Maurer-Cartan moduli and theorems of Riemann-Hilbert type

Abstract

We study Maurer-Cartan moduli spaces of dg algebras and associated dg categories and show that, while not quasi-isomorphism invariants, they are invariants of strong homotopy type, a natural notion that has not been studied before. We prove, in several different contexts, Schlessinger-Stasheff type theorems comparing the notions of homotopy and gauge equivalence for Maurer-Cartan elements as well as their categorified versions. As an application, we re-prove and generalize Block-Smith's higher Riemann-Hilbert correspondence, and develop its analogue for simplicial complexes and topological spaces.