Batalin-Vilkovisky structure on Hochschild cohomology with coefficients in the dual algebra

Abstract

We prove that Hochschild cohomology with coefficients in $A^*=\Hom_k(A,k)$ under conditions on the algebra structure of $A^*$ is a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra. We also show that for symmetric and Frobenius algebras, this recovers the known BV-structures in Hochschild cohomology with coefficients in $A$ but admits an easy-to-describe BV-operator. Finally, we show that for monomial algebras $A = kQ/\langle T \rangle$, the Hochschild cohomology with coefficients in $A^*$ is always a Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra.