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The study of differentiable manifolds and differentiable maps. One fundamental problem is that of classifying manifolds up to diffeomorphism. Differential topology is what Poincaré understood as topology or “analysis situs”.

4 votes
Accepted

Are there always flat connections?

Just so there'll be an answer: Whether every vector bundle over $G/\Gamma$ admits a flat connection depends on the group $G$ and the subgroup $\Gamma$. For example, if $G=\mathrm{SU}(2)\simeq S^3$ an …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
11 votes
Accepted

Exterior differentiation of foliations

I think you might be confusing $L\subset T^*M$ with $L^\perp\subset TM$, since you can't compute the Lie bracket of sections of $L$, which are $1$-forms. The condition that $L$ define a foliation is t …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
12 votes
Accepted

Is it possible to define contact manifolds as manifolds with a G-structure?

A contact structure on $M^{2n+1}$ defines a $G$-structure (actually, it defines more than one, but there is a 'minimal' $G$-structure that is preserved by all contact transformations, and that is the …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
11 votes
Accepted

Why non closed differential forms do not play important role for the topology of a manifold?

Actually, the non-closed forms on manifolds play an essential role in the definition of Massey products, which are 'higher cohomology' operations. Another place where they make an essential appearance …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
8 votes
Accepted

A vector field whose flow has constant singular values

The vector fields $X$ that satisfy this condition are highly constrained, as there exist only a finite-dimensional family of $C^5$ solutions in a neighborhood of any given point in the plane. Here is …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Existence non-trivial parallel $p$-form implies non-triviality of $p$-th cohomology group us...

Here is an argument in the orientable case: If $\omega$ is a $g$-parallel $p$-form on an orientable Riemannian $n$-manifold $(M^n,g)$, then it is closed since $\mathrm{d}\omega = \pi_{p+1}(\nabla^g\o …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Reference for non-parallel harmonic $k$-forms

There are too many of these for them to have any particularly interesting structure. For example, consider any metric $g$ on the $3$-torus $\mathbb{T}^3$. By the Hodge theorem, the space of $g$-harm …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
15 votes
Accepted

Non-isomorphic compact Kähler manifolds that are biholomorphic, symplectomorphic and isometric

The answer is 'no, not necessarily'. Consider the following example: Let $M=N=\mathbb{CP}^2$, let $(\omega_0,J_0)$ be the standard Fubini-Study Kähler structure on $M$. Now let $f$ be an arbitrary, …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
8 votes
Accepted

Non-symplectomorphic isometric compact Kähler manifolds

The answer to your first question is 'no' and the answer to your second question is 'yes'. A simple example, when $n\ge 2$, is to let $M = \mathbb{R}^{2n}/\Lambda$ where $\Lambda\subset \mathbb{R}^{2n …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
13 votes
Accepted

Which curves are boundary of pseudoholomorphic curves?

The 'moment conditions' that Ben McKay mentions are simply this: A closed curve $C$ in $\mathbb{C}^n$ bounds a compact Riemann surface (which might be singular) if and only if the integral around $C$ …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

Underdetermined system of linear PDEs

Is there anything else that you are not telling us about $a$ and $b$? The particulars of these two vector-valued functions have a great influence on what the general solution of the system $$ a\cdot …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Is every map of rank smaller than r dominated by a constant rank map?

No. The simplest case is $M = S^1$ and $N = \mathbb{R}$. Then any nonconstant map $f:M\to N$ has rank at most 1, but there is no smooth map from $M$ to $N$ that has constant rank $1$. The questio …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
25 votes
Accepted

Manifolds with polynomial transition maps

If I remember correctly, this is impossible for any (nonempty) simply-connected compact manifold of positive dimension. In particular, $S^2$ cannot have such an atlas. Off the top of my head, I don' …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
8 votes

Can the constant rank theorem for smooth manifolds be generalized to nonconstant rank?

Your motivating question has a negative answer: Consider the inclusion $\iota:S^m\to\mathbb{R}^{m+1}$, which has rank at most $m$. If there were a smooth extension $f:D^{m+1}\to\mathbb{R}^{m+1}$ of …
Robert Bryant's user avatar
2 votes
Accepted

Boundary of the image of a compact manifold in the complex plane

Here is one way to prove the claims about the image of the map $\mathrm{tr}:\mathrm{SU}(n)\to\mathbb{C}$. I'll just outline the steps. For simpicity, I'll always assume $n\ge 3$. (For completeness, …
Robert Bryant's user avatar

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