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Characteristic Class
In mathematics, a characteristic class is a way of associating to each principal bundle of ''X'' a cohomology class of ''X''. The cohomology class measures the extent the bundle is "twisted" and whether it possesses sections. Characteristic classes are global invariants that measure the deviation of a local product structure from a global product structure. They are one of the unifying geometric concepts in algebraic topology, differential geometry, and algebraic geometry. The notion of characteristic class arose in 1935 in the work of Eduard Stiefel and Hassler Whitney about vector fields on manifolds. Definition Let ''G'' be a topological group, and for a topological space X, write b_G(X) for the set of isomorphism classes of principal ''G''-bundles over X. This b_G is a contravariant functor from Top (the category of topological spaces and continuous functions) to Set (the category of sets and functions), sending a map f\colon X\to Y to the pullback operation f^*\colon b_ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting points of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Function (mathematics)
In mathematics, a function from a set to a set assigns to each element of exactly one element of .; the words map, mapping, transformation, correspondence, and operator are often used synonymously. The set is called the domain of the function and the set is called the codomain of the function.Codomain ''Encyclopedia of Mathematics'Codomain. ''Encyclopedia of Mathematics''/ref> The earliest known approach to the notion of function can be traced back to works of Persian mathematicians Al-Biruni and Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi. Functions were originally the idealization of how a varying quantity depends on another quantity. For example, the position of a planet is a ''function'' of time. Historically, the concept was elaborated with the infinitesimal calculus at the end of the 17th century, and, until the 19th century, the functions that were considered were differentiable (that is, they had a high degree of regularity). The concept of a function was formalized at the end of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hodge Theory
In mathematics, Hodge theory, named after W. V. D. Hodge, is a method for studying the cohomology groups of a smooth manifold ''M'' using partial differential equations. The key observation is that, given a Riemannian metric on ''M'', every cohomology class has a canonical representative, a differential form that vanishes under the Laplacian operator of the metric. Such forms are called harmonic. The theory was developed by Hodge in the 1930s to study algebraic geometry, and it built on the work of Georges de Rham on de Rham cohomology. It has major applications in two settings: Riemannian manifolds and Kähler manifolds. Hodge's primary motivation, the study of complex projective varieties, is encompassed by the latter case. Hodge theory has become an important tool in algebraic geometry, particularly through its connection to the study of algebraic cycles. While Hodge theory is intrinsically dependent upon the real and complex numbers, it can be applied to questions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Form
In mathematics, differential forms provide a unified approach to define integrands over curves, surfaces, solids, and higher-dimensional manifolds. The modern notion of differential forms was pioneered by Élie Cartan. It has many applications, especially in geometry, topology and physics. For instance, the expression is an example of a -form, and can be integrated over an interval contained in the domain of : :\int_a^b f(x)\,dx. Similarly, the expression is a -form that can be integrated over a surface : :\int_S (f(x,y,z)\,dx\wedge dy + g(x,y,z)\,dz\wedge dx + h(x,y,z)\,dy\wedge dz). The symbol denotes the exterior product, sometimes called the ''wedge product'', of two differential forms. Likewise, a -form represents a volume element that can be integrated over a region of space. In general, a -form is an object that may be integrated over a -dimensional manifold, and is homogeneous of degree in the coordinate differentials dx, dy, \ldots. On an -dimensional mani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Rham Cohomology
In mathematics, de Rham cohomology (named after Georges de Rham) is a tool belonging both to algebraic topology and to differential topology, capable of expressing basic topological information about smooth manifolds in a form particularly adapted to computation and the concrete representation of cohomology classes. It is a cohomology theory based on the existence of differential forms with prescribed properties. On any smooth manifold, every exact form is closed, but the converse may fail to hold. Roughly speaking, this failure is related to the possible existence of "holes" in the manifold, and the de Rham cohomology groups comprise a set of topological invariants of smooth manifolds that precisely quantify this relationship. Definition The de Rham complex is the cochain complex of differential forms on some smooth manifold , with the exterior derivative as the differential: :0 \to \Omega^0(M)\ \stackrel\ \Omega^1(M)\ \stackrel\ \Omega^2(M)\ \stackrel\ \Omega^3(M) \t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cup Product
