Modular forms appear in many facets of mathematics, and have played important roles in geometry, mathematical physics, number theory, representation theory, topology, and other areas. Around 1994, motivated by technical issues in homotopy theory, Mark Mahowald, Haynes Miller and I constructed a topological refinement of modular forms, which we call {\em topological modular forms}. At the Zurich ICM I sketched a program designed to relate topological modular forms to invariants of manifolds, homotopy groups of spheres, and ordinary modular forms. This program has recently been completed and new directions have emerged. In this talk I will describe this recent work and how it informs our understanding of both algebraic topology and modular forms.
A chain complex model for the free loop space of a connected, closed and oriented manifold is presented, and on its homology, the Gerstenhaber and Batalin-Vilkovisky algebra structures are defined and identified with the string topology structures. The gravity algebra on the equivariant homology of the free loop space is also modeled. The construction includes non simply-connected case, and therefore gives an algebraic and chain level model of Chas-Sullivan's String Topology.
The efficiency of contemporary algebraic topology is not optimal since the category of topological spaces can be made more algebraic by introducing a profoundly new (-1)-dimensional topological space as a topological join unit. Thereby synchronizing the category of topological spaces with the structures within the contemporary category of simplicial complexes as well as with the structures within the algebraic categories. In the category of topological spaces, the empty space Ø has since long been given the role as a join unit - ad-hoc though. Since it is {Ø}, not Ø, that is the join unit with…
The classical ``computation'' methods in Algebraic Topology most often work by means of highly infinite objects and in fact +are_not+ constructive. Typical examples are shown to describe the nature of the problem. The Rubio-Sergeraert solution for Constructive Algebraic Topology is recalled. This is not only a theoretical solution: the concrete computer program +Kenzo+ has been written down which precisely follows this method. This program has been used in various cases, opening new research subjects and producing in several cases significant results unreachable by hand. In particular the Kenz…
We want to investigate 'spaces' where paths have a 'weight', or 'cost', expressing length, duration, price, energy, etc. The weight function is not assumed to be invariant up to path-reversion. Thus, 'weighted algebraic topology' can be developed as an enriched version of directed algebraic topology, where illicit paths are penalised with an infinite cost, and the licit ones are measured. Its algebraic counterpart will be 'weighted algebraic structures', equipped with a sort of directed seminorm. In the fundamental weighted category of a generalised metric space, introduced here, each homotopy…
We survey the topology which led to the original bar and cobar constructions, for both associative algebras and coalgebras and for Lie algebras and commutative coalgebras. These constructions are often viewed as part of the larger theory of Koszul duality of operads, so this survey is meant to offer an historical perspective on the most prominent cases of that theory. We also explain recent work which shows that Hopf/linking invariants for homotopy are at the heart of the duality between commutative algebras and Lie coalgebras.
We apply the theory of directed topology developed by Grandis [9, 10] to the study of stratified spaces by describing several ways in which a stratification or a stratification with orientations on the strata can be used to produce a related directed space structure. This description provides a setting for the constructions of state-sum TQFTs with defects of [5, 8], which we extend to a similar construction of a Dijkgraaf- Witten type TQFT in the case where the defects (lower dimensional strata) are not sources or targets, but sources on one side and targets on the other, according to an orien…
These expository notes are dedicated to the study of the topology of configuration spaces of manifolds. We give detailed computations of many invariants, including the fundamental group of the configuration spaces of $\mathbb{R}^2$, the integral cohomology of the ordered---and the mod $p$ cohomology of the unordered---configuration spaces of $\mathbb{R}^n$, and the rational cohomology of the unordered configuration spaces of an arbitrary manifold of odd dimension. We also discuss models for mapping spaces in terms of labeled configuration spaces, and we show that these models split stably. Som…
The main aim of this paper is to explore the ideas of persistent homology and extended persistent homology, and their stability theorems, using ideas from [Bubenik and Scott, 2014; Cohen-Steiner, Edelsbrunner, and Harer, 2007; and Cohen-Steiner, Edelsbrunner, and Harer, 2009], as well as other sources. The secondary aim is to explore the homology (and cohomology) of non-orientable surfaces, using the Klein bottle as an example. We also use the Klein bottle as an example for the computation of (extended) persistent homology, referring to it throughout the paper.
