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Trigenus
In low-dimensional topology, the trigenus of a closed 3-manifold is an invariant consisting of an ordered triple (g_1,g_2,g_3). It is obtained by minimizing the genera of three '' orientable'' handle bodies — with no intersection between their interiors— which decompose the manifold as far as the Heegaard genus need only two. That is, a decomposition M=V_1\cup V_2\cup V_3 with V_i\cap V_j=\varnothing for i,j=1,2,3 and being g_i the genus of V_i. For orientable spaces, (M)=(0,0,h), where h is M's Heegaard genus. For non-orientable spaces the has the form (M)=(0,g_2,g_3)\quad \mbox\quad (1,g_2,g_3) depending on the image of the first Stiefel–Whitney characteristic class w_1 under a Bockstein homomorphism In homological algebra, the Bockstein homomorphism, introduced by , is a connecting homomorphism associated with a short exact sequence :0 \to P \to Q \to R \to 0 of abelian groups, when they are introduced as coefficients into a chain complex '' ..., res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Low-dimensional Topology
In mathematics, low-dimensional topology is the branch of topology that studies manifolds, or more generally topological spaces, of four or fewer dimensions. Representative topics are the structure theory of 3-manifolds and 4-manifolds, knot theory, and braid groups. This can be regarded as a part of geometric topology. It may also be used to refer to the study of topological spaces of dimension 1, though this is more typically considered part of continuum theory. History A number of advances starting in the 1960s had the effect of emphasising low dimensions in topology. The solution by Stephen Smale, in 1961, of the Poincaré conjecture in five or more dimensions made dimensions three and four seem the hardest; and indeed they required new methods, while the freedom of higher dimensions meant that questions could be reduced to computational methods available in surgery theory. Thurston's geometrization conjecture, formulated in the late 1970s, offered a framework that sugge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Closed Manifold
In mathematics, a closed manifold is a manifold without boundary that is compact. In comparison, an open manifold is a manifold without boundary that has only ''non-compact'' components. Examples The only connected one-dimensional example is a circle. The sphere, torus, and the Klein bottle are all closed two-dimensional manifolds. A line is not closed because it is not compact. A closed disk is a compact two-dimensional manifold, but it is not closed because it has a boundary. Open manifolds For a connected manifold, "open" is equivalent to "without boundary and non-compact", but for a disconnected manifold, open is stronger. For instance, the disjoint union of a circle and a line is non-compact since a line is non-compact, but this is not an open manifold since the circle (one of its components) is compact. Abuse of language Most books generally define a manifold as a space that is, locally, homeomorphic to Euclidean space (along with some other technical con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3-manifold
In mathematics, a 3-manifold is a space that locally looks like Euclidean 3-dimensional space. A 3-manifold can be thought of as a possible shape of the universe. Just as a sphere looks like a plane to a small enough observer, all 3-manifolds look like our universe does to a small enough observer. This is made more precise in the definition below. Introduction Definition A topological space ''X'' is a 3-manifold if it is a second-countable Hausdorff space and if every point in ''X'' has a neighbourhood that is homeomorphic to Euclidean 3-space. Mathematical theory of 3-manifolds The topological, piecewise-linear, and smooth categories are all equivalent in three dimensions, so little distinction is made in whether we are dealing with say, topological 3-manifolds, or smooth 3-manifolds. Phenomena in three dimensions can be strikingly different from phenomena in other dimensions, and so there is a prevalence of very specialized techniques that do not generalize to dimensions g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orientable
In mathematics, orientability is a property of some topological spaces such as real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, surfaces, and more generally manifolds that allows a consistent definition of "clockwise" and "counterclockwise". A space is orientable if such a consistent definition exists. In this case, there are two possible definitions, and a choice between them is an orientation of the space. Real vector spaces, Euclidean spaces, and spheres are orientable. A space is non-orientable if "clockwise" is changed into "counterclockwise" after running through some loops in it, and coming back to the starting point. This means that a geometric shape, such as , that moves continuously along such a loop is changed into its own mirror image . A Möbius strip is an example of a non-orientable space. Various equivalent formulations of orientability can be given, depending on the desired application and level of generality. Formulations applicable to general topological manifolds oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handlebody
In the mathematical field of geometric topology, a handlebody is a decomposition of a manifold into standard pieces. Handlebodies play an important role in Morse theory, cobordism theory and the surgery theory of high-dimensional manifolds. Handles are used to particularly study 3-manifolds. Handlebodies play a similar role in the study of manifolds as simplicial complexes and CW complexes play in homotopy theory, allowing one to analyze a space in terms of individual pieces and their interactions. ''n''-dimensional handlebodies If (W,\partial W) is an n-dimensional manifold with boundary, and :S^ \times D^ \subset \partial W (where S^ represents an n-sphere and D^n is an n-ball) is an embedding, the n-dimensional manifold with boundary :(W',\partial W') = ((W \cup( D^r \times D^)),(\partial W - S^ \times D^)\cup (D^r \times S^)) is said to be ''obtained from :(W,\partial W) by attaching an r-handle''. The boundary \partial W' is obtained from \partial W by surgery. As trivial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heegaard Splitting
In the mathematical field of geometric topology, a Heegaard splitting () is a decomposition of a compact oriented 3-manifold that results from dividing it into two handlebodies. Definitions Let ''V'' and ''W'' be handlebodies of genus ''g'', and let ƒ be an orientation reversing homeomorphism from the boundary of ''V'' to the boundary of ''W''. By gluing ''V'' to ''W'' along ƒ we obtain the compact oriented 3-manifold : M = V \cup_f W. Every closed, orientable three-manifold may be so obtained; this follows from deep results on the triangulability of three-manifolds due to Moise. This contrasts strongly with higher-dimensional manifolds which need not admit smooth or piecewise linear structures. Assuming smoothness the existence of a Heegaard splitting also follows from the work of Smale about handle decompositions from Morse theory. The decomposition of ''M'' into two handlebodies is called a Heegaard splitting, and their common boundary ''H'' is called the Heegaard surf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heegaard Genus
In the mathematical field of geometric topology, a Heegaard splitting () is a decomposition of a compact oriented 3-manifold that results from dividing it into two handlebodies. Definitions Let ''V'' and ''W'' be handlebodies of genus ''g'', and let ƒ be an orientation reversing homeomorphism from the boundary of ''V'' to the boundary of ''W''. By gluing ''V'' to ''W'' along ƒ we obtain the compact oriented 3-manifold : M = V \cup_f W. Every closed, orientable three-manifold may be so obtained; this follows from deep results on the triangulability of three-manifolds due to Moise. This contrasts strongly with higher-dimensional manifolds which need not admit smooth or piecewise linear structures. Assuming smoothness the existence of a Heegaard splitting also follows from the work of Smale about handle decompositions from Morse theory. The decomposition of ''M'' into two handlebodies is called a Heegaard splitting, and their common boundary ''H'' is called the Heegaard surf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stiefel–Whitney Class
In mathematics, in particular in algebraic topology and differential geometry, the Stiefel–Whitney classes are a set of topological invariants of a real vector bundle that describe the obstructions to constructing everywhere independent sets of sections of the vector bundle. Stiefel–Whitney classes are indexed from 0 to ''n'', where ''n'' is the rank of the vector bundle. If the Stiefel–Whitney class of index ''i'' is nonzero, then there cannot exist (n-i+1) everywhere linearly independent sections of the vector bundle. A nonzero ''n''th Stiefel–Whitney class indicates that every section of the bundle must vanish at some point. A nonzero first Stiefel–Whitney class indicates that the vector bundle is not orientable. For example, the first Stiefel–Whitney class of the Möbius strip, as a line bundle over the circle, is not zero, whereas the first Stiefel–Whitney class of the trivial line bundle over the circle, S^1 \times\R, is zero. The Stiefel–Whitney class was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bockstein Homomorphism
In homological algebra, the Bockstein homomorphism, introduced by , is a connecting homomorphism associated with a short exact sequence :0 \to P \to Q \to R \to 0 of abelian groups, when they are introduced as coefficients into a chain complex ''C'', and which appears in the homology groups as a homomorphism reducing degree by one, :\beta\colon H_i(C, R) \to H_(C,P). To be more precise, ''C'' should be a complex of free, or at least torsion-free, abelian groups, and the homology is of the complexes formed by tensor product with ''C'' (some flat module condition should enter). The construction of β is by the usual argument (snake lemma). A similar construction applies to cohomology groups, this time increasing degree by one. Thus we have :\beta\colon H^i(C, R) \to H^(C,P). The Bockstein homomorphism \beta associated to the coefficient sequence :0 \to \Z/p\Z\to \Z/p^2\Z\to \Z/p\Z\to 0 is used as one of the generators of the Steenrod algebra. This Bockstein homomorphism has ... [...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] |
