Skip to main content
Search type Search syntax
Tags [tag]
Exact "words here"
Author user:1234
user:me (yours)
Score score:3 (3+)
score:0 (none)
Answers answers:3 (3+)
answers:0 (none)
isaccepted:yes
hasaccepted:no
inquestion:1234
Views views:250
Code code:"if (foo != bar)"
Sections title:apples
body:"apples oranges"
URL url:"*.example.com"
Saves in:saves
Status closed:yes
duplicate:no
migrated:no
wiki:no
Types is:question
is:answer
Exclude -[tag]
-apples
For more details on advanced search visit our help page
Results tagged with
Search options not deleted user 290

Topology of cell complexes and manifolds, classification of manifolds (e.g. smoothing, surgery), low dimensional topology (e.g. knot theory, invariants of 4-manifolds), embedding theory, combinatorial and PL topology, geometric group theory, infinite dimensional topology (e.g. Hilbert cube manifolds, theory of retracts).

5 votes

A question about axes of symmetry in the plane.

Yes. Suppose without loss of generality that the two lines are the x- and y-axes. Some point of J lies in some quadrant, so corresponding points a, b, c, d of J exist in every quadrant by symmetry. …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
2 votes

"C choose k" where C is topological space

The papers I was thinking of are actually by Propp: Euler measure as generalized cardinality, and Exponentiation and Euler measure (although I think these papers are outdated and more is known these …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
16 votes
Accepted

Homotopy groups other than $\pi_1$ : what are they good for?

Here is a simple example: even if all you care about is computing $\pi_1$, sometimes the easiest way to do it is to use the long exact sequence of a fibration, which requires knowing something about a …
5 votes
Accepted

A Question about SO(n)

There are a pair of double covers $\text{SU}(2) \times \text{SU}(2) \to \text{SO}(4) \to \text{SO}(3) \times \text{SO}(3)$, and the first resp. the second more or less reduces the classification of fi …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
14 votes

Applications of knot theory

Colin Adams' The knot book discusses the following applications: Knotting in DNA, Molecular knots, Statistical mechanics (e.g. the Potts model). Constructing invariants of knots is also related t …
25 votes
Accepted

What is the Euler characteristic of a mapping space?

This Euler characteristic usually won't be well-defined. For example, take $A = S^1$ and $B = S^3$. Then the mapping space $[A, B]$ is the free loop space $L S^3$, which decomposes as a product $$L S …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
2 votes

Knot theory without planar diagrams?

As far as quantum invariants, there is Witten's Quantum Field Theory and the Jones Polynomial, which gives a 3-dimensional definition of the Jones polynomial (usually defined, as you say, using 2-dime …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
6 votes

Tangent bundle of smooth closed simply-connected $4$-manifold $w_1 = w_2 = 0$ can be trivial...

Yes. For manifolds of dimension $\le 7$ the obstructions to trivializing any real vector bundle are $w_1, w_2$, and a class $\frac{p_1}{2} \in H^4(BSpin(n), \mathbb{Z})$ ($n \ge 3$), the fractional fi …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

Are there compact flat fiber bundles with "truly" infinite structure group?

Any finitely presented group occurs as the fundamental group of a smooth compact manifold, so the question reduces to whether we can find a finitely presented group $\pi$ acting on a smooth compact ma …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
13 votes

Computation on characteristic classes

I wrote a blog post that turned into quite a nice exercise in characteristic classes. The goal was to compute the cohomology of a smooth hypersurface of degree $d$ in $\mathbb{CP}^3$, as a ring. This …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
499 views

Reference request: the "Kauffman bracket skein category"?

There should be a category $3\text{CobTang}$ whose objects are some kind of surfaces with a finite set of marked points morphisms $M : S \to T$ are some kind of $3$-dimensional cobordisms …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
12 votes
Accepted

classifying space of orthogonal groups

$BO$ is the connected component of the zeroth space of a spectrum called the real K-theory spectrum. This spectrum represents a cohomology theory, namely real K-theory, and this means that $BO$ has mu …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
3 votes

Distinct manifolds with the same configuration spaces?

Let $M = \mathbb{R}^2, N = D^2$. In both cases I think the configuration space of $k$ distinct unordered points has the homotopy type of $K(B_k, 1)$. More generally I think we can take $N$ to be a man …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
14 votes
Accepted

What is the max number of points in R^3, interconnected by generic curves?

Take straight lines connecting the points $(t, t^2, t^3), t \in \mathbb{N}$. As far as I can tell you can also boost this to $t \in \mathbb{R}$. The point here is that two distinct lines between poi …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
16 votes
Accepted

quotient space of Eilenberg-MacLane space

Suppose a group $H$, not necessarily finite, acts on an Eilenberg-MacLane space $BN$. The homotopy quotient $BN/H$ (which agrees with the ordinary quotient if the action of $H$ is free) fits into a fi …
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar