A Chen model for mapping spaces and the surface product
We develop a machinery of Chen iterated integrals for higher Hochschild complexes. These are complexes whose differentials are modeled on an arbitrary simplicial set much in the same way the ordinary Hochschild differential is modeled on the circle. We use these to give algebraic models for general mapping spaces and define and study the surface product operation on the homology of mapping spaces of surfaces of all genera into a manifold. This is an analogue of the loop product in string topology....