MAT 566 DIFFERENTIAL TOPOLOGY

SPRING 2013


SYLLABUS.

We are going to cover a subset of the following topics. The emphasis will be on the ideas and concepts, not on the proofs. However, some selected important proofs will be given.

  • Differential forms: Differential forms and differential forms with compact supports. Poincare' lemmas; degree of a proper map R^n-->;R^n. Orientation, integration, Stokes' theorem. The Mayer-Vietoris principle (case of finite good covers): de Rham cohomology is finite dimensional, Poincare' duality, Kunneth formula, Leray-Hirsch theorem. The Poincare' dual of a closed oriented submanifold of an oriented manifold and its compact supports analogue. Degree of a proper map of oriented manifolds. The Thom isomorphism for the compact vertical cohomology of an orientable R-vector bundle via integration along the fibers; the Thom class; Thom class and Poincare' duality (e.g. zero section of oriented vector bundle). Global angular form-Euler-Thom class of an oriented rank 2 R-vector bundle. Aspects of the Hodge theorem for: compact Riemannian, compact Hermitean, and compact Kahler manifolds: Poincare' and Kodaira-Serre duality, Hodge (p,q)-decomposition.
  • Vector fields. The Lie bracket. The Lie algebra of a Lie group. Flows. The Ehresmann fibration theorem for proper submersions and applications to hypersurfaces of complex projective space. Frobenius theorem. Rudiments of Morse theory and the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem. Covariant derivatives on the tangent bundle: torsion, curvature, holonomy. Riemannian metrics: the Levi-Civita connection, the Riemann curvature tensor. Gauss-Bonnet for oriented Riemannian surfaces.
  • Vector bundles. Basic operations on vector bundles. Chern classes of C-vector bundles via projectivization and via induction. The splitting principle. Properties. Pontryagin classes of R-vector bundles. Connections on vector bundles: curvature and holonomy; zero curvature and the Frobenius theorem, flat connections and the holonomy representation. Chern-Weil: closed differential forms of a connection, their relation to the Chern and Pontryagin classes. Metric connections. The generalized Gauss-Bonnet formula for an oriented even rank R-vector bundle with a metric connection. Classification of vector bundles via the infinite Grassmannians; universality of Chern classes. Indentification of Chern classes with Chern-Weil classes. ``Baby Trinity" on the trivial complex line bundle on a compact Riemann surface: C^* (resp. U(1)) representations of the fundamental group = flat (resp. unitary) connections = holomorphic line bundles with (resp. without) a Higgs field.
  • G-bundles. Principal G-bundles, associated G-bundles. ``Dependence" on G. Classification for G discrete and relation with covering spaces. Connections, curvature and holonomy on principal G-bundles and relation with analogous notions on vector bundles. Principal bundles as a menas to globalize Cartan's structure equation. Reduction of structure. Sphere bundles: orientability, Euler class and existence of sections, Euler # and local degrees; re-phrasing for vector bundles: Euler class Poincare' dual to good zero section (rank vector bundle=dimension base), Hopf index theorem; Euler class and zero locus of a transversal section (any rank).

    TEXTBOOK.

    I am going to use various sources: [Mi]: Milnor's Morse theory, [Mi-St]: Milnor-Stasheff's Characteristic classes, [St]: Steenrod's The topology of fiber bundles, [Bo-Tu]: Bott-Tu's Differential forms in algebraic topology, [Wa]: Warner's Foundations of differentiable manifolds and Lie groups, [Hi]: Hirsch's Differential topology, [Jo]: Joyce's Compact manifolds with special holonomy, [dC]: de Cataldo's The Hodge theory of projective manifolds, [De]: Demailly's Complex analytic and differential geometry, [Go-Xia]: W. Goldman and E. Xia's Rank one Higgs bundles and representations of fundamental groups of Riemann surfaces, [Co]: Conlon's book Diffeential geometry, ...


    CALENDAR:

    First day of class TU JAN 29, Last TH MAY 9. No classes MAR 18-24 (spring break);

    Absences due to travel: No class on MAR 25-29 (KIAS workshop); No class on APR 11 (SLC colloquium).