Continuing work begin in arXiv:1910.12609, we interpret the Hurewicz homomorphism for Baker and Richter's noncommutative complex cobordism spectrum $Mξ$ in terms of characteristic numbers (indexed by quasi-symmetric functions) for complex-oriented quasitoric manifolds, and show that automorphisms or cohomology operations on this representation are defined by a `renormalization' Hopf algebra of formal diffeomorphisms at the origin of the noncommutative line, previously considered (over $Q$) in quantum electrodynamics. The resulting structure can be presented in purely algebraic terms, as a grou…
In this paper we provide descriptions of the Whitehead groups with coefficients in a ring of the Hilbert modular group and its reduced version, as well as for the topological K-theory of $C^*$-algebras, after tensoring with $\mathbb{Q}$, by computing the source of the assembly maps in the Farrell-Jones and the Baum-Connes conjecture respectively. We also construct a model for the classifying space of the Hilbert modular group for the family of virtually cyclic subgroups.
This is a slightly edited version of the transparencies for a seminar at UCL, May 7, 2003. It is intended to give a quick view of background, ideas, and some calculations, in the applicatioon of some non commutative methods to algebraic topology.
We observe that the oriented homeomorphism type of a simply- connected smooth projective surface is determined by its algebraic structure modulo an odd prime of good reduction.
We show in this text how the most important homology equivalences of fundamental Algebraic Topology can be obtained as reductions associated to discrete vector fields. Mainly the homology equivalences whose existence -- most often non-constructive -- is proved by the main spectral sequences, the Serre and Eilenberg-Moore spectral sequences. On the contrary, the constructive existence is here systematically looked for and obtained.
This book is expository and is in Russian. It is shown how in the course of solution of interesting geometric problems (close to applications) naturally appear main notions of algebraic topology (homology groups, obstructions and invariants, characteristic classes). Thus main ideas of algebraic topology are presented with minimal technicalities. Familiarity of a reader with basic notions of topology (such as 2-dimensional manifolds and vector fields) is desirable, although definitions are given at the beginning. The book is accessible to undergraduates and could also be an interesting easy rea…
This talk gave a sketch of the contents and background to a book with the title `Nonabelian algebraic topology' being written under support of a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship (2002-2004) by the speaker and Rafael Sivera (Valencia). The aim is to give in one place a full account of work by R. Brown and P.J. Higgins since the 1970s which defines and applies crossed complexes and cubical higher homotopy groupoids in algebraic topology and group cohomology.
We compute the integral homology (including torsion), the topological K-theory, and the Hodge structure on cohomology of Calabi-Yau threefold hypersurfaces and complete intersections in Gorenstein toric Fano varieties. The methods are purely topological.
We give a tool for understanding simplicial desuspension in A1-algebraic topology: we show that $X \to Ω(S^1 \wedge X)\to Ω(S^1 \wedge X \wedge X)$ is a fiber sequence up to homotopy in 2-localized A1-algebraic topology for $X = (S^1)^m \wedge G_m^{\wedge q}$ with $m>1$. It follows that there is an EHP sequence spectral sequence $$Z_{(2)} \otimes π_{n+1+i}^{A1} (S^{2n+2m+1} \wedge (G_m)^{\wedge 2q}) \Rightarrow Z_{(2)} \otimes π_{i}^{A1, s} (S^{m} \wedge (G_m)^{\wedge q}).$$
The chapter provides an introduction to the basic concepts of Algebraic Topology with an emphasis on motivation from applications in the physical sciences. It finishes with a brief review of computational work in algebraic topology, including persistent homology.
In this paper, we prove various results on the topology of the Grassmannian of oriented 3-planes in Euclidean 6-space and compute its cohomology ring. We give self-contained proofs. These spaces come up when studying submanifolds of manifolds with calibrated geometries. We collect these results here for the sake of completeness. As applications of our algebraic topological study we present some results on special Lagrangian-free embeddings of surfaces and 3-manifolds into the Euclidean 4 and 6-space.
This is the companion article to the Bourbaki talk of the same name given in March 2009. The main theme of the talk and the article is to explain the interplay between homotopy theory and algebraic geometry through the Hopkins-Miller-Lurie theorem on topological modular forms, from which we learn that the Deligne-Mumford moduli stack for elliptic curves is canonically realized as an object in derived algebraic geometry.
In this paper, we calculate the differential $d^1$ of the rank spectral sequence. We generalize Quillen's spectral sequence from Dedekind domain to general integral Noetherian ring $A$ by considering the Q-construction $Q^{tf}(A)$ of the category of finitely generated torsion-free modules. In particular, by resolution theorem, if $A$ is regular, then $Q^{tf}(A)$ is homotopy equivalent to $QP(A)$ where $P(A)$ is the category of finitely generated projective $A$-modules. We deduce the differential $d^1$ by using Tits buildings, Steinberg modules, and modular symbols in the sense of Ash-Rudolph. …
We give a new approach to the study of statistical mechanical systems: algebraic topology is used to investigate the statistical distributions of stochastic currents generated in graphs. In the adiabatic and low temperature limits we will demonstrate that quantization of current generation occurs.
