},n`$, is a bigraded differential acyclic complex.

It follows from Proposition 1 that the canonical projection

$$E(n,A)\overline{E}(n,A):=E(n,A)/J$$

is a quasi-isomorphism.

In fact, as a byproduct of Proposition 1, the isomorphism $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ induces an isomorphism of bicomplexes

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}:\overline{E}(n,A)\stackrel{}{}\overline{𝒜}(𝒢(n)):=_{G\overline{𝒢}}A^{l(G)}e_G,$$

where $`\overline{𝒢}`$ denotes the family of graphs of $`𝒢(n)`$ that do not have two edges with the same target.

Proof. Let $`𝒢_J`$ be the set of graphs $`G𝒢(n)`$ such that at least two edges terminate at the same vertex. Thus $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ induces an isomorphism of differential bigraded vector spaces

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_J:J𝒜𝒢_J.$$

We denote by $`𝒢(n,p)`$ the subset of $`𝒢(n)`$ consisting of graphs with $`p`$ components, and by $`𝒢_J(n,p)`$ the intersection $`𝒢_J(n,p)=𝒢_J𝒢(n,p)`$. We prove by induction on $`n`$ and $`p`$ that $`𝒜𝒢_J(n,p)`$ is acyclic. We suppose that the assertion has been proved for $`q<n`$ and any $`p`$, and we consider the disjoint union

$$𝒢_J(n,1)=_0_1_2,\{\begin{array}{c}_0=\{G𝒢_J(n,1)|(1,2)E(G)\}\hfill \\ _1=\{G𝒢_J(n,1)|(1,2)E(G),l(G\backslash \{(1,2)\})=1\}\hfill \\ _2=\{G𝒢_J(n,1)|(1,2)E(G),l(G\backslash \{(1,2)\})=2\}\hfill \end{array}$$

The graded vector space $`𝒜(_1_0)`$ is a sub-complex of $`𝒜𝒢_J(n,1)`$. We filter the complex by putting $`e_{ij}`$ in degree $`i+j`$. The first differential is the internal one. We can therefore suppose that $`d^{\prime \prime }=0`$. The next nonzero differential of the associated spectral sequence, $`\delta _3`$, is the multiplication by $`e_{12}`$, which corresponds to the addition of the edge $`(1,2)`$. Therefore $`\delta _3:_{G_0}Ae_G_{G_1}Ae_G`$ is a linear isomorphism. The complex $`𝒜𝒢_J(n,1)`$ is thus quasi-isomorphic to the quotient complex

$$Q:=𝒜𝒢_J(n,1)/𝒜(_0_1).$$

Denote by $`Sh(p)`$ the set of $`(p,np2)`$-shuffles of $`\{3,4,\mathrm{},n\}`$, and for each $`(\sigma ,\tau )Sh(p)`$, by $`𝒢(\sigma ,\tau )`$ the set of graphs in $`𝒢_J`$ with two components, the first one containing the vertices $`1,\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _p`$ and the other one the vertices $`2,\tau _1,\mathrm{},\tau _{np2}`$. Observe now that the map $`GG\backslash \{(1,2)\}`$ induces a bijection

$$_2_{p=0}^{n2}_{(\sigma ,\tau )Sh(p)}𝒢(\sigma ,\tau ).$$

For $`(\sigma ,\tau )Sh(p)`$ there is clearly a bijection between $`𝒢(\sigma ,\tau )`$ and

$$𝒢_J\left(𝒢(p,1)\times 𝒢(np2,1)\right).$$

Therefore the quotient complex $`Q`$ contains the subcomplex

$$Q_1:=_{Sh(p)}\left(𝒜𝒢_J(p,1)𝒜𝒢(np2,1)\right),$$

that is acyclic since $`p<n`$. Moreover the quotient $`Q/Q_1`$ is isomorphic to

$$_{Sh(p)}\left(𝒜(𝒢(p,1)\backslash 𝒢_J(p,1))𝒜𝒢_J(np2,1)\right),$$

and is acyclic since $`np2<n`$. Therefore, $`𝒜𝒢_J(n,1)`$ is also acyclic.

We suppose that $`𝒜𝒢_J(n,p)`$ is acyclic for $`p<r`$, and we consider the quotient complex $`𝒜𝒢_J(n,r)/𝒜𝒢_J(n,r1)`$.

Denote by $`Surj(n,2)`$ the set of surjective maps $`\{1,2,\mathrm{},n\}\{1,2\}`$. We associate bijectively to a graph with r components in $`𝒢_J(n,r)\backslash 𝒢_J(n,r1)`$ two graphs $`G_1`$ and $`G_2`$, where $`G_1`$ has only one component with $`V(G_1)=\pi ^1(1)`$, and $`G_2`$ contains exactly $`r1`$ components with $`V(G_2)=\pi ^1(2)`$. This produces an isomorphism of complexes

$$\begin{array}{c}𝒜𝒢_J(n,r)/𝒜𝒢_J(n,r1))=\hfill \\ _{\pi Surj(n,2)}(𝒜𝒢_J(\pi ^1(1),1)𝒜𝒢(\pi ^1(2),r1))\hfill \\ 𝒜(𝒢(\pi ^1(1),1)\backslash 𝒢_J(\pi ^1(1),1))𝒜𝒢_𝒥(\pi ^1(2),r1))).\hfill \end{array}$$

The induction hypothesis shows that this quotient complex is acyclic. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 2 Proof of Theorem 1

Let $`H=H^{}(M;lk)`$. To avoid confusion we denote by $`T(n,H)`$ the $`E_1`$ term of the Cohen-Taylor spectral sequence,

$$T(n,H)=H^n(x_{ij})/I.$$

We consider the sub-vector space, $`R`$, of $`x_{ij}`$ generated by the monomials

$$x_{i_1,j_1}\mathrm{}x_{i_r,j_r}\text{with }\{\begin{array}{c}0rn\hfill \\ i_s<j_s,\text{ for }s=1,\mathrm{},r\hfill \\ j_1<\mathrm{}<j_r.\hfill \end{array}$$

The differential $`H^n`$-module $`H^nR`$ is a direct summand of $`H^n(x_{ij})`$. Let $`L`$ be the sub $`H^n`$-module of $`H^nR`$ generated by the elements $`(e_ie_j)x_{ij}`$, $`i<j`$. The quotient map $`(H^nR)/LT(n,H)`$ is a bigraded isomorphism of $`H^n`$-modules.

Since $`M`$ is a connected closed $`m`$ dimensional manifold one can choose $`\omega H^m`$ such that:

a) $`H^m=lk\omega `$

b) the relations $`ab=<a;b>\omega ,aH^p,bH^q`$ define non degenerated bilinear forms $`H^pH^{np}lk,ab<a;b>`$.

This pairing extends to a pairing

$$()H^nH^nlk,<a_1\mathrm{}a_n;b_1\mathrm{}b_n=ϵ(\sigma )<a_1;b_1>\mathrm{}<a_n;b__n>$$

where $`ϵ(\sigma )`$ is the graded signature.

In the same fashion, the pairing

$$\left(_{i<j}x_{ij}lk\right)\left(_{i<j}s^{1m}e_{ij}lk\right)lk,<x_{ij},s^{1m}e_{kl}>=\delta _i^l\delta _j^k$$

extends to a pairing

$$()(x_{ij})(s^{1m}e_{kl})lk,1i<jn,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}k<ln.$$

The pairings $`()`$ and $`()`$ glue together in the pairing

$$(H^n(x_{ij}))(H^n(s^{1m}e_{kl}))lk,1i<jn,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}k<ln.$$

which in turn defines the $`H`$-linear isomorphism

$$H^n(x_{ij})(H^n(s^{1m}e_{kl}))^{},z<z;>.$$

This isomorphism produces a $`H^n`$-linear isomorphism

$$\theta :(H^nR)/L\overline{E}(n,H)$$

which restricts, for each $`p0`$, to the isomorphisms

$$\theta ^{p,q}:\left((H^nR)/L\right)^{p,q}\stackrel{}{}\left(\overline{E}(n,H)\right)^{p,qpm}.$$

Recall now that the differential $`d_1`$ on $`T(n,H)`$ is defined by $`d_1(x_{ij})=p_{i,j}^{}(\delta ^M)`$, where $`\delta ^M`$ denotes the diagonal class. Since $`M`$ is compact

$$\delta ^M=\underset{t}{}(1)^{|e_t^{}|}e_te_t^{}$$

where $`\{e_t\}`$ denotes a linear basis of $`H^{}(M;lk)`$ and $`\{e_t^{}\}`$ the Poincaré dual basis.

Theorem 1 is then a direct consequence of the commutativity of the following diagram.

$$\begin{array}{cccc}(T(n,H))^{p,}& \stackrel{\theta ^p}{}& \left(\overline{E}(n,H)^{p,}\right)^{}& \\ d_1& & \left(d_1\right)^{}& \\ (T(n,H))^{p+1,}& \stackrel{\theta ^{p+1}}{}& \left(\overline{E}(n,H)^{p+1,}\right)^{},& \end{array}$$

where $`\overline{E}^{}:=Hom(\overline{E},lk)`$ denotes the graded dual of the graded vector space $`\overline{E}`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 3 The bicomplex $`C(n,A)`$

Let $`A`$ be a commutative differential graded algebra. Recall from section 1 the isomorphism of bicomplexes

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}:\overline{E}(n,A)\stackrel{}{}\overline{𝒜}(𝒢(n)):=_{G\overline{𝒢}}A^{l(G)}e_G,$$

where $`\overline{𝒢}`$ denote the family of graphs of $`𝒢(n)`$ that do not have two edges with the same target. Observe that each component of $`G\overline{𝒢}`$ is a tree and that the number of edges is exactly $`nl(G)`$.

We denote by $``$ the subset of $`\overline{𝒢}`$ consisting of graphs such that $`S_1=\{1\}`$. We suppose that $`A=lkA^+`$, with $`A^+=_{i>0}A^i`$, and we consider the new bicomplex

$$C(n,A)=(_GA(A^+)^{l(G)1)}e_G,d)$$

whose differential $`d=d^{}+d\mathrm{"}`$ is defined as follows: $`d^{\prime \prime }:C(n,A)^{,k}C(n,A)^{,k+1}`$ is the internal differential coming from the differential on $`A`$, and

$$d^{}:C(n,A)^{k,}C(n,A)^{k+1,},d^{}(a_1\mathrm{}a_le_G)=\underset{1<i<jn}{}\alpha _{ij}e_Ge_{ij},$$

with the conditions

1. the term $`e_Ge_{ij}`$ is zero if $`G\{(i,j)\}`$;
2. In the other case, denote by $`S_s`$ and $`S_t`$, $`1<s<t`$, the components of $`i`$ and $`j`$, then $`G^{}=G\{i,j\}`$ has $`l1`$ components. The element $`\alpha _{ij}`$ is the element of $`A(A^+)^{l2}`$ defined by

$$\begin{array}{c}\alpha _{ij}=(1)^{|a_t|(|a_{s+1}|+\mathrm{}|a_{t1}|)}a_1a_2\mathrm{}a_{s1}a_sa_ta_{s+1}\mathrm{}\widehat{a_t}\mathrm{}a_l\hfill \\ \epsilon a_1a_sa_2\mathrm{}a_{s1}a_ta_{s+1}\mathrm{}\widehat{a_t}\mathrm{}a_l\hfill \\ (1)^{|a_t|(|a_2|+\mathrm{}|a_{t1}|)}a_1a_ta_2\mathrm{}a_{s1}a_sa_{s+1}\mathrm{}\widehat{a_t}\mathrm{}a_l,\hfill \end{array}$$

with $`\epsilon =(1)^{|a_s|(|a_2|+\mathrm{}|a_{s1}|)+|a_t|(|a_{s+1}|+\mathrm{}|a_{t1}|)}`$.

For instance, for $`n=3`$ and $`G`$ the discrete graph, we have

$$d^{}(a_1a_2a_3)=\left[a_1a_2a_3a_1a_2a_3(1)^{|a_2||a_3|}a_1a_3a_2\right]e_{23}.$$

Proposition 3. There exists a quasi-isomorphism of bicomplexes

$$\overline{\phi }:C(n,A)\stackrel{}{}\overline{E}(n,A)$$

which is natural in $`A`$.

