In vector calculus and differential geometry the generalized Stokes theorem, also called the Stokes–Cartan theorem, is a statement about the integration of differential forms on manifolds, which both simplifies and generalizes several theorems from vector calculus. In particular, the fundamental theorem of calculus is the special case where the manifold is a line segment, Green’s theorem and Stokes' theorem are the cases of a surface in or and the divergence theorem is the case of a volume in Hence, the theorem is sometimes referred to as the Fundamental Theorem of Multivariate Calculus.
In mathematics, specifically in homology theory and algebraic topology, cohomology is a general term for a sequence of abelian groups, usually one associated with a topological space, often defined from a cochain complex. Cohomology can be viewed as a method of assigning richer algebraic invariants to a space than homology. Some versions of cohomology arise by dualizing the construction of homology. In other words, cochains are functions on the group of chains in homology theory.
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.
In mathematics, cobordism is a fundamental equivalence relation on the class of compact manifolds of the same dimension, set up using the concept of the boundary of a manifold. Two manifolds of the same dimension are cobordant if their disjoint union is the boundary of a compact manifold one dimension higher.
In mathematics, specifically in topology, the operation of connected sum is a geometric modification on manifolds. Its effect is to join two given manifolds together near a chosen point on each. This construction plays a key role in the classification of closed surfaces.
In mathematics, the Poincaré duality theorem, named after Henri Poincaré, is a basic result on the structure of the homology and cohomology groups of manifolds. It states that if M is an n-dimensional oriented closed manifold (compact and without boundary), then the kth cohomology group of M is isomorphic to the (n − k)th homology group of M, for all integers k
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 . The fundamental class can be thought of as the orientation of the top-dimensional simplices of a suitable triangulation of the manifold.
In mathematics, complex cobordism is a generalized cohomology theory related to cobordism of manifolds. Its spectrum is denoted by MU. It is an exceptionally powerful cohomology theory, but can be quite hard to compute, so often instead of using it directly one uses some slightly weaker theories derived from it, such as Brown–Peterson cohomology or Morava K-theory, that are easier to compute.
In algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics, a spectrum is an object representing a generalized cohomology theory. Every such cohomology theory is representable, as follows from Brown's representability theorem. This means that, given a cohomology theory
,
In mathematics, the Thom space,Thom complex, or Pontryagin–Thom construction of algebraic topology and differential topology is a topological space associated to a vector bundle, over any paracompact space.
The orientation of a real vector space or simply orientation of a vector space is the arbitrary choice of which ordered bases are "positively" oriented and which are "negatively" oriented. In the three-dimensional Euclidean space, right-handed bases are typically declared to be positively oriented, but the choice is arbitrary, as they may also be assigned a negative orientation. A vector space with an orientation selected is called an oriented vector space, while one not having an orientation selected, is called unoriented.
In mathematics, a volume form or top-dimensional form is a differential form of degree equal to the differentiable manifold dimension. Thus on a manifold of dimension , a volume form is an -form. It is an element of the space of sections of the line bundle , denoted as . A manifold admits a nowhere-vanishing volume form if and only if it is orientable. An orientable manifold has infinitely many volume forms, since multiplying a volume form by a nowhere-vanishing real valued function yields another volume form. On non-orientable manifolds, one may instead define the weaker notion of a density.
In topology, the degree of a continuous mapping between two compact oriented manifolds of the same dimension is a number that represents the number of times that the domain manifold wraps around the range manifold under the mapping. The degree is always an integer, but may be positive or negative depending on the orientations.
In mathematics, a filling of a manifold X is a cobordism W between X and the empty set. More to the point, the n-dimensional topological manifold X is the boundary of an (n + 1)-dimensional manifold W. Perhaps the most active area of current research is when n = 3, where one may consider certain types of fillings.
In differential topology, an area of mathematics, the Hirzebruch signature theorem is Friedrich Hirzebruch's 1954 result expressing the signature of a smooth closed oriented manifold by a linear combination of Pontryagin numbers called the L-genus. It was used in the proof of the Hirzebruch–Riemann–Roch theorem.
In mathematics, specifically geometry and topology, the classification of manifolds is a basic question, about which much is known, and many open questions remain.
In mathematics, and particularly homology theory, Steenrod's Problem is a problem concerning the realisation of homology classes by singular manifolds.
In differential topology, a branch of mathematics, a stratifold is a generalization of a differentiable manifold where certain kinds of singularities are allowed. More specifically a stratifold is stratified into differentiable manifolds of (possibly) different dimensions. Stratifolds can be used to construct new homology theories. For example, they provide a new geometric model for ordinary homology. The concept of stratifolds was invented by Matthias Kreck. The basic idea is similar to that of a topologically stratified space, but adapted to differential topology.
This is a glossary of properties and concepts in algebraic topology in mathematics.