In the theory of algebraic group actions on affine varieties, the concept of a Kempf-Ness set is used to replace the categorical quotient by the quotient with respect to a maximal compact subgroup. By making use of the recent achievements of "toric topology" we show that an appropriate notion of a Kempf-Ness set exists for a class of algebraic torus actions on quasiaffine varieties (coordinate subspace arrangement complements) arising in the Batyrev-Cox "geometric invariant theory" approach to toric varieties. We proceed by studying the cohomology of these "toric" Kempf-Ness sets. In the case …
We give a motivated introduction to the theory of perverse sheaves, culminating in the Decomposition Theorem of Beilinson, Bernstein, Deligne and Gabber. A goal of this survey is to show how the theory develops naturally from classical constructions used in the study of topological properties of algebraic varieties. While most proofs are omitted, we discuss several approaches to the Decomposition Theorem, indicate some important applications and examples.
We study the Madsen-Tillmann spectrum $\C P^\infty_{-1}$ as a quotient of the Mahowald pro-object $\C P^{\infty}_{-\infty}$, which is closely related to the Tate cohomology of circle actions. That theory has an associated symplectic structure, whose symmetries define the Virasoro operations on the cohomology of moduli space constructed by Kontsevich and Witten.
We give an introduction for the non-expert to TQFT (Topological Quantum Field Theory), focussing especially on its role in algebraic topology. We compare the Atiyah axioms for TQFT with the Eilenberg Steenrod axioms for homology, give a few simple examples of TQFTs, and discuss some other approaches that have been taken to defining TQFT. We then propose a new formulation of TQFT, which is closer in spirit to the way conventional functors of algebraic topology, like homology, are presented. In this approach the fundamental operation of gluing is incorporated through the notion of a *gluing morp…
There is a remarkable and canonical problem in 3D geometry and topology: To understand existing models of 3D fluid motion or to create new ones that may be useful. We discuss from an algebraic viewpoint the PDE called Euler's equation for incompressible frictionless fluid motion. In part I we define a "finite dimensional 3D fluid algebra", write its Euler equation and derive properties related to energy, helicity, transport of vorticity and linking that characterize this equation. This is directly motivated by the infinite dimensional fluid algebra associated to a closed riemannian three manif…
We give a survey of algorithms for computing topological invariants of semi-algebraic sets with special emphasis on the more recent developments in designing algorithms for computing the Betti numbers of semi-algebraic sets. Aside from describing these results, we discuss briefly the background as well as the importance of these problems, and also describe the main tools from algorithmic semi-algebraic geometry, as well as algebraic topology, which make these advances possible. We end with a list of open problems.
A central question in arrangement theory is to determine whether the characteristic polynomial $Δ_q$ of the algebraic monodromy acting on the homology group $H_q(F(\mathcal{A}),\mathbb{C})$ of the Milnor fiber of a complex hyperplane arrangement $\mathcal{A}$ is determined by the intersection lattice $L(\mathcal{A})$. Under simple combinatorial conditions, we show that the multiplicities of the factors of $Δ_1$ corresponding to certain eigenvalues of order a power of a prime $p$ are equal to the Aomoto--Betti numbers $β_p(\mathcal{A})$, which in turn are extracted from $L(\mathcal{A})$. When $…
In the 1990's, Itenberg and Haas studied the relations between combinatorial data in Viro's patchworking and the topology of the resulting non-singular real algebraic curves in the projective plane. Using recent results from Renaudineau and Shaw on real algebraic curves near the non-singular tropical limit, we continue the study of Itenberg and Haas inside any non-singular projective toric surface. We give new Haas' like criteria for patchworking non-singular real algebraic curves with prescribed number of connected components, in terms of twisted edges on a non-singular tropical curve. We the…
Let k be a field. Denote by Spc(k)_* the unstable, pointed motivic homotopy category and by Omega_Gm: Spc(k)_* \to Spc(k)_* the Gm-loops functor. For a k-group G, denote by Gr_G the affine Grassmannian of G. If G is isotropic reductive, we provide a canonical motivic equivalence Omega_Gm G = Gr_G. If k is perfect, we use this to compute the motive M(Omega_Gm G) in DM(k, Z).
