In mathematics, a topological space is said to be weakly contractible if all of its homotopy groups are trivial.
It follows from Whitehead's Theorem that if a CW-complex is weakly contractible then it is contractible.
Define to be the inductive limit of the spheres . Then this space is weakly contractible. Since is moreover a CW-complex, it is also contractible. See Contractibility of unit sphere in Hilbert space for more.
The Long Line is an example of a space which is weakly contractible, but not contractible. This does not contradict Whitehead theorem since the Long Line does not have the homotopy type of a CW-complex. Another prominent example for this phenomenon is the Warsaw circle.
Algebraic topology is a branch of mathematics that uses tools from abstract algebra to study topological spaces. The basic goal is to find algebraic invariants that classify topological spaces up to homeomorphism, though usually most classify up to homotopy equivalence.
In mathematics, homotopy groups are used in algebraic topology to classify topological spaces. The first and simplest homotopy group is the fundamental group, which records information about loops in a space. Intuitively, homotopy groups record information about the basic shape, or holes, of a topological space.
A CW complex is a kind of a topological space that is particularly important in algebraic topology. It was introduced by J. H. C. Whitehead to meet the needs of homotopy theory. This class of spaces is broader and has some better categorical properties than simplicial complexes, but still retains a combinatorial nature that allows for computation. The C stands for "closure-finite", and the W for "weak" topology. A CW complex can be defined inductively.
In mathematics, complex projective space is the projective space with respect to the field of complex numbers. By analogy, whereas the points of a real projective space label the lines through the origin of a real Euclidean space, the points of a complex projective space label the complex lines through the origin of a complex Euclidean space. Formally, a complex projective space is the space of complex lines through the origin of an (n+1)-dimensional complex vector space. The space is denoted variously as P(Cn+1), Pn(C) or CPn. When n = 1, the complex projective space CP1 is the Riemann sphere, and when n = 2, CP2 is the complex projective plane.
In mathematics, specifically in homotopy theory, a classifying spaceBG of a topological group G is the quotient of a weakly contractible space EG by a proper free action of G. It has the property that any G principal bundle over a paracompact manifold is isomorphic to a pullback of the principal bundle EG → BG. As explained later, this means that classifying spaces represent a set-valued functor on the homotopy category of topological spaces. The term classifying space can also be used for spaces that represent a set-valued functor on the category of topological spaces, such as Sierpiński space. This notion is generalized by the notion of classifying topos. However, the rest of this article discusses the more commonly used notion of classifying space up to homotopy.
In homotopy theory, the Whitehead theorem states that if a continuous mapping f between CW complexes X and Y induces isomorphisms on all homotopy groups, then f is a homotopy equivalence. This result was proved by J. H. C. Whitehead in two landmark papers from 1949, and provides a justification for working with the concept of a CW complex that he introduced there. It is a model result of algebraic topology, in which the behavior of certain algebraic invariants determines a topological property of a mapping.
In algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics, a spectrum is an object representing a generalized cohomology theory. This means that, given a cohomology theory
,
In mathematics, specifically algebraic topology, an Eilenberg–MacLane space is a topological space with a single nontrivial homotopy group.
In mathematics, the Whitehead manifold is an open 3-manifold that is contractible, but not homeomorphic to J. H. C. Whitehead (1935) discovered this puzzling object while he was trying to prove the Poincaré conjecture, correcting an error in an earlier paper Whitehead where he incorrectly claimed that no such manifold exists.
In mathematics, and specifically in the field of homotopy theory, the Freudenthal suspension theorem is the fundamental result leading to the concept of stabilization of homotopy groups and ultimately to stable homotopy theory. It explains the behavior of simultaneously taking suspensions and increasing the index of the homotopy groups of the space in question. It was proved in 1937 by Hans Freudenthal.
In mathematics, the homotopy category is a category built from the category of topological spaces which in a sense identifies two spaces that have the same shape. The phrase is in fact used for two different categories, as discussed below.
In topology, a branch of mathematics, a retraction is a continuous mapping from a topological space into a subspace that preserves the position of all points in that subspace. The subspace is then called a retract of the original space. A deformation retraction is a mapping that captures the idea of continuously shrinking a space into a subspace.
In mathematics, Kuiper's theorem is a result on the topology of operators on an infinite-dimensional, complex Hilbert space H. It states that the space GL(H) of invertible bounded endomorphisms of H is such that all maps from any finite complex Y to GL(H) are homotopic to a constant, for the norm topology on operators.
In topology, a branch of mathematics, an aspherical space is a topological space with all homotopy groups equal to 0 when .
In mathematics, an acyclic space is a topological space X in which cycles are always boundaries, in the sense of homology theory. This implies that integral homology groups in all dimensions of X are isomorphic to the corresponding homology groups of a point.
In mathematics and specifically in topology, rational homotopy theory is a simplified version of homotopy theory for topological spaces, in which all torsion in the homotopy groups is ignored. It was founded by Dennis Sullivan (1977) and Daniel Quillen (1969). This simplification of homotopy theory makes calculations much easier.
In homotopy theory, a branch of algebraic topology, a Postnikov system is a way of decomposing a topological space's homotopy groups using an inverse system of topological spaces whose homotopy type at degree agrees with the truncated homotopy type of the original space . Postnikov systems were introduced by, and are named after, Mikhail Postnikov.
In category theory, a branch of mathematics, an ∞-groupoid is an abstract homotopical model for topological spaces. One model uses Kan complexes which are fibrant objects in the category of simplicial sets. It is an ∞-category generalization of a groupoid, a category in which every morphism is an isomorphism.
This is a glossary of properties and concepts in algebraic topology in mathematics.
In mathematics, homotopy theory is a systematic study of situations in which maps come with homotopies between them. It originated as a topic in algebraic topology but nowadays is studied as an independent discipline. Besides algebraic topology, the theory has also been used in other areas of mathematics such as algebraic geometry (e.g., A1 homotopy theory) and category theory (specifically the study of higher categories).
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