All Questions
13,925 questions
11
votes
3
answers
892
views
How much "Morse theory" can be accomplished given only a continuous transformation of a space?
If $M$ is a Riemannian manifold and $f:M\to \mathbb{R}$ a Morse-Smale function (which is just a rigorous way to say "generic smooth function"), then Morse theory essentially recovers the manifold ...
- 5,992
2
votes
1
answer
265
views
Hausdorff Derived Series
There is a short section in the book Locally Compact Groups by Markus Stroppel (Chapter B7) on the notion of a "Hausdorff Solvable Group", which he defines as a topological group with a descending ...
- 33
5
votes
3
answers
753
views
Regularity of sparse Fourier transforms
Suppose $F$ has discrete Fourier transform $(a_n)$ where $a_n=0$ unless $n=2^k$ for some $k > 0$, in which case $a_n=1/k$ (or $a_n=1/k^2$ if you want: I'm happy with anything polynomial). What ...
- 18.7k
19
votes
4
answers
18k
views
On the series 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/5 + 1/7 + 1/11 + ...
It is well-known that
A: The series of the reciprocals of the primes diverges
My question is whether property A is in some sense a truth strongly tied to the nature of the prime numbers.
Property A ...
- 8,842
60
votes
6
answers
7k
views
Torsion in homology or fundamental group of subsets of Euclidean 3-space
Here's a problem I've found entertaining.
Is it possible to find a subset of 3-dimensional Euclidean space such that its homology groups (integer coefficients) or one of its fundamental groups is not ...
- 44.4k
12
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Where was/is Compensated Compactness used?
This last summer, I read up on Tartar's so called Method of Compensated Compactness (or at least how it applied to scalar conservation laws). I used this theory to prove the existence of $L^{\infty}$ ...
- 261
5
votes
5
answers
972
views
A walk on a compact 2D surface embedded in 3-space that never returns home
At the risk of asking an uninformed question...
Imagine an ant on a compact two-dimensional surface embedded in 3-space. The ant is placed at a point on the surface with random orientation. Once ...
- 811
21
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is there an L^p tauberian theorem?
From Wiener's tauberian theorem we know that linear combinations of translates of f \in L^1(R) are dense in L^1(R) if and only if the Fourier transform of f never vanishes. It is also known that ...
- 13k
2
votes
2
answers
308
views
Convexity Theorem of Hamiltonian actions - the connectedness part
Suppose we have a Hamiltonian action of a torus $T = T^m = R^m/Z^m$ on a compact, connected symplectic manifold $M$. According to the convexity theorem, we know every fiber of the momentum map $\mu: M\...
- 377
2
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What function has fourier series the harmonic series?
I know that this is on the boundaries of what's allowed, but hopefully someone'll answer before it gets closed!
What (periodic) function has Fourier series the harmonic series? I really want the ...
- 26.8k
3
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Error analysis of implicit functions
I'm trying to do propagation of error using the linearized variance method (assuming independent variables, thus no need for the covariance terms):
$$\sigma^2_f = \sum^n_{k=0} \left(\frac{\partial f}{...
- 131
2
votes
4
answers
634
views
Can connectedness of fibers of a smooth map be checked on a dense set?
Suppose $f: M\to N$ is a smooth map between two smooth manifolds, with $M$ compact and connected, and suppose there is a dense subset of $f(M)$ where each fiber is connected, then each fiber of $f$ is ...
- 377
2
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Decoupling lemma for the Lambda(p) problem
I'm attempting to work through Bourgain's paper "Bounded orthogonal systems and the $\Lambda(p)$-set problem". There is a step in the proof of the decoupling lemma that I am stuck on, and thought ...
- 13k
13
votes
3
answers
2k
views
The "miracle" of Heegard Floer.
Taking tori in symmetric products and "miraculously" proving that the Floer homology is independent of choices always seemed, well, miraculous. Some time ago Max Lipyanski explained to me the origins ...
- 804
21
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Explanation for E_8's torsion
To study the topology of Lie groups, you can decompose them into the simple compact ones, plus some additional steps, such as taking the cover if necessary. After that, the structure of $SO(n)$'s is ...
- 15.1k
3
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Minimizing a functional
I have wondered the problem in http://www.helsinki.fi/~hmkokko/Stuff/Esdale/index.html for over year without success. If we try to minimize the functional equation
T(\theta ) = \int_0^L\frac {dx}{v_0\...
4
votes
3
answers
451
views
uniformity for Banach algebras - a three space property?
