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Combinatorial algebraic topology is a fascinating and dynamic field at the crossroads of algebraic topology and discrete mathematics. This volume is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject in book form. The first part of the book constitutes a swift walk through the main tools of algebraic topology, including Stiefel-Whitney characteristic classes, which are needed for the later parts. Readers - graduate students and working mathematicians alike - will probably find particularly useful the second part, which contains an in-depth discussion of the major research techniques of combinatorial algebraic topology. Our presentation of standard topics is quite different from that of existing texts. In addition, several new themes, such as spectral sequences, are included. Although applications are sprinkled throughout the second part, they are principal focus of the third part, which is entirely devoted to developing the topological structure theory for graph homomorphisms. The main benefit for the reader will be the prospect of fairly quickly getting to the forefront of modern research in this active field.
Industry Reviews
From the reviews:
"This is an introduction to the beautiful world of combinatorial algebraic topology, describing the modern research tools and latest applications in this field. ... This could be used as material for a reading seminar on Chromatic numbers and the Kneser Conjecture, structural theory of morphism complexes, characteristic classes and chromatic numbers, applications of spectral sequence to Hom Complexes. ... an interesting book with large perspective in studying problems on the borderline between discrete mathematics and algebraic topology." (Corina Mohorianu, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1130 (8), 2008)
"This monograph offers an introduction to combinatorial algebraic topology, an active field connecting algebraic topology with discrete mathematics and computer science. It is intended to be 'A book to teach from', providing a self-contained introduction that swiftly guides the reader to the forefront of modern research." (St. Haller, Monatshefte fuer Mathematik, Vol. 162 (3), March, 2011)
| Overture | p. 1 |
| Concepts of Algebraic Topology | |
| Cell Complexes | p. 7 |
| Abstract Simplicial Complexes | p. 7 |
| Definition of Abstract Simplicial Complexes and Maps Between Them | p. 7 |
| Deletion, Link, Star, and Wedge | p. 10 |
| Simplicial Join | p. 12 |
| Face Posets | p. 12 |
| Barycentric and Stellar Subdivisions | p. 13 |
| Pulling and Pushing Simplicial Structures | p. 15 |
| Polyhedral Complexes | p. 16 |
| Geometry of Abstract Simplicial Complexes | p. 16 |
| Geometric Meaning of the Combinatorial Constructions | p. 19 |
| Geometric Simplicial Complexes | p. 23 |
| Complexes Whose Cells Belong to a Specified Set of Polyhedra | p. 25 |
| Trisps | p. 28 |
| Construction Using the Gluing Data | p. 28 |
| Constructions Involving Trisps | p. 30 |
| CW Complexes | p. 33 |
| Gluing Along a Map | p. 33 |
| Constructive and Intrinsic Definitions | p. 34 |
| Properties and Examples | p. 35 |
| Homology Groups | p. 37 |
| Betti Numbers of Finite Abstract Simplicial Complexes | p. 37 |
| Simplicial Homology Groups | p. 39 |
| Homology Groups of Trisps with Coefficients in Z[subscript 2] | p. 39 |
| Orientations | p. 41 |
| Homology Groups of Trisps with Integer Coefficients | p. 41 |
| Invariants Connected to Homology Groups | p. 44 |
| Betti Numbers and Torsion Coefficients | p. 44 |
| Euler Characteristic and the Euler-Poincare Formula | p. 45 |
| Variations | p. 46 |
| Augmentation and Reduced Homology Groups | p. 46 |
| Homology Groups with Other Coefficients | p. 47 |
| Simplicial Cohomology Groups | p. 47 |
| Singular Homology | p. 49 |
| Chain Complexes | p. 51 |
| Definition and Homology of Chain Complexes | p. 51 |
| Maps Between Chain Complexes and Induced Maps on Homology | p. 52 |
| Chain Homotopy | p. 53 |
| Simplicial Homology and Cohomology in the Context of Chain Complexes | p. 54 |
| Homomorphisms on Homology Induced by Trisp Maps | p. 54 |
| Cellular Homology | p. 56 |
| An Application of Homology with Integer Coefficients: Winding Number | p. 56 |
| The Definition of Cellular Homology | p. 57 |
