Questions tagged [characteristic-classes]

Cohomology classes associated to vector bundles. Includes Stiefel-Whitney classes, Chern classes, Pontryagin classes, and the Euler class.

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Reference request: cohomology of BTOP with mod $2^m$ coefficients

I am searching for a reference with information pertaining to the $\mathbb{Z}/{2^m}$ cohomology of ${\rm{BTOP}}(n)$, for $n \geq 8$ and $m=1,2$, where $${\rm{TOP}}(n) = \{f \colon \mathbb{R}^n \to \...
Baylee Schutte's user avatar
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Equivalence of two definitions of the $\hat{A}$-genus form

Let $E$ be a real vector bundle and $\nabla$ a covariant derivative with curvature of $F$. On page 51 of Heat Kernels and Dirac Operators it is claimed that "using the formula $\det A = \exp\...
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Possible Euler characteristics of manifolds with tangential structures

Let $p:B\to BO$ be a fibration. We say that a manifold has a $B$-structure if its stable tangent bundle lifts to $B$. I am interested in the question of whether there exists, for a given even ...
Simona Vesela's user avatar
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Why does Bott's obstruction theorem imply the vanishing of some cohomology classes of $B\Gamma_q$?

Recall that Bott's obstruction for integrability [Bott70] asserts that: Given a smooth (=$C^\infty$) $m$-manifold $M$ and a completely integrable vector subbundle $E\subset TM$ of rank $m-q$, every ...
Ken's user avatar
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An almost complex structure on $\Bbb S^n$ induces a cross product on $\Bbb R^{n+1}$

It is known that the only spheres that admit an almost complex structures are $\Bbb S^2$ and $\Bbb S^6$ (Borel and Serre, 1953). In particular, $\Bbb S^4$ cannot be given an almost complex structure (...
Random's user avatar
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Minimal first Pontryagin class $p_1=1$?

From Hirzbuch theorem, the signature of 4-manifold $\sigma = p_1/3$ with the first Pontryagin class $p_1$. I know that the $\sigma=p_1/3 =1$ so $p_1=3$ for complex projective space $\mathbb{P}^2$. Is ...
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Induced fiber sequence and Eilenberg–MacLane space in Whitehead tower of $BO$

In Whitehead tower of $BO$, there is a induced fiber sequence: 1. $$ Z_2 \to B SO \to BO \overset{w_1}{\rightarrow} B Z_2 $$ How does this map $\overset{w_1}{\rightarrow}$ from $BO$ to $B Z_2$? ...
zeta's user avatar
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Determine the Eilenberg-MacLane spaces on the right-handed side of this Whitehead tower?

What and how to determine the Eilenberg-MacLane spaces on the right-handed side of this Whitehead tower? Namely, how do we know $$ K(Z_2,1)?, \quad K(Z_2,2)?, \quad K(Z,4)? $$ Naively -- in each step ...
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Odd integral Stiefel–Whitney classes in terms of even ones

As computed in various places (e.g. in Brown - The Cohomology of $B\mathrm{SO}_n$ and $B\mathrm O_n$ with Integer Coefficients), the integral cohomology ring of $B\mathrm{O}(n)$ (and similarly $B\...
Matthias Ludewig's user avatar
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Chern character of a super-connection (Heat kernels and Dirac operators)

Let $A$ be a super-connection on a super-bundle $E\to M$, then the differential form \begin{equation} \mathrm{ch}(A)=\mathrm{Str}(e^{-A^2}) \end{equation} is called the chern character of $A$ on page ...
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A difficult integral for the Chern number

Cross post from Maths stack exchange The integral $$ I(m)=\frac{1}{4\pi}\int_{-\pi}^{\pi}\mathrm{d}x\int_{-\pi}^\pi\mathrm{d}y\phantom{,} \frac{m\cos(x)\cos(y)-\cos x-\cos y}{\left( \sin^2x+\sin^2y +...
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$\hat{A}$-genus of a complex manifold

I am trying to understand the proof of the Riemann-Roch-Hirzebruch theorem using the index theorem (Heat Kernel and Dirac operators, [BGV]), and at the end they say that since $$TM \otimes \mathbb{C} =...
zarathustra's user avatar
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Proving a Result About Pontryagin Numbers Without Forms

I've been reading the book Geometry of Differential Forms by Shigeyuki Morita, and I came across the following theorem on page 226 the other day: Proposition 5.53 (Pontryagin). Two cobordant closed (...
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Tautological ring for moduli of flat connections

Let $X$ be a smooth complex manifold and $G$ a connected complex algebraic group. Let $M$ denote the moduli stack of flat $G$-connections on $X$. Over $M\times X$, we have the tautological $G$-bundle, ...
Dr. Evil's user avatar
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Necessary and sufficient conditions for pseudo Riemannian manifold to be time orientable

It is well known that a smooth manifold $M$ is orientable if the first Stiefel-Whitney class of the tangent bundle vanishes. In particular, this implies that if $M$ is equipped with a pseudo-...
Chris's user avatar
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On Brylinski–McLaughlin's paper "Čech cocycles for characteristic classes"

In the paper "Čech cocycles for characteristic classes", the authors Brylinski and McLaughlin describe how to construct Čech cocycles with values in the Deligne smooth complex representing ...
Flavius Aetius's user avatar
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On the positivity of the second Segre class of ample vector bundles

Let $E$ be an ample rank $r\geq2$ vector bundle over a smooth projective surface $X$ defined on an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{K}$ of characteristic $0$. In Kleiman S. L. - Ample Vector ...
Armando j18eos's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
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Computation on characteristic classes

I am organizing a reading seminar on characteristic classes. The audience in the seminar is interested in symplectic and contact manifolds. I work in categorification and would like to compute some ...
Monkey.D.Luffy's user avatar
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Bundles vs. line bundles

Let $K$ be an algebraically closed field and consider the category $\text{Bun}$ of (finite dimensional) vector bundles over a $K$-variety $X$. Consider also the category of $\mathbb{G}^\times$-...
Ronald J. Zallman's user avatar
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Meaning of the first Chern class of the unit tangent bundle of a surface

(This is a fairly basic question, not really research level, except that I am a research mathematician working on other things who is trying to understand more topology for use in my own work.) Let $\...
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How to see $\delta_2(\hat{\chi}(V))=\chi(V)$ in differential cohomology?

I'm reading the paper "Differential Characters and Geometric Invariants" by Cheeger and Simons. In Page 62 the authors defined the differential Euler character $\hat{\chi}(V)\in \hat{H}^{2n-...
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Are Chern classes well defined up to contractible choice?

The Chern classes are, by definition, cohomology classes. And cocycle representatives of the Chern classes are not unique. But it might be the case that cocycle representatives of the Chern classes ...
André Henriques's user avatar
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Is there a representation of $\mathrm{SU}_8/\{\pm 1\}$ that doesn't lift to a spin group?

$\newcommand{\GL}{\mathrm{GL}}\newcommand{\SO}{\mathrm{SO}}\newcommand{\SU}{\mathrm{SU}}\newcommand{\Spin}{\mathrm{Spin}}\renewcommand{\O}{\mathrm O}\newcommand{\R}{\mathbb R}\newcommand\Z{\mathbb Z}$...
Arun Debray's user avatar
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Comparison between residual intersection in Fulton's intersection theory and Aluffi's result on Milnor class

$\textbf{Question}$ I deduced that $m(A \cup B, V) = 0 $ for nonsingular variety $V$ and nonsingular hyper surfaces $A$ and $B$ whose intersection is also nonsingular. But I do not think it is true ...
Doyoung Choi's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
435 views

Characteristic classes of non-linear sphere bundles

It is well known that the diffeomorphism group of there sphere $\operatorname{Diff}(S^n)$ has the homotopy type of a product $X:=O(n+1)\times \operatorname{Diff}_{\partial D^n}(D^n)$ of the orthogonal ...
Jason DeVito - on hiatus's user avatar
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Concrete descriptions of $S^1$-bundles over smooth manifold $Y$ underying a K3 surface