Proof. Let us consider for each $`l2`$ the linear map

$$\gamma _l:A^lA^l$$

defined by

$$\gamma _l(a_1,\mathrm{},a_l)=(1)^k\epsilon (i_1,\mathrm{},i_k)a_1a_{i_1}\mathrm{}a_{i_k}a_2^{}\mathrm{}a_l^{},$$

where $`a_j^{}=a_j`$ if $`j\{i_1,\mathrm{},i_k\}`$ and equals $`1`$ otherwise. The sum is taken over all the ordered (possibly empty) subsets $`i_1<i_2<\mathrm{}<i_k`$ of $`\{2,\mathrm{},l\}`$, and $`\epsilon (i_1,\mathrm{},i_k)`$ is the graded signature of the permutation $`a_1a_2\mathrm{}a_la_1a_{i_1}\mathrm{}a_{i_k}a_{2}^{}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{}a_{l}^{}{}_{}{}^{}.`$ We define

$$\phi :C(n,A)𝒜𝒢(n),\phi (a_1\mathrm{}a_le_G)=\gamma _l(a_1,\mathrm{},a_l)e_G,$$

which is an injective linear map that commutes with the differentials.

Now observe that the composite $`\overline{\phi }:C(n,A)\stackrel{\mathrm{\Phi }^1\phi }{}E(n,A)\overline{E}(n,A)`$ remains injective and that for any $`r2`$

$$\text{Im}\overline{\phi }e_{1r}=0.$$

Let denote by $`(\mathrm{\Gamma },\overline{d})`$ the cokernel of $`\overline{\phi }`$:

$$(\mathrm{\Gamma },\overline{d})=(_{G\overline{𝒢}}C(G)e_G,\overline{d}),$$

with

$$C(G)=\{\begin{array}{c}A^l,\text{ if }G\text{ contains an edge }(1,r)\text{ for some }r\hfill \\ _{s=1}^{l1}A^slkA^{ls1},\text{otherwise}\hfill \end{array}$$

The differential $`\overline{d}`$ induced by $`d`$ is the sum $`\overline{d}=d\mathrm{"}+\overline{d}_0+\overline{d}_1`$, where $`d\mathrm{"}`$ is the internal differential, $`\overline{d}_0`$ consists into the multiplication by $`_se_{1s}`$ and $`\overline{d}_1`$ comes from the multiplication by $`_{2r<s}e_{r,s}`$.

We prove that $`H^{}(\mathrm{\Gamma },\overline{d}_0)=0`$, which implies the result by an elementary spectral sequence argument. Let $``$ defined as before, and consider the partition

$$\overline{𝒢}=𝒢_2𝒢_3\mathrm{}𝒢_n,$$

where $`𝒢_r,r2`$, denotes the set of graphs $`G`$ such that $`r`$ is the smallest vertex $`1`$ in the connected component of $`1`$. We denote by $`𝒢_r^{}`$ the set of graphs $`G`$ in $`\overline{𝒢}`$ such that the components of $`1`$ and $`r`$ are different and do not contain any of the vertices $`2,\mathrm{},r1`$. This implies a direct sum decomposition of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=_{r=2}^n(\mathrm{\Gamma }_r\mathrm{\Gamma }_r^{}),$$

where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_r=_{G𝒢_r}D(G)e_G`$ with $`D(G)=D_1(G)\mathrm{}D_l(G)`$ and

$$D_i(G)=\{\begin{array}{cc}A^+\hfill & \text{ if }S_i\text{ contains one of the vertex }2,\mathrm{},r1\hfill \\ A\hfill & \text{otherwise,}\hfill \end{array}$$

and where, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_r^{}=_{G𝒢_r^{}}D^{}(G)e_G`$, with $`D^{}(G)=D_1^{}(G)\mathrm{}D_l^{}(G)`$, and

$$D_i^{}(G)=\{\begin{array}{cc}A^+\hfill & \text{ if }S_i\text{ contains one of the vertex }2,\mathrm{},r1\hfill \\ lk\hfill & \text{if }S_i\text{ contains the vertex }r\hfill \\ A\hfill & \text{otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}$$

To establish the decomposition $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=_{r=2}^n(\mathrm{\Gamma }_r\mathrm{\Gamma }_r^{})`$, let $`a=a_1\mathrm{}a_le_G`$ be an element in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. When $`G`$, we denote by $`r`$ the smallest vertex contained in a component $`S_i`$ such that $`a_ik`$. In this case $`a\mathrm{\Gamma }_r^{}`$. Suppose now that $`G𝒢_r`$. If for each $`i`$, $`2i<r`$, the vertex $`i`$ belongs to a component $`C_s`$ with $`a_sA^+`$, then $`a\mathrm{\Gamma }_r`$. In the other case, denote by $`t`$ the smallest vertex in a component $`C_s`$ with $`a_slk`$, then $`a\mathrm{\Gamma }_t^{}`$.