| Cellular Maps and Properties of Cellular Homology | p. 58 |
| Concepts of Category Theory | p. 59 |
| The Notion of a Category | p. 59 |
| Definition of a Category, Isomorphisms | p. 59 |
| Examples of Categories | p. 60 |
| Some Structure Theory of Categories | p. 63 |
| Initial and Terminal Objects | p. 63 |
| Products and Coproducts | p. 64 |
| Functors | p. 68 |
| The Category Cat | p. 68 |
| Homology and Cohomology Viewed as Functors | p. 70 |
| Group Actions as Functors | p. 70 |
| Limit Constructions | p. 71 |
| Definition of Colimit of a Functor | p. 71 |
| Colimits and Infinite Unions | p. 72 |
| Quotients of Group Actions as Colimits | p. 73 |
| Limits | p. 74 |
| Comma Categories | p. 74 |
| Objects Below and Above Other Objects | p. 74 |
| The General Construction and Further Examples | p. 75 |
| Exact Sequences | p. 77 |
| Some Structure Theory of Long and Short Exact Sequences | p. 77 |
| Construction of the Connecting Homomorphism | p. 77 |
| Exact Sequences | p. 79 |
| Deriving Long Exact Sequences from Short Ones | p. 81 |
| The Long Exact Sequence of a Pair and Some Applications | p. 82 |
| Relative Homology and the Associated Long Exact Sequence | p. 82 |
| Applications | p. 84 |
| Mayer-Vietoris Long Exact Sequence | p. 85 |
| Homotopy | p. 89 |
| Homotopy of Maps | p. 89 |
| Homotopy Type of Topological Spaces | p. 90 |
| Mapping Cone and Mapping Cylinder | p. 91 |
| Deformation Retracts and Collapses | p. 93 |
| Simple Homotopy Type | p. 95 |
| Homotopy Groups | p. 96 |
| Connectivity and Hurewicz Theorems | p. 97 |
| Cofibrations | p. 101 |
| Cofibrations and the Homotopy Extension Property | p. 101 |
| NDR-Pairs | p. 103 |
| Important Facts Involving Cofibrations | p. 105 |
| The Relative Homotopy Equivalence | p. 107 |
| Principal [Gamma]-Bundles and Stiefel-Whitney Characteristic Classes | p. 111 |
| Locally Trivial Bundles | p. 111 |
| Bundle Terminology | p. 111 |
| Types of Bundles | p. 112 |
| Bundle Maps | p. 113 |
| Elements of the Principal Bundle Theory | p. 114 |
| Principal Bundles and Spaces with a Free Group Action | p. 114 |
| The Classifying Space of a Group | p. 116 |
| Special Cohomology Elements | p. 119 |
| Z[subscript 2]-Spaces and the Definition of Stiefel-Whitney Classes | p. 120 |
| Properties of Stiefel-Whitney Classes | p. 122 |
| Borsuk-Ulam Theorem, Index, and Coindex | p. 122 |
| Stiefel-Whitney Height | p. 123 |
| Higher Connectivity and Stiefel-Whitney Classes | p. 123 |
| Combinatorial Construction of Stiefel-Whitney Classes | p. 124 |
| Suggested Reading | p. 125 |
| Methods of Combinatorial Algebraic Topology | |
| Combinatorial Complexes Melange | p. 129 |
| Abstract Simplicial Complexes | p. 129 |
| Simplicial Flag Complexes | p. 129 |
| Order Complexes | p. 130 |
| Complexes of Combinatorial Properties | p. 133 |
| The Neighborhood and Lovasz Complexes | p. 133 |
| Complexes Arising from Matroids | p. 134 |
| Geometric Complexes in Metric Spaces | p. 134 |
| Combinatorial Presentation by Minimal Nonsimplices | p. 136 |
| Prodsimplicial Complexes | p. 138 |
| Prodsimplicial Flag Complexes | p. 138 |
| Complex of Complete Bipartite Subgraphs | p. 138 |
| Hom Complexes | p. 140 |
| General Complexes of Morphisms | p. 141 |
| Discrete Configuration Spaces of Generalized Simplicial Complexes | p. 144 |
| The Complex of Phylogenetic Trees | p. 144 |
| Regular Trisps | p. 145 |
| Chain Complexes | p. 147 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 148 |
| Acyclic Categories | p. 151 |
| Basics | p. 151 |
| The Notion of Acyclic Category | p. 151 |
| Linear Extensions of Acyclic Categories | p. 152 |
| Induced Subcategories of Cat | p. 153 |
| The Regular Trisp of Composable Morphism Chains in an Acyclic Category | p. 153 |
| Definition and First Examples | p. 153 |
| Functoriality | p. 155 |
| Constructions | p. 156 |
| Disjoint Union as a Coproduct | p. 156 |
| Stacks of Acyclic Categories and Joins of Regular Trisps | p. 156 |
| Links, Stars, and Deletions | p. 158 |
| Lattices and Acyclic Categories | p. 159 |
| Barycentric Subdivision and [Delta]-Functor | p. 160 |
| Intervals in Acyclic Categories | p. 161 |
| Definition and First Properties | p. 161 |
| Acyclic Category of Intervals and Its Structural Functor | p. 164 |
| Topology of the Category of Intervals | p. 167 |