In mathematics, specifically in algebraic topology, the cup product is a method of adjoining two cocycles of degree ''p'' and ''q'' to form a composite cocycle of degree ''p'' + ''q''. This defines an associative (and distributive) graded commutative product operation in cohomology, turning the cohomology of a space ''X'' into a graded ring, ''H''∗(''X''), called the cohomology ring. The cup product was introduced in work of J. W. Alexander, Eduard Čech and Hassler Whitney from 1935–1938, and, in full generality, by Samuel Eilenberg in 1944. Definition In singular cohomology, the cup product is a construction giving a product on the graded cohomology ring ''H''∗(''X'') of a topological space ''X''. The construction starts with a product of cochains: if \alpha^p is a ''p''-cochain and \beta^q is a ''q''-cochain, then :(\alpha^p \smile \beta^q)(\sigma) = \alpha^p(\sigma \circ \iota_) \cdot \beta^q(\sigma \circ \iota_) where σ is a singular (''p'' + ''q'') - simpl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monomial
In mathematics, a monomial is, roughly speaking, a polynomial which has only one term. Two definitions of a monomial may be encountered: # A monomial, also called power product, is a product of powers of variables with nonnegative integer exponents, or, in other words, a product of variables, possibly with repetitions. For example, x^2yz^3=xxyzzz is a monomial. The constant 1 is a monomial, being equal to the empty product and to x^0 for any variable x. If only a single variable x is considered, this means that a monomial is either 1 or a power x^n of x, with n a positive integer. If several variables are considered, say, x, y, z, then each can be given an exponent, so that any monomial is of the form x^a y^b z^c with a,b,c non-negative integers (taking note that any exponent 0 makes the corresponding factor equal to 1). # A monomial is a monomial in the first sense multiplied by a nonzero constant, called the coefficient of the monomial. A monomial in the first sense is a specia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fundamental Class
In mathematics, the fundamental class is a homology class 'M''associated to a connected orientable compact manifold of dimension ''n'', which corresponds to the generator of the homology group H_n(M,\partial M;\mathbf)\cong\mathbf . The fundamental class can be thought of as the orientation of the top-dimensional simplices of a suitable triangulation of the manifold.In past years mathematics.... Definition Closed, orientable When ''M'' is a connected orientable closed manifold of dimension ''n'', the top homology group is infinite cyclic: H_n(M,\mathbf) \cong \mathbf, and an orientation is a choice of generator, a choice of isomorphism \mathbf \to H_n(M,\mathbf). The generator is called the fundamental class. If ''M'' is disconnected (but still orientable), a fundamental class is the direct sum of the fundamental classes for each connected component (corresponding to an orientation for each component). In relation with de Rham cohomology it represents ''integration over M'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euler Class
In mathematics, specifically in algebraic topology, the Euler class is a characteristic class of oriented, real vector bundles. Like other characteristic classes, it measures how "twisted" the vector bundle is. In the case of the tangent bundle of a smooth manifold, it generalizes the classical notion of Euler characteristic. It is named after Leonhard Euler because of this. Throughout this article E is an oriented, real vector bundle of rank r over a base space X. Formal definition The Euler class e(E) is an element of the integral cohomology group :H^r(X; \mathbf), constructed as follows. An orientation of E amounts to a continuous choice of generator of the cohomology :H^r(\mathbf^, \mathbf^ \setminus \; \mathbf)\cong \tilde^(S^;\mathbf)\cong \mathbf of each fiber \mathbf^ relative to the complement \mathbf^ \setminus \ of zero. From the Thom isomorphism, this induces an orientation class :u \in H^r(E, E \setminus E_0; \mathbf) in the cohomology of E relative to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontryagin Class
In mathematics, the Pontryagin classes, named after Lev Pontryagin, are certain characteristic classes of real vector bundles. The Pontryagin classes lie in cohomology groups with degrees a multiple of four. Definition Given a real vector bundle ''E'' over ''M'', its ''k''-th Pontryagin class p_k(E) is defined as :p_k(E) = p_k(E, \Z) = (-1)^k c_(E\otimes \Complex) \in H^(M, \Z), where: *c_(E\otimes \Complex) denotes the 2k-th Chern class of the complexification E\otimes \Complex = E\oplus iE of ''E'', *H^(M, \Z) is the 4k-cohomology group of ''M'' with integer coefficients. The rational Pontryagin class p_k(E, \Q) is defined to be the image of p_k(E) in H^(M, \Q), the 4k-cohomology group of ''M'' with rational coefficients. Properties The total Pontryagin class :p(E)=1+p_1(E)+p_2(E)+\cdots\in H^*(M,\Z), is (modulo 2-torsion) multiplicative with respect to Whitney sum of vector bundles, i.e., :2p(E\oplus F)=2p(E)\smile p(F) for two vector bundles ''E'' and ''F'' over ''M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chern Class
In mathematics, in particular in algebraic topology, differential geometry and algebraic geometry, the Chern classes are characteristic classes associated with complex vector bundles. They have since found applications in physics, Calabi–Yau manifolds, string theory, Chern–Simons theory, knot theory, Gromov–Witten invariants, topological quantum field theory, the Chern theorem etc. Chern classes were introduced by . Geometric approach Basic idea and motivation Chern classes are characteristic classes. They are topological invariants associated with vector bundles on a smooth manifold. The question of whether two ostensibly different vector bundles are the same can be quite hard to answer. The Chern classes provide a simple test: if the Chern classes of a pair of vector bundles do not agree, then the vector bundles are different. The converse, however, is not true. In topology, differential geometry, and algebraic geometry, it is often important to count how man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