The vector space $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{}`$ is a subcomplex of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, and the multiplication by $`e_{12}`$ induces an isomorphism $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$; in the quotient $`\mathrm{\Gamma }/(\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{})`$, the vector space $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3\mathrm{\Gamma }_3^{}`$ is a subcomplex and the multiplication by $`e_{13}`$ is an isomorphism $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3^{}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$. More generally, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_r\mathrm{\Gamma }_r^{}`$ is a subcomplex in the quotient $`\mathrm{\Gamma }/((_{s<r}\mathrm{\Gamma }_s)(_{s<r}\mathrm{\Gamma }_s^{}))`$, the vector space $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_r\mathrm{\Gamma }_r^{}`$ is a subcomplex and the multiplication by $`e_{1r}`$ is an isomorphism $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_r^{}\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_r`$. This shows that $`(\mathrm{\Gamma },\overline{d}_0)`$ is acyclic. $`\mathrm{}`$

Theorem 2 of the Introduction follows directly from the next Proposition

Proposition 4. Let $`M`$ be a simply connected compact oriented manifold. Then $`E_{n1}=E_{\mathrm{}}`$ in the Bendersky-Gitler spectral sequence for $`H^{}(F(M;n);lk)`$.

Proof. The $`E_2`$ term of the Bendersky-Gitler spectral sequence is isomorphic as a bigraded vector space to the $`E_2`$ term of the spectral sequence associated to the bicomplex $`C(n,A)`$. Since $`C(n,A)^{n1,}=0`$, we get $`E_2^{p,q}=0`$ for $`p>n2`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

If $`H`$ is a differential graded commutative algebra then $`C(3,H)`$ is the complex ($`d\mathrm{"}=0`$)

$$(HH^+H^+)\stackrel{d_1}{}(HH^+)e$$

where $`e`$ is a variable of degree 1, and

$$d_1(abc)=abcabc(1)^{|c||b|}acb.$$

When $`H=H^{}(M;lk)`$, the kernel of $`d_1`$, $`E_2^{0,}`$, is the image $`I_M`$ of the map

$$H^{}(M^3;lk)H^{}(F(M,3);lk)$$

induced by the inclusion $`F(M,3)M^3`$. The cokernel of $`d_1`$ is the first Hochschild homology group of the unital algebra $`H`$ with coefficients in the bimodule $`H`$, $`HH_1(H;H)`$, and by (, 1.1.10) is isomorphic to the $`H`$-module of Kähler differentials $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{H/lk}^1`$ on $`H`$. It follows from the Lefchetz duality $`H^p(M^n,D^nM)H_{nmp}(F(M,n);lk)`$ that

Proposition 5. For a $`m`$-dimensional oriented closed manifold $`M`$ there is a short exact sequence

$$0(I_M)^{}H^{}(F(M,3);lk)(\text{Hom}(\mathrm{\Omega }_{H/lk}^1,lk))^{+13m}0.$$

## 4  $`F(M,4)`$ and Massey products

For a commutative differential graded algebra $`(A,d)`$, the double complex $`C(4,A)`$ has the form

$$0A(A^+)^3\stackrel{d^{}}{}C(4,A)^{1,}\stackrel{d^{}}{}C(4,A)^{2,}0,$$

with

$$\begin{array}{c}C(4,A)^{1,}=(AA^+A^+)e_{23}(AA^+A^+)e_{24}(AA^+A^+)e_{34},\hfill \\ C(4,A)^{2,}=(AA^+)e_{23}e_{24}(AA^+)e_{23}e_{34}\hfill \end{array}$$

$$\begin{array}{c}d^{}(abcd)=(abcdabcd(1)^{|b||c|}acbd)e_{23}\hfill \\ +(abcd(1)^{|b||c|}acbd(1)^{|d|(|b|+|c|)}adbc)e_{34}\hfill \\ +((1)^{|d||c|}abdc(1)^{|d||c|}abdc(1)^{|d|(|b|+|c|)}adbc)e_{24},\hfill \\ \hfill \\ d^{}((abc)e_{23})=\mathrm{\Delta }(a,b,c)(e_{23}e_{34}+e_{23}e_{24})\hfill \\ d^{}((abc)e_{24})=\mathrm{\Delta }(a,b,c)e_{23}e_{24}\hfill \\ d^{}((abc)e_{34})=\mathrm{\Delta }(a,b,c)e_{23}e_{34}.\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`\mathrm{\Delta }(a,b,c)=(abcabc(1)^{|b||c|}acb)`$

From Theorem B we deduce

Proposition 6. Let $`lk`$ be a field of characteristic zero, the $`E_2`$ term of the Bendersky-Gitler spectral sequence for $`H^{}(F(M,4);lk)`$ satisfies

$$E_2^{2,}=\mathrm{\Omega }_{H/lk}^1e_{23}e_{24}\mathrm{\Omega }_{H/lk}^1e_{23}e_{34},$$

with $`H=H^{}(M;lk)`$.

In order to detect nonzero element in $`E_2^{2,}`$, we now describe a special quotient of $`E_2^{2,}`$. Denote $`H=H^{}(M;lk)`$ and $`Q(H)=H^+/(H^+H^+)`$, the space of indecomposable elements, and let

$$\psi :Q(H)Q(H)Q(H)Q(H)$$

be the linear map defined by $`\psi (ab)=ab(1)^{|a||b|}ba`$. The image of $`\psi `$ is the sub-vector space of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$-invariants elements in $`Q(H)Q(H)`$, where the action of the generator $`\tau `$ of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2`$ is defined by

$$\tau (ab)=(1)^{|a||b|}ba.$$

We now consider the composition

$$\begin{array}{cc}HH^+\stackrel{}{}(lkH^+)(H^+H^+)\hfill & (lkQ(H))(Q(H)Q(H))\hfill \\ & \stackrel{\psi }{}(lkQ(H))(Q(H)Q(H))^{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}.\hfill \end{array}$$

By definition of $`d^{}`$, this morphism induces a surjective map from $`H^{2,}(C(4,H),d_1)`$ onto

$$\left[(lkQ(H))(Q(H)Q(H))^{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}\right]e_{23}e_{34}\left[(lkQ(H))(Q(H)Q(H))^{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}\right]e_{23}e_{24}.$$

Recall now the definition of a triple matrix Massey product (). Consider three matrices $`L,B,C`$

$$L=(a_1,\mathrm{},a_r),B=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}b_{11}& \mathrm{}& b_{1s}\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}\\ b_{r1}& \mathrm{}& b_{rs}\end{array}\right),C=\left(\begin{array}{c}c_1\\ \mathrm{}\\ c_s\end{array}\right),$$

whose entries are cocycles in $`A`$ such that

$$LB=(d(x_1),\mathrm{},d(x_s))\text{ and }BC=\left(\begin{array}{c}d(y_1)\\ \mathrm{}\\ d(y_r)\end{array}\right).$$

The triple matrix Massey product $`L,B,C`$ is defined, up to some indeterminacy, as the class of the cocycle $`_ix_ic_i_j(1)^{|a_j|}a_jy_j`$. Nonetheless the residual class of $`L,B,C`$ in the quotient $`Q(H^{}(A))`$ is uniquely defined.

Theorem 4. Let $`lk`$ be of characteristic zero, $`M`$ be simply connected and $`N=M\mathrm{\#}(S^2\times S^{m2})`$ be the connected sum of $`M`$ with a product of two spheres. If there is a triple matrix Massey product in $`H^{}(M;lk)`$ whose residual class in $`Q(H^{}(M;lk))`$ is nonzero, then the Cohen-Taylor spectral sequence for $`H^{}(F(N,4);lk)`$ does not collapse at the $`E_2`$-term.

Proof. Let us take a Sullivan model $`(A,d)`$ for $`M`$ over the field $`lk`$ that satisfies the following properties: $`A`$ is finite dimensional, $`A^0=lk`$, $`A^1=0`$, $`A^m=lk\omega `$, and $`A^{>m}=0`$. We choose for the product $`S^2\times S^{m2}`$ the model $`((x,y)/(x^2,y^2),d=0)`$ with $`x`$ in degree 2 and $`y`$ in degree $`m2`$. Therefore, (), a model for the connected sum $`N=(S^2\times S^{m2})\mathrm{\#}M`$ is given by the differential graded algebra

$$([A\times _{lk}(x,y)/(x^2,y^2)]/\omega xy,d).$$

Suppose that $`A`$ admits a triple matrix Massey product $`L,B,C`$ that is non zero in $`H^+(M)/(H^+(M)H^+(M))`$, then with the above notation for $`L`$, $`B`$ and $`C`$, we consider the element

$$u=\underset{ij}{}xa_ib_{ij}c_j\underset{ij}{}(1)^{|c_j||b_{ij}|+|c_j||a_i|+|b_{ij}||a_i|}xc_jb_{ij}a_i.$$

Then $`d^{\prime \prime }u=0`$ and $`d_1([u])=0`$ in the first spectral sequence of the bicomplex $`C(4,A)`$. More precisely,

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill d^{}(u)=& \left(_jxd(x_j)c_j(1)^{|c_j||a_i|+|b_{ij}||a_i|}_ixd(y_i)a_i\right)e_{23}\hfill \\ \hfill +& \left(_i(1)^{|a_i|}xa_id(y_i)(1)^{|c_j|+|c_j||b_{ij}|+|c_j||a_i|}_jxc_jd(x_j)\right)e_{34}\hfill \end{array}$$

Therefore

$$d_2([u])=\left[xL,B,C\right]e_{23}e_{24}+2\left[xL,B,C\right]e_{23}e_{34}.$$

The element $`d_2([u])`$ is nonzero in $`E_2`$ because its image is nonzero in

$$\left[\left(Q(H)Q(H)\right)^{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}\right]e_{23}e_{24}.$$

$`\mathrm{}`$

Consider now the case where $`a,b,c`$ and $`d`$ are elements in $`H^{}(M;lk)`$, such that $`ab=ac=ad=bc=bd=cd=0`$. In the first spectral sequence of the bicomplex $`C(4,H)`$ we obtain the formula

$$()\begin{array}{c}d_2([abcd])=[(1)^{|a|}ab,c,d+a,b,cd\hfill \\ +(1)^{|c||a||b|}b,a,dc(1)^{|b||c|+|b||d|+|c||d|}a,d,cb]e_{23}e_{34}\hfill \\ +[(1)^{|a|+|b||c|}ac,b,d+(1)^{|b||c|}a,c,bd\hfill \\ +(1)^{|b||c|+|b||d|+|a||c|}c,a,db(1)|b||d|+|d||c|a,d,bc]e_{23}e_{24}\hfill \end{array}$$

We deduce:

Theorem 3. Let $`lk`$ be of characteristic zero and $`M`$ be simply connected. Suppose there exist indecomposable elements $`a,b,c`$ and $`dH^{}(M;lk)`$, such that

1. $`ab=ac=ad=bc=bd=cd=0`$,
2. the triple Massey product $`b,c,d`$ is a nonzero indecomposable element in cohomology, and
3. $`a`$ is not a linear combination of the elements $`b,c,d`$ and $`b,c,d`$,

then the Cohen-Taylor spectral sequence for $`H^{}(F(M,4);lk)`$ does not collapse at the $`E_2`$-term.

Proof. By formula (\*), the image of $`d_2([abcd])`$ in $`(Q(H)Q(H))^{\mathrm{\Sigma }_2}`$ is nonzero because the element $`a`$ is not a linear combination of the elements $`b,c,d`$ and $`b,c,d`$.

$`\mathrm{}`$

Example. Let $`M`$ be the sphere tangent bundle to the manifold $`S^2\times S^2`$. A Sullivan minimal model for $`M`$ is given by $`((x,y,u,v,t),d)`$ with $`|x|=|y|=2`$, $`|u|=|v|=|t|=3`$, $`d(u)=x^2`$, $`d(v)=y^2`$ and $`d(t)=xy`$ (). A basis of the cohomology is given by $`1,[x],[y],[txuy],[tyvx],[txyuy^2]`$. The cohomology classes in degree 5 are usual triple Massey products represented by undecomposable elements in cohomology. Formula (\*) gives

$$d_2([x][x][y][y])=([x][tyvx][tyvx][x]2[txuy][y])e_{23}e_{24}+\mu e_{23}e_{34}.$$

The component of $`e_{23}e_{24}`$ is not symmetric, hence not zero in $`E_2^{2,}`$. The Bendersky-Gitler spectral sequence for $`H_{mn}(F(M,4);)`$ does not collapse at the $`E_2`$ term .

Département de Mathématique Université Catholique de Louvain 2, Chemin du Cyclotron 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

Faculté des Sciences Université d’Angers 2, Boulevard Lavoisier 49045 Angers, France