Euler characteristic of an orbifold

Last updated

In differential geometry, the Euler characteristic of an orbifold, or orbifold Euler characteristic, is a generalization of the topological Euler characteristic that includes contributions coming from nontrivial automorphisms. In particular, unlike a topological Euler characteristic, it is not restricted to integer values and is in general a rational number. It is of interest in mathematical physics, specifically in string theory. Given a compact manifold quotiented by a finite group , the Euler characteristic of is

Contents

where is the order of the group , the sum runs over all pairs of commuting elements of , and is the set of simultaneous fixed points of and . If the action is free, the sum has only a single term, and so this expression reduces to the topological Euler characteristic of divided by .

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surface (topology)</span> Two-dimensional manifold

In the part of mathematics referred to as topology, a surface is a two-dimensional manifold. Some surfaces arise as the boundaries of three-dimensional solid figures; for example, the sphere is the boundary of the solid ball. Other surfaces arise as graphs of functions of two variables; see the figure at right. However, surfaces can also be defined abstractly, without reference to any ambient space. For example, the Klein bottle is a surface that cannot be embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genus (mathematics)</span> Number of "holes" of a surface

In mathematics, genus has a few different, but closely related, meanings. Intuitively, the genus is the number of "holes" of a surface. A sphere has genus 0, while a torus has genus 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gauss–Bonnet theorem</span> Theorem in differential geometry

In the mathematical field of differential geometry, the Gauss–Bonnet theorem is a fundamental formula which links the curvature of a surface to its underlying topology.

In mathematics, and more specifically in algebraic topology and polyhedral combinatorics, the Euler characteristic is a topological invariant, a number that describes a topological space's shape or structure regardless of the way it is bent. It is commonly denoted by .

In the mathematical disciplines of topology and geometry, an orbifold is a generalization of a manifold. Roughly speaking, an orbifold is a topological space which is locally a finite group quotient of a Euclidean space.

In differential geometry, the Atiyah–Singer index theorem, proved by Michael Atiyah and Isadore Singer (1963), states that for an elliptic differential operator on a compact manifold, the analytical index is equal to the topological index. It includes many other theorems, such as the Chern–Gauss–Bonnet theorem and Riemann–Roch theorem, as special cases, and has applications to theoretical physics.

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.

In mathematics, the Chern theorem states that the Euler–Poincaré characteristic of a closed even-dimensional Riemannian manifold is equal to the integral of a certain polynomial of its curvature form.

In mathematics, the Riemann–Hurwitz formula, named after Bernhard Riemann and Adolf Hurwitz, describes the relationship of the Euler characteristics of two surfaces when one is a ramified covering of the other. It therefore connects ramification with algebraic topology, in this case. It is a prototype result for many others, and is often applied in the theory of Riemann surfaces and algebraic curves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low-dimensional topology</span> Branch of 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.

A Seifert fiber space is a 3-manifold together with a decomposition as a disjoint union of circles. In other words, it is a -bundle over a 2-dimensional orbifold. Many 3-manifolds are Seifert fiber spaces, and they account for all compact oriented manifolds in 6 of the 8 Thurston geometries of the geometrization conjecture.

In mathematics, the arithmetic genus of an algebraic variety is one of a few possible generalizations of the genus of an algebraic curve or Riemann surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willmore energy</span>

In differential geometry, the Willmore energy is a quantitative measure of how much a given surface deviates from a round sphere. Mathematically, the Willmore energy of a smooth closed surface embedded in three-dimensional Euclidean space is defined to be the integral of the square of the mean curvature minus the Gaussian curvature. It is named after the English geometer Thomas Willmore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manifold</span> Topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space

In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an -dimensional manifold, or -manifold for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a neighborhood that is homeomorphic to an open subset of -dimensional Euclidean space.

In mathematics, Hopf conjecture may refer to one of several conjectural statements from differential geometry and topology attributed to Heinz Hopf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regular map (graph theory)</span> Symmetric tessellation of a closed surface

In mathematics, a regular map is a symmetric tessellation of a closed surface. More precisely, a regular map is a decomposition of a two-dimensional manifold into topological disks such that every flag can be transformed into any other flag by a symmetry of the decomposition. Regular maps are, in a sense, topological generalizations of Platonic solids. The theory of maps and their classification is related to the theory of Riemann surfaces, hyperbolic geometry, and Galois theory. Regular maps are classified according to either: the genus and orientability of the supporting surface, the underlying graph, or the automorphism group.

In algebraic geometry, a torus action on an algebraic variety is a group action of an algebraic torus on the variety. A variety equipped with an action of a torus T is called a T-variety. In differential geometry, one considers an action of a real or complex torus on a manifold.

In differential geometry, the localization formula states: for an equivariantly closed equivariant differential form on an orbifold M with a torus action and for a sufficient small in the Lie algebra of the torus T,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petrie dual</span>

In topological graph theory, the Petrie dual of an embedded graph is another embedded graph that has the Petrie polygons of the first embedding as its faces.

Supersymmetric theory of stochastic dynamics or stochastics (STS) is an exact theory of stochastic (partial) differential equations (SDEs), the class of mathematical models with the widest applicability covering, in particular, all continuous time dynamical systems, with and without noise. The main utility of the theory from the physical point of view is a rigorous theoretical explanation of the ubiquitous spontaneous long-range dynamical behavior that manifests itself across disciplines via such phenomena as 1/f, flicker, and crackling noises and the power-law statistics, or Zipf's law, of instantonic processes like earthquakes and neuroavalanches. From the mathematical point of view, STS is interesting because it bridges the two major parts of mathematical physics – the dynamical systems theory and topological field theories. Besides these and related disciplines such as algebraic topology and supersymmetric field theories, STS is also connected with the traditional theory of stochastic differential equations and the theory of pseudo-Hermitian operators.

References