This is an expository introduction to simplicial sets and simplicial homotopy theory with particular focus on relating the combinatorial aspects of the theory to their geometric/topological origins. It is intended to be accessible to students familiar with just the fundamentals of algebraic topology.
We determine the mod $2$ cohomology over the Steenrod algebra of the classifying spaces of the free loop groups $LG$ for compact groups $G=Spin(7)$, $Spin(8)$, $Spin(9)$, and $F_4$. Then, we show that they are isomorphic as algebras over the Steenrod algebra to the mod $2$ cohomology of the corresponding Chevalley groups of type $G(q)$, where $q$ is an odd prime power. In a similar manner, we compute the cohomology of the free loop space over $BDI(4)$ and show that it is isomorphic to that of $BSol(q)$ as algebras over the Steenrod algebra.
This is a collection of notes on embedding problems for 3-manifolds. The main question explored is `which 3-manifolds embed smoothly in the 4-sphere? The terrain of exploration is the Burton/Martelli/Matveev/Petronio census of triangulated prime closed 3-manifolds built from 11 or less tetrahedra. There are 13766 manifolds in the census, of which 13400 are orientable. Of the 13400 orientable manifolds, only 149 of them have hyperbolic torsion linking forms and are thus candidates for embedability in the 4-sphere. The majority of this paper is devoted to the embedding problem for these 149 manifolds. At present 41 are known to embed. Among the remaining manifolds, embeddings into homotopy 4-spheres are constructed for 4. 67 manifolds are known to not embed in the 4-sphere. This leaves 37 unresolved cases, of which only 3 are geometric manifolds i.e. having a trivial JSJ-decomposition.
A flag complex can be defined as a simplicial complex whose simplices correspond to complete subgraphs of its 1-skeleton taken as a graph. In this article, by introducing the notion of s-dismantlability, we shall define the s-homotopy type of a graph and show in particular that two finite graphs have the same s-homotopy type if, and only if, the two flag complexes determined by these graphs have the same simplicial simple-homotopy type (Theorem 2.10, part 1). This result is closely related to similar results established by Barmak and Minian (Adv. in Math., 218 (2008), 87-104) in the framework of posets and we give the relation between the two approaches (theorems 3.5 and 3.7). We conclude with a question about the relation between the s-homotopy and the graph homotopy defined by Chen, Yau and Yeh (Discrete Math., 241(2001), 153-170).
We characterize the projectors $ P $ on a Banach space $ E $ having the property of being connected to all the others projectors obtained as a conjugation of $ P $. Using this characterization we show an example of Banach space where the conjugacy class of a projector splits into several path-connected components, and describe the conjugacy classes of projectors onto subspaces of $ ell_poplusell_q $ with $ p eq q $.
In this paper we explain how Morse theory for the Yang-Mills functional can be used to prove an analogue, for surface groups, of the Atiyah-Segal theorem. Classically, the Atiyah-Segal theorem relates the representation ring R(Gamma) of a compact Lie group $Gamma$ to the complex K-theory of the classifying space $BGamma$. For infinite discrete groups, it is necessary to take into account deformations of representations, and with this in mind we replace the representation ring by Carlssons deformation $K$--theory spectrum $K (Gamma)$ (the homotopy-theoretical analogue of $R(Gamma)$). Our main theorem provides an isomorphism in homotopy $K_*(pi_1 Sigma)isom K^{-*}(Sigma)$ for all compact, aspherical surfaces $Sigma$ and all $*>0$. Combining this result with work of Tyler Lawson, we obtain homotopy theoretical information about the stable moduli space of flat unitary connections over surfaces.
We revisit Atiyah and Botts study of Morse theory for the Yang-Mills functional over a Riemann surface, and establish new formulas for the minimum codimension of a (non-semi-stable) stratum. These results yield the exact connectivity of the natural map (C_{min} E)//G(E) --> Map^E (M, BU(n)) from the homotopy orbits of the space of central Yang-Mills connections to the classifying space of the gauge group G(E). All of these results carry over to non-orientable surfaces via Ho and Lius non-orientable Yang-Mills theory. A somewhat less detailed version of this paper (titled On the Yang-Mills stratification for surfaces) will appear in the Proceedings of the AMS.
We compute the homotopy type of the moduli space of flat, unitary connections over aspherical surfaces, after stabilizing with respect to the rank of the underlying bundle. Over the orientable surface M^g, we show that this space has the homotopy type of the infinite symmetric product of M^g, generalizing a well-known fact for the torus. Over a non-orientable surface, we show that this space is homotopy equivalent to a disjoint union of two tori, whose common dimension corresponds to the rank of the first (co)homology group of the surface. Similar calculations are provided for products of surfaces, and show a close analogy with the Quillen-Lichtenbaum conjectures in algebraic K-theory. The proofs utilize Tyler Lawsons work in deformation K-theory, and rely heavily on Yang-Mills theory and gauge theory.
The Nielsen Realization problem asks when the group homomorphism from Diff(M) to pi_0 Diff(M) admits a section. For M a closed surface, Kerckhoff proved that a section exists over any finite subgroup, but Morita proved that if the genus is large enough then no section exists over the entire mapping class group. We prove the first nonexistence theorem of this type in dimension 4: if M is a smooth closed oriented 4-manifold which contains a K3 surface as a connected summand then no section exists over the whole of the mapping class group. This is done by showing that certain obstructions lying in the rational cohomology of B(pi_0 Diff(M)) are nonzero. We detect these classes by showing that they are nonzero when pulled back to the moduli space of Einstein metrics on a K3 surface.
We give a topological interpretation of the highest weight representations of Kac-Moody groups. Given the unitary form G of a Kac-Moody group (over C), we define a version of equivariant K-theory, K_G on the category of proper G-CW complexes. We then study Kac-Moody groups of compact type in detail (see Section 2 for definitions). In particular, we show that the Grothendieck group of integrable hightest weight representations of a Kac-Moody group G of compact type, maps isomorphically onto K_G^*(EG), where $EG$ is the classifying space of proper G-actions. For the affine case, this agrees very well with recent results of Freed-Hopkins-Teleman. We also explicitly compute K_G^*(EG) for Kac-Moody groups of extended compact type, which includes the Kac-Moody group E_{10}.
