A functorial approach to Kashiwara-Vergne

Abstract

As a consequence of the proof of the Kashiwara-Vergne conjecture of Alekseev and Torossian, the authors obtained an injection $\mathrm{GRT} \hookrightarrow \mathrm{KRV}$. The group $\mathrm{GRT}$ can be regarded as the group of automorphisms of the operad of parenthesized chord diagrams, while $\mathrm{KRV}$ can be recovered from the automorphism group of the Goldman-Turaev Lie bialgebra of a thrice-punctured sphere. This suggests the existence of a natural way to derive Lie bialgebras from operads, and we verify this is the case. That is, we reproduce the Alekseev-Torossian injection by functorially constructing bracket and cobracket operations out of operad modules. This framework is enough to establish a relationship between Gonzalez' higher genus $\mathrm{GRT}_g$ groups, and the higher genus $\mathrm{KRV}_g$ groups of Alekseev, Kawazumi, Kuno, and Naef. Our construction is informed by Massuyeau and Turaev's work on Fox pairings and quasi-derivations.