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Universal Bundle
In mathematics, the universal bundle in the theory of fiber bundles with structure group a given topological group , is a specific bundle over a classifying space In mathematics, specifically in homotopy theory, a classifying space ''BG'' of a topological group ''G'' is the quotient of a weakly contractible space ''EG'' (i.e. a topological space all of whose homotopy groups are trivial) by a proper free acti ... , such that every bundle with the given structure group over is a pullback bundle, pullback by means of a continuous map . Existence of a universal bundle In the CW complex category When the definition of the classifying space takes place within the homotopy category (mathematics), category of CW complexes, existence theorems for universal bundles arise from Brown's representability theorem. For compact Lie groups We will first prove: :Proposition. Let be a compact Lie group. There exists a contractible space on which acts freely. The projection is a -principal fibr ... [...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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contractible
In mathematics, a topological space ''X'' is contractible if the identity map on ''X'' is null-homotopic, i.e. if it is homotopic to some constant map. Intuitively, a contractible space is one that can be continuously shrunk to a point within that space. Properties A contractible space is precisely one with the homotopy type of a point. It follows that all the homotopy groups of a contractible space are trivial. Therefore any space with a nontrivial homotopy group cannot be contractible. Similarly, since singular homology is a homotopy invariant, the reduced homology groups of a contractible space are all trivial. For a topological space ''X'' the following are all equivalent: *''X'' is contractible (i.e. the identity map is null-homotopic). *''X'' is homotopy equivalent to a one-point space. *''X'' deformation retracts onto a point. (However, there exist contractible spaces which do not ''strongly'' deformation retract to a point.) *For any space ''Y'', any two maps ''f'',''g' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tautological Bundle
In mathematics, the tautological bundle is a vector bundle occurring over a Grassmannian in a natural tautological way: for a Grassmannian of k-dimensional subspaces of V, given a point in the Grassmannian corresponding to a k-dimensional vector subspace W \subseteq V, the fiber over W is the subspace W itself. In the case of projective space the tautological bundle is known as the tautological line bundle. The tautological bundle is also called the universal bundle since any vector bundle (over a compact space) is a pullback of the tautological bundle; this is to say a Grassmannian is a classifying space for vector bundles. Because of this, the tautological bundle is important in the study of characteristic classes. Tautological bundles are constructed both in algebraic topology and in algebraic geometry. In algebraic geometry, the tautological line bundle (as invertible sheaf) is :\mathcal_(-1), the dual of the hyperplane bundle or Serre's twisting sheaf \mathcal_(1). The hype ... [...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 many l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classifying Space For U(n)
In mathematics, the classifying space for the unitary group U(''n'') is a space BU(''n'') together with a universal bundle EU(''n'') such that any hermitian bundle on a paracompact space ''X'' is the pull-back of EU(''n'') by a map ''X'' → BU(''n'') unique up to homotopy. This space with its universal fibration may be constructed as either # the Grassmannian of ''n''-planes in an infinite-dimensional complex Hilbert space; or, # the direct limit, with the induced topology, of Grassmannians of ''n'' planes. Both constructions are detailed here. Construction as an infinite Grassmannian The total space EU(''n'') of the universal bundle is given by :EU(n)=\left \. Here, ''H'' denotes an infinite-dimensional complex Hilbert space, the ''e''''i'' are vectors in ''H'', and \delta_ is the Kronecker delta. The symbol (\cdot,\cdot) is the inner product on ''H''. Thus, we have that EU(''n'') is the space of orthonormal ''n''-frames in ''H''. The group action of U(''n'') on this space i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Well-behaved
In mathematics, when a mathematical phenomenon runs counter to some intuition, then the phenomenon is sometimes called pathological. On the other hand, if a phenomenon does not run counter to intuition, it is sometimes called well-behaved. These terms are sometimes useful in mathematical research and teaching, but there is no strict mathematical definition of pathological or well-behaved. In analysis A classic example of a pathology is the Weierstrass function, a function that is continuous everywhere but differentiable nowhere. The sum of a differentiable function and the Weierstrass function is again continuous but nowhere differentiable; so there are at least as many such functions as differentiable functions. In fact, using the Baire category theorem, one can show that continuous functions are generically nowhere differentiable. Such examples were deemed pathological when they were first discovered: To quote Henri Poincaré: Since Poincaré, nowhere differentiable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homotopy Equivalent