| Homeomorphisms Associated with the Direct Product Construction | p. 168 |
| Simplicial Subdivision of the Direct Product | p. 168 |
| Further Subdivisions | p. 171 |
| The Mobius Function | p. 173 |
| Mobius Function for Posets | p. 173 |
| Mobius Function for Acyclic Categories | p. 174 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 178 |
| Discrete Morse Theory | p. 179 |
| Discrete Morse Theory for Posets | p. 179 |
| Acyclic Matchings in Hasse Diagrams of Posets | p. 179 |
| Poset Maps with Small Fibers | p. 182 |
| Universal Object Associated to an Acyclic Matching | p. 183 |
| Poset Fibrations and the Patchwork Theorem | p. 185 |
| Discrete Morse Theory for CW Complexes | p. 187 |
| Attaching Cells to Homotopy Equivalent Spaces | p. 187 |
| The Main Theorem of Discrete Morse Theory for CW Complexes | p. 189 |
| Examples | p. 192 |
| Algebraic Morse Theory | p. 201 |
| Acyclic Matchings on Free Chain Complexes and the Morse Complex | p. 201 |
| The Main Theorem of Algebraic Morse Theory | p. 203 |
| An Example | p. 205 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 208 |
| Lexicographic Shellability | p. 211 |
| Shellability | p. 211 |
| The Basics | p. 211 |
| Shelling Induced Subcomplexes | p. 214 |
| Shelling Nerves of Acyclic Categories | p. 215 |
| Lexicographic Shellability | p. 216 |
| Labeling Edges as a Way to Order Chains | p. 216 |
| EL-Labeling | p. 217 |
| General Lexicographic Shellability | p. 219 |
| Lexicographic Shellability and Nerves of Acyclic Categories | p. 223 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 224 |
| Evasiveness and Closure Operators | p. 225 |
| Evasiveness | p. 225 |
| Evasiveness of Graph Properties | p. 225 |
| Evasiveness of Abstract Simplicial Complexes | p. 229 |
| Closure Operators | p. 232 |
| Collapsing Sequences Induced by Closure Operators | p. 232 |
| Applications | p. 234 |
| Monotone Poset Maps | p. 236 |
| The Reduction Theorem and Implications | p. 237 |
| Further Facts About Nonevasiveness | p. 238 |
| NE-Reduction and Collapses | p. 238 |
| Nonevasiveness of Noncomplemented Lattices | p. 240 |
| Other Recursively Defined Classes of Complexes | p. 242 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 243 |
| Colimits and Quotients | p. 245 |
| Quotients of Nerves of Acyclic Categories | p. 245 |
| Desirable Properties of the Quotient Construction | p. 245 |
| Quotients of Simplicial Actions | p. 245 |
| Formalization of Group Actions and the Main Question | p. 248 |
| Definition of the Quotient and Formulation of the Main Problem | p. 248 |
| An Explicit Description of the Category C/G | p. 249 |
| Conditions on Group Actions | p. 250 |
| Outline of the Results and Surjectivity of the Canonical Map | p. 250 |
| Condition for Injectivity of the Canonical Projection | p. 251 |
| Conditions for the Canonical Projection to be an Isomorphism | p. 252 |
| Conditions for the Categories to be Closed Under Taking Quotients | p. 255 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 257 |
| Homotopy Colimits | p. 259 |
| Diagrams over Trisps | p. 259 |
| Diagrams and Colimits | p. 259 |
| Arrow Pictures and Their Nerves | p. 260 |
| Homotopy Colimits | p. 262 |
| Definition and Some Examples | p. 262 |
| Structural Maps Associated to Homotopy Colimits | p. 263 |
| Deforming Homotopy Colimits | p. 265 |
| Nerves of Coverings | p. 266 |
| Nerve Diagram | p. 266 |
| Projection Lemma | p. 267 |
| Nerve Lemmas | p. 269 |
| Gluing Spaces | p. 271 |
| Gluing Lemma | p. 271 |
| Quillen Lemma | p. 272 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 273 |
| Spectral Sequences | p. 275 |
| Filtrations | p. 275 |
| Contriving Spectral Sequences | p. 276 |
| The Objects to be Constructed | p. 276 |
| The Actual Construction | p. 278 |
| Questions of Convergence and Interpretation of the Answer | p. 280 |
| An Example | p. 280 |
| Maps Between Spectral Sequences | p. 281 |
| Spectral Sequences and Nerves of Acyclic Categories | p. 283 |
| A Class of Filtrations | p. 283 |
| Mobius Function and Inequalities for Betti Numbers | p. 285 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 288 |
| Complexes of Graph Homomorphisms | |
| Chromatic Numbers and the Kneser Conjecture | p. 293 |
| The Chromatic Number of a Graph | p. 293 |
| The Definition and Applications | p. 293 |
| The Complexity of Computing the Chromatic Number | p. 294 |
| The Hadwiger Conjecture | p. 295 |
| State Graphs and the Variations of the Chromatic Number | p. 298 |
| Complete Graphs as State Graphs | p. 298 |
| Kneser Graphs as State Graphs and Fractional Chromatic Number | p. 298 |
| The Circular Chromatic Number | p. 300 |
| Kneser Conjecture and Lovasz Test | p. 301 |
| Formulation of the Kneser Conjecture | p. 301 |
| The Properties of the Neighborhood Complex | p. 302 |
| Lovasz Test for Graph Colorings | p. 303 |
| Simplicial and Cubical Complexes Associated to Kneser Graphs | p. 304 |
| The Vertex-Critical Subgraphs of Kneser Graphs | p. 306 |
| Chromatic Numbers of Kneser Hypergraphs | p. 307 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 307 |
| Structural Theory of Morphism Complexes | p. 309 |
| The Scope of Morphism Complexes | p. 309 |
| The Morphism Complexes and the Prodsimplicial Flag Construction | p. 309 |
| Universality | p. 311 |
| Special Families of Hom Complexes | p. 312 |
| Coloring Complexes of a Graph | p. 312 |
| Complexes of Bipartite Subgraphs and Neighborhood Complexes | p. 313 |
| Functoriality of Hom (-, -) | p. 315 |
| Functoriality on the Right | p. 315 |
| Aut (G) Action on Hom (T, G) | p. 316 |
| Functoriality on the Left | p. 316 |
| Aut (T) Action on Hom (T, G) | p. 318 |
| Commuting Relations | p. 318 |
| Products, Compositions, and Hom Complexes | p. 320 |
| Coproducts | p. 320 |
| Products | p. 320 |
| Composition of Hom Complexes | p. 322 |
| Folds | p. 323 |
| Definition and First Properties | p. 323 |
| Proof of the Folding Theorem | p. 324 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 326 |
| Characteristic Classes and Chromatic Numbers | p. 327 |
| Stiefel-Whitney Characteristic Classes and Test Graphs | p. 327 |
| Powers of Stiefel-Whitney Classes and Chromatic Numbers of Graphs | p. 327 |
| Stiefel-Whitney Test Graphs | p. 328 |
| Examples of Stiefel-Whitney Test Graphs | p. 329 |
| Complexes of Complete Multipartite Subgraphs | p. 329 |
| Odd Cycles as Stiefel-Whitney Test Graphs | p. 334 |
| Homology Tests for Graph Colorings | p. 337 |
| The Symmetrizer Operator and Related Structures | p. 338 |
| The Topological Rationale for the Tests | p. 338 |
| Homology Tests | p. 340 |
| Examples of Homology Tests with Different Test Graphs | p. 341 |
| Bibliographic Notes | p. 346 |
| Applications of Spectral Sequences to Hom Complexes | p. 349 |
| Hom[subscript +] Construction | p. 349 |
| Various Definitions | p. 349 |
| Connection to Independence Complexes | p. 351 |
| The Support Map | p. 352 |
| An Example: Hom[subscript +] (C[subscript m], K[subscript n]) | p. 353 |
| Setting up the Spectral Sequence | p. 354 |
| Filtration Induced by the Support Map | p. 354 |
| The 0th and the 1st Tableaux | p. 355 |
| The First Differential | p. 355 |
| Encoding Cohomology Generators by Arc Pictures | p. 356 |
| The Language of Arcs | p. 356 |
| The Corresponding Cohomology Generators | p. 356 |
| The First Reduction | p. 357 |
| Topology of the Torus Front Complexes | p. 358 |
| Reinterpretation of H (A[subscript t], d[subscript 1]) Using a Family of Cubical Complexes {[Phi subscript m, n, g]} | p. 358 |
| The Torus Front Interpretation | p. 360 |
| Grinding | p. 362 |
| Thin Fronts | p. 364 |
| The Implications for the Cohomology Groups of Hom (C[subscript m], K[subscript n]) | p. 366 |
| Euler Characteristic Formula | p. 367 |
| Cohomology with Integer Coefficients | p. 368 |
| Fixing Orientations on Hom and Hom[subscript +] Complexes | p. 368 |
| Signed Versions of Formulas for Generators [Characters not reproducible] | p. 370 |
| Completing the Calculation of the Second Tableau | p. 371 |
| Summary: the Full Description of the Groups H (Hom (C[subscript m], K[subscript n]); Z) | p. 374 |
| Bibliographic Notes and Conclusion | p. 376 |
| References | p. 377 |
| Index | p. 385 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9783540719618
ISBN-10: 354071961X
Series: Algorithms and Computation in Mathematics
Published: 24th October 2007
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number of Pages: 412
Audience: College, Tertiary and University
Publisher: Springer Nature B.V.
Country of Publication: DE
Dimensions (cm): 23.5 x 15.88 x 3.18
Weight (kg): 0.74
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