Decoupling decorations on moduli spaces of manifolds

Abstract

We consider moduli spaces of $d$-dimensional manifolds with embedded particles and discs. In this moduli space, the location of the particles and discs is constrained by the $d$-dimensional manifold. We will compare this moduli space with the moduli space of $d$-dimensional manifolds in which the location of such decorations is no longer constrained, i.e. the decorations are decoupled. We generalise work by Bödigheimer--Tillmann for oriented surfaces and obtain new results for surfaces with different tangential structures as well as to higher dimensional manifolds. We also provide a generalisation of this result to moduli spaces with more general submanifold decorations and specialise in the case of decorations being unparametrised unlinked circles.

32 pages, 2 figures. Comments welcome!