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 p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equivariant Cohomology
In mathematics, equivariant cohomology (or ''Borel cohomology'') is a cohomology theory from algebraic topology which applies to topological spaces with a ''group action''. It can be viewed as a common generalization of group cohomology and an ordinary cohomology theory. Specifically, the equivariant cohomology ring of a space X with action of a topological group G is defined as the ordinary cohomology ring with coefficient ring \Lambda of the homotopy quotient EG \times_G X: :H_G^*(X; \Lambda) = H^*(EG \times_G X; \Lambda). If G is the trivial group, this is the ordinary cohomology ring of X, whereas if X is contractible, it reduces to the cohomology ring of the classifying space BG (that is, the group cohomology of G when ''G'' is finite.) If ''G'' acts freely on ''X'', then the canonical map EG \times_G X \to X/G is a homotopy equivalence and so one gets: H_G^*(X; \Lambda) = H^*(X/G; \Lambda). Definitions It is also possible to define the equivariant cohomology H_G^*(X;A) of X ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hausdorff Space
In topology and related branches of mathematics, a Hausdorff space ( , ), separated space or T2 space is a topological space where, for any two distinct points, there exist neighbourhoods of each which are disjoint from each other. Of the many separation axioms that can be imposed on a topological space, the "Hausdorff condition" (T2) is the most frequently used and discussed. It implies the uniqueness of limits of sequences, nets, and filters. Hausdorff spaces are named after Felix Hausdorff, one of the founders of topology. Hausdorff's original definition of a topological space (in 1914) included the Hausdorff condition as an axiom. Definitions Points x and y in a topological space X can be '' separated by neighbourhoods'' if there exists a neighbourhood U of x and a neighbourhood V of y such that U and V are disjoint (U\cap V=\varnothing). X is a Hausdorff space if any two distinct points in X are separated by neighbourhoods. This condition is the third separation axiom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pathological (mathematics)
In mathematics, when a mathematical phenomenon runs counter to some intuition, then the phenomenon is sometimes called pathological. On the other hand, if a phenomenon does not run counter to intuition, it is sometimes called well-behaved. These terms are sometimes useful in mathematical research and teaching, but there is no strict mathematical definition of pathological or well-behaved. In analysis A classic example of a pathology is the Weierstrass function, a function that is continuous everywhere but differentiable nowhere. The sum of a differentiable function and the Weierstrass function is again continuous but nowhere differentiable; so there are at least as many such functions as differentiable functions. In fact, using the Baire category theorem, one can show that continuous functions are generically nowhere differentiable. Such examples were deemed pathological when they were first discovered: To quote Henri Poincaré: Since Poincaré, nowhere differentiable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbit Space
In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a planet, moon, asteroid, or Lagrange point. Normally, orbit refers to a regularly repeating trajectory, although it may also refer to a non-repeating trajectory. To a close approximation, planets and satellites follow elliptic orbits, with the center of mass being orbited at a focal point of the ellipse, as described by Kepler's laws of planetary motion. For most situations, orbital motion is adequately approximated by Newtonian mechanics, which explains gravity as a force obeying an inverse-square law. However, Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which accounts for gravity as due to curvature of spacetime, with orbits following geodesics, provides a more accurate calculation and understanding of the exact mechanics of orbital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Group Action (mathematics)
In mathematics, a group action on a space is a group homomorphism of a given group into the group of transformations of the space. Similarly, a group action on a mathematical structure is a group homomorphism of a group into the automorphism group of the structure. It is said that the group ''acts'' on the space or structure. If a group acts on a structure, it will usually also act on objects built from that structure. For example, the group of Euclidean isometries acts on Euclidean space and also on the figures drawn in it. For example, it acts on the set of all triangles. Similarly, the group of symmetries of a polyhedron acts on the vertices, the edges, and the faces of the polyhedron. A group action on a vector space is called a representation of the group. In the case of a finite-dimensional vector space, it allows one to identify many groups with subgroups of , the group of the invertible matrices of dimension over a field . The symmetric group acts on any set wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