Let $A$ be a commutative, unital Banach algebra and $I \subset A$ an ideal such that $I$ with the relative norm is a uniform Banach algebra and $A / I$ with the quotient norm is uniform as well.
Does ...
- 1,338
11
votes
3
answers
733
views
Relationship between universal coefficient theorem and $[K(\mathbb{Z},n), K(G,n)]$?
In short, I'm wondering whether the universal coefficient theorem can be understood/reinterpreted by using maps of Eilenberg-MacLane spaces. This is a wishy-washy idea and I don't have evidence to ...
- 6,069
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
properly interpreting Pi_0 in the homotopy exact sequence
Define the lens space L(m,n) as the quotient of S2m+1 by the action of the cyclic group ℤn⊂S1⊂ℂ*. We can create the infinite lens space L(∞,n) by a telescoping construction ...
- 6,069
184
votes
8
answers
12k
views
Two commuting mappings in the disk
Suppose that $f$ and $g$ are two commuting continuous mappings from the closed unit disk (or, if you prefer, the closed unit ball in $R^n$) to itself. Does there always exist a point $x$ such that $f(...
- 61.9k
9
votes
2
answers
699
views
Potential connected non-Lie subgroup
This painful question is inspired by the question
"non-Lie subgroups" . Let $f$ be a discontinuous additive map from $\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$. Is it possible that the graph of $f$, inside ...
- 156k
26
votes
2
answers
2k
views
When is a locally convex topological vector space normal or paracompact?
All locally convex topological vector spaces (LCTVS) are completely regular, since their topology is given by a family of semi-norms. I'm interested in conditions that imply that a LCTVS is ...
- 26.8k
23
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Are proper linear subspaces of Banach spaces always meager?
Let X be a Banach space, and let Y be a proper non-meager linear subspace of X. If Y is not dense in X, then it is easy to see that the closure of Y has empty interior, contradicting Y being non-...
- 353
33
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Is there a topology on growth rates of functions?
I've often idly wondered one can say about the collection of "growth rates". By growth rate, let's say we mean an equivalence class of functions $(0,\infty) \to (0,\infty)$, where two ...
- 793
3
votes
4
answers
627
views
Has anyone studied the applications which map open sets to either open or closed sets?
Consider two topological spaces X,Y and a function f from X to Y.
Are the following concepts already in use? How are they called?
1) f sends open subsets of X to either open or closed subsets of Y.
...
- 2,992
10
votes
5
answers
1k
views
What is a rigorous statement for "linear time-invariant systems can be represented as convolutions"?
In Signal Processing books, a fundamental theorem is that linear time invariant systems can be represented as a convolution with a distribution. Could you give a mathematically rigorous statement of ...
- 2,745
9
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Analogues of the Weierstrass p function for higher genus compact Riemann surfaces
There was a previous post on the correspondence between Riemann surfaces and algebraic geometry. I want to ask a related but more detailed question.
BACKGROUND:
Engelbrekt gave an overview of how ...
- 3,968
9
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What is Floer homology of a knot?
I've heard that there are different theories providing knot invariants in form of homologies. My understanding is that if you embed knot in a special way into a space, there is a special homology ...
- 15.1k
6
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Computations in Knot Homology Theories
1) Relative to one another, how computable are the various knot homology theories? For example, how many crossings can we allow a knot and still hope to compute its Khovanov homology, versus its knot ...
- 2,806
11
votes
2
answers
932
views
A group action of the Heisenberg group with special symmetries
Suppose we look at the Heisenberg group $H_{d}$ as a matrix group of upper triangular matrices over the ring $\mathbb{Z}/d\mathbb{Z}$. You can even choose $d$ to be prime if you want. A natural ...
16
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Can any topological space be the result of a scheme?
Maybe this is trivial but lets give it a try anyways..
Obviously there is a forgetful functor from schemes to topological space.. but is it surjective on objects? i.e. I ask whether any topological ...
- 2,275
1
vote
2
answers
193
views
Something like Yoneda's lemma
This is inspired by The Whitehead for maps question.
Consider two maps f, g: X\to Y which happen to induce the same maps (of discrete spaces) ...
- 15.1k
9
votes
5
answers
870
views
Abelianization of GL(H)
This is related to Theo's question about the abelianizations of finite dimensionsal Lie groups.
I am interested in a specific (infinite-dimensional) case of the above question. Let H be an infinite-...
- 629
5
votes
2
answers
482
views
Is a map that is locally fiberwise equivalent to a product a Hurewicz fibration?
The following is a result I feel like I've seen some form of before, but can't figure out how to prove or find a reference for. Suppose you have a map p:E \to B, with B paracompact, and suppose that ...
- 31.2k
9
votes
1
answer
611
views
opposite Banach space
I heard this from Haskell Rosenthal many years ago.
If V is a complex vector space, say the opposite of V is the complex vector space with the same elements, the same operations except switch scalar ...
- 41.1k
31
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Least number of charts to describe a given manifold
Hello, I'm wondering if there is a standard reference discussing the least number of charts in an atlas of a given manifold required to describe it.
E.g. a circle requires at least two charts, and ...
- 2,901
12
votes
3
answers
530
views
Making an l_2 distance out of l_1 distance
If we think of the l1 distance as a grid-distance between points, then we can think of l2 distance as what we get when we "shortcut" the grid by going "inside" a cell.
Making the grid finer doesn't ...
- 4,462
30
votes
5
answers
3k
views
The ants-on-a-ball problem
Suppose I put an ant in a tiny racecar on every face of a soccer ball. Each ant then drives around the edges of her face counterclockwise. The goal is to prove that two of the ants will eventually ...
21
votes
2
answers
2k
views
In a Banach algebra, do ab and ba have almost the same exponential spectrum?
Let $A$ be a complex Banach algebra with identity 1. Define the exponential spectrum $e(x)$ of an element $x\in A$ by $$e(x)= \{\lambda\in\mathbb{C}: x-\lambda1 \notin G_1(A)\},$$ where $G_1(A)$ is ...
- 2,154
5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Equivalence of boundedness and total boundedness
Compact subspaces of metric spaces are totally bounded. In some spaces, however, this is equivalent to just being bounded. This (supposedly) holds in finite dimensional Banach spaces.
Can we ...
- 2,389
3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Hilbert Space as direct sum of subspaces with cyclic vectors
Ok,so this should be easy, however I havent taken functional analysis for a while. But given a compact self-adjoint operator on a hilbert space H(over the complex numbers), we define v to be a cyclic ...
- 31
9
votes
1
answer
395
views
Is there a coalgebraic characterisation of the hyperfinite II_1 factor?
Peter Freyd showed that the real interval [0, 1] is a final coalgebra for a functor on sets equipped with two points, which sends such a set to the 'wedge' of two copies of itself, identifying the ...
- 5,094
16
votes
4
answers
1k
views
HOMFLY and homology; also superalgebras
My understanding is that an analogy along the following lines is (roughly) true:
"The Alexander polynomial is to knot Floer homology is to gl(1|1)
as the Jones polynomial is to Khovanov homology is ...
- 2,806
3
votes
1
answer
914
views
Range of a Certain Linear Operator
Consider the following hermitian form on the sobolev space H^1(I), of an interval I:
g(u,v):= \int_I (du/dt dv/dt - \rho(t) u v)dt, where \rho is a nice bounded function on I.
Riesz representation ...
- 31
6
votes
1
answer
187
views
Homotopy type of stabilizers
Let X be a contractible metric space and G a topological group acting transitively on X (i.e. given any two points x,y \in X, there exists g \in G such that gx=y).
My question is the following: is it ...
- 1,060
8
votes
1
answer
688
views
Universal covers of domains in complex projective space
The Uniformization Theorem states that the universal cover of a Riemann surface is biholomorphic to the extended complex plane, the complex plane or the open unit disk. Each of these three is a domain ...
- 4,485
75
votes
3
answers
11k
views
Cohomology and fundamental classes
Let X be a real orientable compact differentiable manifold. Is the (co)homology of X generated by the fundamental classes of oriented subvarieties? And if not, what is known about the subgroup ...
- 14.7k
4
votes
3
answers
777
views
Is there a co-Hahn-Mazurkiewicz theorem for line-filling spaces?
A famous theorem on space-filling curves is the Hahn-Mazurkiewicz theorem: Let $X$ be a Hausdorff space, then there exists a surjective continuous map $[0,1] \to X$ if and only if $X$ is compact, ...
- 8,167
5
votes
2
answers
3k
views
What does the property that path-connectedness implies arc-connectedness imply?
A space X is path-connected if any two points are the endpoints of a path, that is, the image of a map [0,1] \to X. A space is arc-connected if any two points are the endpoints of a path, that, the ...
- 8,167
40
votes
5
answers
10k
views
Is there a natural measures on the space of measurable functions?
Given a set Ω and a σ-algebra F of subsets, is there some natural way to assign something like a "uniform" measure on the space of all measurable functions on this space? (I suppose first ...
- 1,475