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Alexander's Trick
Alexander's trick, also known as the Alexander trick, is a basic result in geometric topology, named after J. W. Alexander. Statement Two homeomorphisms of the ''n''-dimensional ball D^n which agree on the boundary sphere S^ are isotopic. More generally, two homeomorphisms of ''D''''n'' that are isotopic on the boundary are isotopic. Proof Base case: every homeomorphism which fixes the boundary is isotopic to the identity relative to the boundary. If f\colon D^n \to D^n satisfies f(x) = x \text x \in S^, then an isotopy connecting ''f'' to the identity is given by : J(x,t) = \begin tf(x/t), & \text 0 \leq \, x\, 0 the transformation J_t replicates f at a different scale, on the disk of radius t, thus as t\rightarrow 0 it is reasonable to expect that J_t merges to the identity. The subtlety is that at t=0, f "disappears": the germ at the origin "jumps" from an infinitely stretched version of f to the identity. Each of the steps in the homotopy could be smoothed (smooth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geometric Topology
In mathematics, geometric topology is the study of manifolds and maps between them, particularly embeddings of one manifold into another. History Geometric topology as an area distinct from algebraic topology may be said to have originated in the 1935 classification of lens spaces by Reidemeister torsion, which required distinguishing spaces that are homotopy equivalent but not homeomorphic. This was the origin of ''simple'' homotopy theory. The use of the term geometric topology to describe these seems to have originated rather recently. Differences between low-dimensional and high-dimensional topology Manifolds differ radically in behavior in high and low dimension. High-dimensional topology refers to manifolds of dimension 5 and above, or in relative terms, embeddings in codimension 3 and above. Low-dimensional topology is concerned with questions in dimensions up to 4, or embeddings in codimension up to 2. Dimension 4 is special, in that in some respects (topologica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piecewise Linear Manifold
In mathematics, a piecewise linear (PL) manifold is a topological manifold together with a piecewise linear structure on it. Such a structure can be defined by means of an atlas, such that one can pass from chart to chart in it by piecewise linear functions. This is slightly stronger than the topological notion of a triangulation. An isomorphism of PL manifolds is called a PL homeomorphism. Relation to other categories of manifolds PL, or more precisely PDIFF, sits between DIFF (the category of smooth manifolds) and TOP (the category of topological manifolds): it is categorically "better behaved" than DIFF — for example, the Generalized Poincaré conjecture is true in PL (with the possible exception of dimension 4, where it is equivalent to DIFF), but is false generally in DIFF — but is "worse behaved" than TOP, as elaborated in surgery theory. Smooth manifolds Smooth manifolds have canonical PL structures — they are uniquely ''triangulizable,'' by Whitehead's theorem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America
''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Sciences, published since 1915, and publishes original research, scientific reviews, commentaries, and letters. According to ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2021 impact factor of 12.779. ''PNAS'' is the second most cited scientific journal, with more than 1.9 million cumulative citations from 2008 to 2018. In the mass media, ''PNAS'' has been described variously as "prestigious", "sedate", "renowned" and "high impact". ''PNAS'' is a delayed open access journal, with an embargo period of six months that can be bypassed for an author fee ( hybrid open access). Since September 2017, open access articles are published under a Creative Commons license. Since January 2019, ''PNAS'' has been online-only, although print issues are ava ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by schola ... in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Press is a department of the University of Cambridge and is both an academic and educational publisher. It became part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, following a merger with Cambridge Assessment in 2021. With a global sales presence, publishing hubs, and offices in more than 40 Country, countries, it publishes over 50,000 titles by authors from over 100 countries. Its publishing includes more than 380 academic journals, monographs, reference works, school and uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clutching Construction
In topology, a branch of mathematics, the clutching construction is a way of constructing fiber bundles, particularly vector bundles on spheres. Definition Consider the sphere S^n as the union of the upper and lower hemispheres D^n_+ and D^n_- along their intersection, the equator, an S^. Given trivialized fiber bundles with fiber F and structure group G over the two hemispheres, then given a map f\colon S^ \to G (called the ''clutching map''), glue the two trivial bundles together via ''f''. Formally, it is the coequalizer of the inclusions S^ \times F \to D^n_+ \times F \coprod D^n_- \times F via (x,v) \mapsto (x,v) \in D^n_+ \times F and (x,v) \mapsto (x,f(x)(v)) \in D^n_- \times F: glue the two bundles together on the boundary, with a twist. Thus we have a map \pi_ G \to \text_F(S^n): clutching information on the equator yields a fiber bundle on the total space. In the case of vector bundles, this yields \pi_ O(k) \to \text_k(S^n), and indeed this map is an isomorphism (under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exotic Sphere
In an area of mathematics called differential topology, an exotic sphere is a differentiable manifold ''M'' that is homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the standard Euclidean ''n''-sphere. That is, ''M'' is a sphere from the point of view of all its topological properties, but carrying a smooth structure that is not the familiar one (hence the name "exotic"). The first exotic spheres were constructed by in dimension n = 7 as S^3- bundles over S^4. He showed that there are at least 7 differentiable structures on the 7-sphere. In any dimension showed that the diffeomorphism classes of oriented exotic spheres form the non-trivial elements of an abelian monoid under connected sum, which is a finite abelian group if the dimension is not 4. The classification of exotic spheres by showed that the oriented exotic 7-spheres are the non-trivial elements of a cyclic group of order 28 under the operation of connected sum. Introduction The unit ''n''-sphere, S^n, is the set of all ('' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exotic Sphere
In an area of mathematics called differential topology, an exotic sphere is a differentiable manifold ''M'' that is homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the standard Euclidean ''n''-sphere. That is, ''M'' is a sphere from the point of view of all its topological properties, but carrying a smooth structure that is not the familiar one (hence the name "exotic"). The first exotic spheres were constructed by in dimension n = 7 as S^3- bundles over S^4. He showed that there are at least 7 differentiable structures on the 7-sphere. In any dimension showed that the diffeomorphism classes of oriented exotic spheres form the non-trivial elements of an abelian monoid under connected sum, which is a finite abelian group if the dimension is not 4. The classification of exotic spheres by showed that the oriented exotic 7-spheres are the non-trivial elements of a cyclic group of order 28 under the operation of connected sum. Introduction The unit ''n''-sphere, S^n, is the set of all ('' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piecewise Linear Homeomorphism
In mathematics, a piecewise linear (PL) manifold is a topological manifold together with a piecewise linear structure on it. Such a structure can be defined by means of an atlas, such that one can pass from chart to chart in it by piecewise linear functions. This is slightly stronger than the topological notion of a triangulation. An isomorphism of PL manifolds is called a PL homeomorphism. Relation to other categories of manifolds PL, or more precisely PDIFF, sits between DIFF (the category of smooth manifolds) and TOP (the category of topological manifolds): it is categorically "better behaved" than DIFF — for example, the Generalized Poincaré conjecture is true in PL (with the possible exception of dimension 4, where it is equivalent to DIFF), but is false generally in DIFF — but is "worse behaved" than TOP, as elaborated in surgery theory. Smooth manifolds Smooth manifolds have canonical PL structures — they are uniquely ''triangulizable,'' by Whitehead's theorem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germ (mathematics)
In mathematics, the notion of a germ of an object in/on a topological space is an equivalence class of that object and others of the same kind that captures their shared local properties. In particular, the objects in question are mostly functions (or maps) and subsets. In specific implementations of this idea, the functions or subsets in question will have some property, such as being analytic or smooth, but in general this is not needed (the functions in question need not even be continuous); it is however necessary that the space on/in which the object is defined is a topological space, in order that the word ''local'' has some meaning. Name The name is derived from ''cereal germ'' in a continuation of the sheaf metaphor, as a germ is (locally) the "heart" of a function, as it is for a grain. Formal definition Basic definition Given a point ''x'' of a topological space ''X'', and two maps f, g: X \to Y (where ''Y'' is any set), then f and g define the same germ at ''x'' if ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Waddell Alexander II
James Waddell Alexander II (September 19, 1888 September 23, 1971) was a mathematician and topologist of the pre-World War II era and part of an influential Princeton topology elite, which included Oswald Veblen, Solomon Lefschetz, and others. He was one of the first members of the Institute for Advanced Study (1933–1951), and also a professor at Princeton University (1920–1951). Early life, family, and personal life James was born on September 19, 1888, in Sea Bright, New Jersey.Staff''A COMMUNITY OF SCHOLARS: The Institute for Advanced Study Faculty and Members 1930–1980'' p. 43. Institute for Advanced Study, 1980. Accessed November 20, 2015. "Alexander, James Waddell M, Topology Born 1888 Seabright, NJ." Alexander came from an old, distinguished Princeton family. He was the only child of the American portrait painter John White Alexander and Elizabeth Alexander. His maternal grandfather, James Waddell Alexander, was the president of the Equitable Life Assurance Socie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Thurston
William Paul Thurston (October 30, 1946August 21, 2012) was an American mathematician. He was a pioneer in the field of low-dimensional topology and was awarded the Fields Medal in 1982 for his contributions to the study of 3-manifolds. Thurston was a professor of mathematics at Princeton University, University of California, Davis, and Cornell University. He was also a director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. Early life and education William Thurston was born in Washington, D.C. to Margaret Thurston (), a seamstress, and Paul Thurston, an aeronautical engineer. William Thurston suffered from congenital strabismus as a child, causing issues with depth perception. His mother worked with him as a toddler to reconstruct three-dimensional images from two-dimensional ones. He received his bachelor's degree from New College in 1967 as part of its inaugural class. For his undergraduate thesis, he developed an intuitionist foundation for topology. Following this, he r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homotopy
In topology, a branch of mathematics, two continuous functions from one topological space to another are called homotopic (from grc, ὁμός "same, similar" and "place") if one can be "continuously deformed" into the other, such a deformation being called a homotopy (, ; , ) between the two functions. A notable use of homotopy is the definition of homotopy groups and cohomotopy groups, important invariants in algebraic topology. In practice, there are technical difficulties in using homotopies with certain spaces. Algebraic topologists work with compactly generated spaces, CW complexes, or spectra. Formal definition Formally, a homotopy between two continuous functions ''f'' and ''g'' from a topological space ''X'' to a topological space ''Y'' is defined to be a continuous function H: X \times ,1\to Y from the product of the space ''X'' with the unit interval , 1to ''Y'' such that H(x,0) = f(x) and H(x,1) = g(x) for all x \in X. If we think of the second ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
