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8 votes
2 answers
2k views

Any 3-manifold can be realized as the boundary of a 4-manifold

We know "Any closed, oriented $3$-manifold $M$ is the boundary of some oriented $4$-manifold $B$." See this post: Elegant proof that any closed, oriented 3-manifold is the boundary of some ...
wonderich's user avatar
  • 10.5k
40 votes
1 answer
2k views

Are there only countably many compact topological manifolds?

Up to homeomorphism, there are 2 one-dimensional topological manifolds and countably many 2- and 3-dimensional compact manifolds, respectively, since each manifold in these dimensions can be ...
Dominik's user avatar
  • 3,017
19 votes
4 answers
4k views

When is a finite cw-complex a compact topological manifold?

I think the statement of the question is pretty straightforward. Given a finite $n$-dimensional CW complex, are there necessary and sufficient conditions for determining that it is also a compact $n$-...
William's user avatar
  • 732
18 votes
5 answers
2k views

Is every real n-manifold isomorphic to a quotient of $\mathbb{R}^n$?

I'm curious about the following: Is every real $n$-manifold isomorphic to a quotient of $\mathbb{R}^n$? Thanks. EDIT: As Tilman points out, the manifold should be connected. Also, yes, I'm thinking ...
Eivind Dahl's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
937 views

Classification of 3-dimensional manifolds with boundary

It is well-known that every closed, connected and orientable 3-manifold $\mathcal{M}$ can uniquely be decomposed as $$\mathcal{M}=P_{1}\#\dots\# P_{n}$$ where $P_{i}$ are prime manifolds, i.e. ...
G. Blaickner's user avatar
  • 1,429
14 votes
1 answer
578 views

Obstruction of spin-c structure and the generalized Wu manifods

Bockstein homomorphim and obstruction of spin-c structure: Let $w_2$ be the Stiefel Whintney class of manifold $M$. Let the Bockstein homomorphim $\beta$ be the $$ H^2(\mathbb{Z}_2,M) \to H^3(\mathbb{...
annie marie cœur's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
755 views

Is limit of null-homotopic maps null-homotopic?

The question is motivated by my failed comment to this one. Let $M$ and $N$ be path connected locally compact, locally contractible metric spaces (you may assume that they are manifolds). Let $\...
erz's user avatar
  • 5,529
7 votes
1 answer
354 views

Decomposition of manifolds with toroidal boundary

Let $\mathcal{M}$ be a compact, connected, oriented 3-manifolds with non-empty connected boundary $\partial\mathcal{M}$. Then, following this article, it is stated that $\mathcal{M}$ can be written as ...
G. Blaickner's user avatar
  • 1,429
5 votes
1 answer
380 views

Non-density of continuous functions to interior in set of all continuous functions

Let $M$ be an $m$-dimensional manifold and $N$ be an $n$-dimensional manifold. Suppose also that the topology on $N$ can be described by a metric. Thus, the set $C(M,N)$ can be endowed with the ...
ABIM's user avatar
  • 5,405