All Questions
Tagged with at.algebraic-topology differential-topology
503
questions
138
votes
7
answers
33k
views
Is the boundary $\partial S$ analogous to a derivative?
Without prethought, I mentioned in class once that the reason the symbol $\partial$
is used to represent the boundary operator in topology is
that its behavior is akin to a derivative.
But after ...
- 150k
63
votes
1
answer
4k
views
A dictionary of Characteristic classes and obstructions
I apologize in advance as this is not a research level question but rather one which could benefit from expert attention but is potentially useful mainly to novice mathematicians.
In an effort to ...
- 7,689
63
votes
0
answers
2k
views
Are there periodicity phenomena in manifold topology with odd period?
The study of $n$-manifolds has some well-known periodicities in $n$ with period a power of $2$:
$n \bmod 2$ is important. Poincaré duality implies that odd-dimensional compact oriented manifolds ...
- 116k
40
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can the nth projective space be covered by n charts?
That is, is there an open cover of $\mathbb{R}P^n$ by $n$ sets homeomorphic to $\mathbb{R}^n$?
I came up with this question a few years ago and I´ve thought about it from time to time, but I haven´t ...
- 10.4k
39
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Two kinds of orientability/orientation for a differentiable manifold
Let $M$ be a differentiable manifold of dimension $n$. First I give two definitions of Orientability.
The first definition should coincide with what is given in most differential topology text books, ...
- 7,382
32
votes
2
answers
2k
views
When is there a submersion from a sphere into a sphere?
(First posted on math.SE, with no answers.)
That is:
For which positive integers $n, k \ge 1$ does there exist a submersion $S^{n+k} \to S^k$?
The discussion at this math.SE question has ...
- 116k
32
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Converse to Stokes' Theorem
Does satisfying Stokes' Theorem imply that a form is linear?
Let $M$ be an $n$-manifold. A differential $k$-form $\omega \in \Omega^k M$ assigns to each point $x \in M$ a function $\omega_x : \Lambda^...
- 62.6k
31
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Book recommendation for cobordism theory
I am planning to organize a seminar on cobordism theory and I'm looking for a reference. Such a reference is preferably a book, but I'm open to other ideas.
The audience is familiar with ...
- 7,423
31
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What results about the topology of manifolds depend on the dimension mod 3?
There are a lot of interesting results about the topology of manifolds that depend on the dimension of the manifold mod 2, mod 4, or mod 8. The simplest ones involve the cup product
$$ \smile \colon ...
- 21.8k
30
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Does there exist any non-contractible manifold with fixed point property?
Does there exist any non-trivial space (i.e not deformation retract onto a point) in $\mathbb R^n$ such that any continuous map from the space onto itself has a fixed point. I highly suspect that the ...
- 3,711
30
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Are homeomorphic representations isomorphic?
Let $G$ be a finite group. Let $V_1, V_2$ be two finite-dimensional real representations. Suppose $f: V_1 \to V_2$ is a $G$-equivariant homeomorphism. Can one conclude that $V_1$ and $V_2$ are ...
- 803
30
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Which of the proofs of the fundamental theorem of algebra can actually produce bounds on where the roots are?
One of the old classic MO questions is a big-list of proofs of the fundamental theorem of algebra. Here is a second big-list question about this big list:
Which of the FTA proofs can, even in ...
- 116k
29
votes
2
answers
2k
views
A simple proof that parallelizable oriented closed manifolds are oriented boundaries?
So let $M$ be a smooth closed orientable real manifold such that $M$ is parallelizable, i.e., the tangent space $TM$ of $M$ is trivial. From the triviality of $TM$ we get that the Stiefel-Whitney and ...
- 7,561
29
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Conceptual proof of classification of surfaces?
Every compact surface is diffeomorphic to $S^2$, $\underbrace{T^2\#\ldots \#T^2}_n$, or $\underbrace{RP^2\#\ldots \#RP^2}_n$ for some $n\ge 1$.
Is there a conceptual proof of this classification ...
- 42.7k
29
votes
1
answer
885
views
Is there an explicit description of a cobordism between $\mathbb{CP}^n$ and $\mathbb{RP}^n\times\mathbb{RP}^n$?
With a little bit of work, one can show that $\mathbb{CP}^n$ and $\mathbb{RP}^n\times\mathbb{RP}^n$ have the same Stiefel-Whitney numbers, so by a theorem of Thom, they are (unorientedly) cobordant.
...
- 19.1k