Let $Y$ be the smooth manifold underlying a K3 surface. As a manifold, $Y$ is diffeomorphic to $\{[x_0:x_1:x_2:x_3]\in\mathbb{C}P^3\colon X_0^4+x_1^4+X_2^4+X_3^4=1\}$. It is well known that $H^2(Y,\...
James's user avatar
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Coefficient of the top Pontryagin class in $L$-genus

The $L$ genus can be expressed as combinations of the Pontryagin classes with the first few terms as follows: $$L_1=\frac{1}{3}p_1,$$ $$L_2=\frac{1}{45}(7p_2-p_1^2),$$ $$L_3=\frac{1}{945}(62p_3-...
ZZY's user avatar
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24 votes
1 answer
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What is the Todd class *really*?

My question is about how to think about the Todd class. Usually this is presented via Grothendieck Riemann Roch (GRR): if $X$ is a smooth projective scheme over a field $\mathbf{C}$, the chern ...
Pulcinella's user avatar
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Stiefel Whitney number of a fiber bundle

I was going through this paper, and the author rights the following The Stiefel-Whitney class of $E$ is given by $$w(E)=(1+\alpha)^{2m+1}\left\{(1+c)^{2n+1}+u_1(1+c)^{2n}+\dots+u_{2n}(1+c)+u_{2n+1}\...
Devendra Singh Rana's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
120 views

First Chern form of line subbundle

Let $\pi:E\to X$ be a holomorphic vector bundle over a complex manifold. Denote by $\tilde{E}=\pi^*E\to E$ the pullback of $E$ over itself. There exists a tautological line bundle $L\subset \tilde{E}$ ...
BinAcker's user avatar
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7 votes
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First Pontrjagin class and generator of $\pi_3(\mathrm{SO}(d))$

It is well-known that $H^4(B\mathrm{SO}(d), \mathbb{Z}) \cong \mathbb{Z}$, with a canonical generator given by $p_1$, the first universal Pontrjagin class. Let's assume $d\geq 5$ so that everything is ...
Matthias Ludewig's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
561 views

When are bundles of odd and even differential forms isomorphic?

Let $M$ be a compact oriented $n$-manifold. Denote $\Omega^k := {\bigwedge}^k T^*M$ the vector bundle of differential $k$-forms, and let $\Omega^{\text{odd}} := \bigoplus_{\text{$k$ odd}} \Omega^k$ ...
Ceka's user avatar
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Linear $S^{2k}$-bundles over $S^{4k}$

By the classification of Dold and Whitney, linear $S^2$-bundles over $S^4$ are classified by their first Pontryagin class $p_1$, which takes the value $4\lambda$ for the bundle corresponding to $\...
PR_'s user avatar
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Are there local maps of simplicial (co-)cycles on $d$-manifolds beyond cohomology operations?

I'm interested in locally defined maps of cocycles/chains on manifolds of a fixed dimension $d$ which are compatible with cohomology. To be concrete about what "local" means, let me consider ...
Andi Bauer's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Preimage by birational maps

I am looking for an example (I guess that in complex projective space $\mathbb{P}^{n}$ is good) such that satisfy the following condition (in non trivial case, for this assume $X \neq \tilde{X}$): Let ...
Student85's user avatar
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Multi-variable cohomology operations

Intuitively, cohomology operations are ways to locally compute a cocycle $\alpha\in H^i(X, G)$ from any cocycle $\beta\in H^j(X, H)$. Formally, they are in one-to-one correspondence with homotopy ...
Andi Bauer's user avatar
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What characteristic classes are there?

Can someone concisely list all characteristic classes (i.e., the cohomology classes $H^*(BX,A)$ of the corresponding classifying spaces) for the most relevant structure groups $X$ such as $O(n)$, $SO(...
Andi Bauer's user avatar
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8 votes
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Do we know any examples of complex surfaces where we have explicit knowledge of the Chern–Weil functions?

Let $X$ be a compact complex surface (smooth). Let $\gamma_1, \gamma_2$ denote the Chern–Weil functions. That is, if $\omega$ is a Kähler form on $X$ with volume form $\omega^2$, then $\gamma_1, \...
ChernSlope's user avatar
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Define a characteristic class on a simplicial complex (non-manifold)

Given a simplicial complex with only triangulation and only branching structure, is it enough to define Stiefel–Whitney class? (Please provide Yes or No answers, and reasonings.) Given a fixed ...
wonderich's user avatar
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Calculation about Chern character in a special setting

I'm confused with working out the Chern character in the following special setting. Let $E$ be a spinor bundle $$S=P_{Spin(2n)}(S^{2n})\times_\rho \mathbb{C}^{2n}$$ over sphere $S^{2n}$, where $\rho$ ...
Radeha Longa's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
109 views

Real analogue of Segre classes

Let $X$ be a manifold and $E\to X$ a complex vector bundle and let's work in $H^\bullet(X,\mathbb{Z})$. Given the total Chern class of $E$, $c(E)=1+c_1(E)+\cdots+c_n(E)$, we can define the total Segre ...
Eugenio Landi's user avatar
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Rank of matrix coming from cobordism computations

In a computation of Pontryagin-numbers of certain manifolds (see the appendix of https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.10306.pdf for more context) we came across the following elementary problem: Consider the ...
Georg Frenck's user avatar
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246 views

Fibering cobordant to projectivization of a vector bundle

I was going through this Stong's paper, I am stuck in the proof of the proposition 8.4 (given below) I understand the proof till he derives the expression for the Steenrod square operation of the ...
Devendra Singh Rana's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
515 views

How much do characteristic classes fail to characterize bundles?

Given a group $G$, let $E \to B$ be a principal $G$-bundle. It is well-known that when $B$ is a nice enough topological space (e.g. CW-complex), such a thing corresponds to a connected component of $...
Student's user avatar
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4 votes
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Cobordism class of projectivization of a bundle

I was reading the book "Differentiable Periodic Maps" by P.E. Conner (1979). I am stuck at the following problem given at the end of section 21: Let $\xi\to V^n$ be a $k$-plane bundle over a ...
Devendra Singh Rana's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
140 views

Which Stiefel-Whitney numbers can be extended to manifolds with boundaries?

The Stiefel-Whitney numbers are classical topological manifold invariants obtained by integrating some local quantity (a cup product of Stiefel-Whitney classes) over the manifold. Which Stiefel-...
Andi Bauer's user avatar
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3 votes
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158 views

Justification for the definition of equivariant curvature

Let $G$ be a compact Lie group which act on a smooth manifold $M$. Let $\mathbb{C}[\mathfrak{g}] \otimes \mathcal{A}$ be the algebra of polynomial maps from $\mathfrak{g}$ to $\mathcal{A}(M),$ we ...
Mira's user avatar
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7 votes
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Chern-Weil theory on some noncompact groups, and characteristic classes in differential cohomology

$\newcommand{\Z}{\mathbb Z}\newcommand{\HdR}{H_{\mathrm{dR}}} \newcommand{\Sym}{\mathrm{Sym}} \newcommand{\g}{\mathfrak g}$I have a specific question about invariant polynomials for some Lie groups, ...
Arun Debray's user avatar
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5 votes
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299 views

LaTeXed "Lectures on characteristic classes" [closed]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but... Is anyone interested in a LaTeXed version (by me) of "Lectures on characteristic classes" by Milnor in 1957? Of course the successor &...
eltonjohn's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Different ways of defining the Chern character of a complex

Consider a finite complex $E$ of (holomorphic) vector bundles on a (complex) manifold $X$, i.e, the complex is of the form $$ 0 \to E_N \to E_{N-1} \to \dots \to {E_0} \to 0, $$ where the bundles are ...
Richard Lärkäng's user avatar

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