Algebraic topology

Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALG : Algebraic topology

Algebraic topology is a branch of mathematics in which tools from abstract algebra are used to study topological spaces.

Contents

1 The method of algebraic invariants
2 Results on homology
3 Setting in category theory
4 Applications of algebraic topology
5 See also
6 References

The method of algebraic invariants

The goal is to take topological spaces and further categorize or classify them. An older name for the subject was combinatorial topology, implying an emphasis on how a space X was constructed from simpler ones. The basic method now applied in algebraic topology is to investigate spaces via algebraic invariants, by mapping them, for example, to groups which have a great deal of manageable structure in a way that respects the relation of homeomorphism of spaces. This allows one to recast statements about topological spaces into statements about groups, which are often easier to prove.

Two major ways in which this can be done are through fundamental groups, or more generally homotopy theory, and through homology and cohomology groups. The fundamental groups give us basic information about the structure of a topological space, but they are often nonabelian and can be difficult to work with. The fundamental group of a (finite) simplicial complex does have a finite presentation.

Homology and cohomology groups, on the other hand, are abelian and in many important cases finitely generated. Finitely generated abelian groups are completely classified and are particularly easy to work with.

Results on homology

Several useful results follow immediately from working with finitely generated abelian groups. The free rank of the n-th homology group of a simplicial complex is equal to the n-th Betti number, so one can use the homology groups of a simplicial complex to calculate its Euler-Poincaré characteristic. As another example, the top-dimensional integral cohomology group of a closed manifold detects orientability: this group is isomorphic to either the integers or 0, according as the manifold is orientable or not. Thus, a great deal of topological information is encoded in the homology of a given topological space.

Beyond simplicial homology, which is defined only for simplicial complexes, one can use the differential structure of smooth manifolds via de Rham cohomology, or Čech or sheaf cohomology to investigate the solvability of differential equations defined on the manifold in question. De Rham showed that all of these approaches were interrelated and that, for a closed, oriented manifold, the Betti numbers derived through simplicial homology were the same Betti numbers as those derived through de Rham cohomology.

Setting in category theory

In general, all constructions of algebraic topology are functorial: the notions of category, functor and natural transformation originated here. Fundamental groups, homology and cohomology groups are not only invariants of the underlying topological space, in the sense that two topological spaces which are homeomorphic have the same associated groups; a continuous mapping of spaces induces a group homomorphism on the associated groups, and these homomorphisms can be used to show non-existence (or, much more deeply, existence) of mappings.

Applications of algebraic topology

Classic applications of algebraic topology include:

The Brouwer fixed point theorem: every continuous map from the unit n-disk to itself has a fixed point.
The n-sphere admits a nowhere-vanishing continuous unit vector field if and only if n is odd. (For n=2, this is sometimes called the "hairy ball theorem".)
The Borsuk-Ulam theorem: any continuous map from the n-sphere to Euclidean n-space identifies at least one pair of antipodal points.
Any subgroup of a free group is free. This result is quite interesting, because the statement is purely algebraic yet the simplest proof is topological. Namely, any free group G may be realized as the fundamental group of a graph X. The main theorem on covering spaces tells us that every subgroup H of G is the fundamental group of some covering space Y of X; but every such Y is again a graph. Therefore its fundamental group H is free.

The most celebrated geometric open problem in algebraic topology is the Poincaré conjecture, which may have been resolved by Grigori Perelman. The field of homotopy theory contains many mysteries, most famously the right way to describe the homotopy groups of spheres.

References

Allen Hatcher, Algebraic Topology , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002. ISBN 0-521-79540-0. A modern, geometrically flavored introduction to algebraic topology. The book is available free in PDF and PostScript formats on the [author's homepage].
C. R. F. Maunder, Algebraic Topology (1970) Van Nostrand Reinhold, London ISBN 73-105346.