    Actual schedule.

  • In the first 10 lectures, Jan 29-Feb 28 we have covered the lecture notes Chapters 1-6 (which present the material in an order different from the one of the syllabus and from the one of the tentative schedule): preliminaries, basics of smooth manifolds, vector fields, few facts about Lie groups, vector bundles, differential forms.
  • Tentative schedule. some of the lectures below have the density of black holes. It is very likely that the schedule will be changed as we move along.

  • Jan 29: Differential forms. Differential forms and differential forms with compact supports. Poincare' lemmas. [Bo-Tu].
  • Jan 31: Differential forms. Orientation, integration, Stokes' theorem degree of a proper map R^n-->R^n. [Bo-Tu].
  • Feb 5: Differential forms. The Mayer-Vietoris principle (case of finite good covers): de Rham cohomology is finite dimensional, Poincare' duality, Kunneth formula, Leray-Hirsch theorem. [Bo-Tu].
  • Feb 7: Differential forms. The Poincare' dual of a closed oriented submanifold of an oriented manifold and its compact supports analogue. Degree of a proper map of oriented manifolds. The Thom isomorphism for the compact vertical cohomology of an orientable R-vector bundle via integration along the fibers; the Thom class; Thom class and Poincare' duality (e.g. zero section of oriented vector bundle). Global angular form-Euler-Thom class of an oriented rank 2 R-vector bundle. (?? pd of sub with c-supp different??). [Bo-Tu].
  • Feb 12: above continued. [Bo-Tu].
  • Feb 14: Differential forms. Aspects of the Hodge theorem for: compact Riemannian, compact Hermitean, and compact Kahler manifolds: Poincare' and Kodaira Serre duality, Hodge (p,q)-decomposition. [dC], [De].
  • Feb 19: Vector fields. Vector fields. The Lie bracket. The Lie algebra of a Lie group. Frobenius theorem. Flows. The Ehresmann fibration theorem for proper submersions and applications to hypersurfaces of complex projective space. [Wa], [De].
  • Feb 21:Vector fields. Rudiments of Morse theory and the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem. [Mi[
  • Feb 26: Vector fields. Covariant derivatives on the tangent bundle: torsion, curvature, holonomy. Riemannian metrics: the Levi-Civita connection, the Riemann curvature tensor. Gauss-Bonnet for oriented Riemannian surfaces. [Jo].
  • Feb 28: Vector bundles. Basic operations on vector bundles. Chern classes of C-vector bundles via projectivization and via induction. The splitting principle. Properties. Pontryagin classes of R-vector bundles. [Bo-Tu], [Mi-St].
  • Mar 5: Vector bundles. Classification of vector bundles via the infinite Grassmannians; universality of Chern classes. Identification of Chern classes with Chern-Weil classes. [Bo-Tu], [Mi-St].
  • Mar 7: Vector bundles. ``Baby Trinity" on the trivial complex line bundle on a compact Riemann surface: C^* (resp. U(1)) representations of the fundamental group = flat (resp. unitary) connections = holomorphic line bundles with (resp. without) a Higgs field. [Go-Xia] and maybe some notes of mine.
  • Mar 12: G-bundles. Principal G-bundles, associated G-bundles. ``Dependence" on G. Classification for G discrete and relation with covering spaces. [St].
  • Mar 14: G-bundles. Connections, curvature and holonomy on principal G-bundles and relation with analogous notions on vector bundles. Principal bundles as a means to globalize Cartan's structure equation. Reduction of structure. [Jo], [Co].
  • Apr 2: G-bundles. Sphere bundles (need SS?): orientability, Euler class and existence of sections, Euler # and local degrees; re-phrasing for vector bundles: Euler class Poincare' dual to good zero section (rank vector bundle=dimension base), Hopf index theorem; Euler class and zero locus of a transversal section (any rank). [Bo-Tu].
  • Apr 4: the above continued.
  • Apr 9
  • Apr 16
  • Apr 18
  • Apr 23
  • Apr 25
  • Apr 30
  • May 2
  • May 7
  • May 9

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  • Mark Andrea de Cataldo's homepage.
  • Quod non est in web non est in mundo