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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).
26
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Complexity of random knot with vertices on sphere
Connect $n$ random points on a sphere in a cycle of
segments between succesive points:
I would like to know the growth rate, with respect to $n$, of the crossing number
(the minimal number of crossin …
65
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Tying knots with reflecting lightrays
Let a lightray bounce around inside a cube whose faces
are (internal) mirrors.
If its slopes are rational, it will eventually form a cycle.
For example, starting with a point $p_0$ in the interior
of …
37
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Kervaire invariant: Why dimension 126 especially difficult?
Is there any resource that might help non-experts gains some understanding of why
the Kervaire invariant problem remains open now only in dimension $126$? ($126 =2^7-2=2^{j+1}-2$;
whether $\theta_j=\t …
15
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Generalization of winding number to higher dimensions
Is there a natural geometric generalization of the winding number to higher dimensions?
I know it primarily as an important and useful index for closed, plane curves
(e.g., the Jordan Curve Theor …
6
votes
0
answers
210
views
"A typical pair of two-dimensional surfaces in four dimensions will intersect at finitely ma...
The title quotes C.H. Taubes in the Princeton Companion to Mathematics (p.404).
I found this surprising despite the natural lower-dimensional analog
(a typical pair of loops in
$\mathbb{R}^2$ will in …
1
vote
0
answers
217
views
Patterns in local winding number sequences
This is something of a followup to an earlier question
Can any sequence of consecutive integers be realized as winding numbers?, whose answer is Yes.
Now I would like to define a local winding number …
8
votes
1
answer
717
views
Can any sequence of consecutive integers be realized as winding numbers?
For a closed plane curve $C$, define its sequence of winding numbers to
be the sorted list of the winding numbers of each of the distinct regions
of the plane demarcated by $C$.
For example, this curv …
13
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Random Reidemeister moves to unknot
Suppose one has a link diagram of the unknot, and applies random Reidemeister moves
until the unknot is reached.
Surely it requires an exponential number of moves, exponential in, say, the crossing nu …
45
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Pach's "Animals": What if the genus is positive?
Janos Pach asked a deep question 23 years ago (1988) that remains unsolved today:
Can every animal—a topological ball in $\mathbb{R^3}$ composed of unit cubes glued face-to-face—be reduced to a si …
17
votes
1
answer
525
views
Is $\partial X$ a sphere for $X$ a complete CAT$(0)$ space?
Let $X$ be a complete CAT$(0)$ metric space, and $\partial X$ its boundary.
One way to define $\partial X$ is as the equivalence class of geodesic rays
$\gamma(t), \gamma'(t)$
that remain within a co …
41
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Not all manifolds can be triangulated: In which dimensions?
I know that Ciprian Manolescu has settled the triangulation conjecture in the negative: Not all manifolds can be triangulated. I've only read secondary literature on this result, which did not detail …
24
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is every rational realized as the Euler characteristic of some manifold or orbifold?
Let me first ask the question for two-dimensional compact, connected manifolds and orbifolds.
Then, if the answer is No, one can remove various conditions on the dimension,
and allow non-compact examp …
49
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Thurston's 24 questions: All settled?
Thurston's 1982 article on three-dimensional manifolds1 ends with $24$ "open questions":
$\cdots$
Two naive questions from an outsider:
(1) Have all $24$ now been resolved?
(2) If so, w …
24
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Building a genus-$n$ torus from cubes
I wonder if this has been studied:
What is the fewest number of unit cubes
from which one can build an $n$-toroid?
The cubes must be glued face-to-face,
and the boundary of the resulting objec …
10
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Which polygons have *simple* periodic billiard paths?
I know (or, rather, believe) that it remains unknown whether every polygon
has a periodic billiard path.
But Howard Masur proved in the 1980's that every rational polygon
(vertex angles rational mult …