Lectures On Set Theoretic Topology

This survey presents some recent results connecting set theory with the problems of general topology, primarily giving the applications of classical set theory in general topology and not considering problems involving large numbers. The lectures are completely self-contained--this is a good reference book on modern questions of general topology and can serve as an introduction to the applications of set theory and infinite combinatorics.

This Handbook is an introduction to set-theoretic topology for students in the field and for researchers in other areas for whom results in set-theoretic topology may be relevant. The aim of the editors has been to make it as self-contained as possible without repeating material which can easily be found in standard texts. The Handbook contains detailed proofs of core results, and references to the literature for peripheral results where space was insufficient. Included are many open problems of current interest. In general, the articles may be read in any order. In a few cases they occur in pairs, with the first one giving an elementary treatment of a subject and the second one more advanced results. These pairs are: Hodel and Juhász on cardinal functions; Roitman and Abraham-Todorčević on S- and L-spaces; Weiss and Baumgartner on versions of Martin's axiom; and Vaughan and Stephenson on compactness properties.

These lectures recount an application of stable homotopy theory to a concrete problem in low energy physics: the classification of special phases of matter. While the joint work of the author and Michael Hopkins is a focal point, a general geometric frame of reference on quantum field theory is emphasized. Early lectures describe the geometric axiom systems introduced by Graeme Segal and Michael Atiyah in the late 1980s, as well as subsequent extensions. This material provides an entry point for mathematicians to delve into quantum field theory. Classification theorems in low dimensions are proved to illustrate the framework. The later lectures turn to more specialized topics in field theory, including the relationship between invertible field theories and stable homotopy theory, extended unitarity, anomalies, and relativistic free fermion systems. The accompanying mathematical explanations touch upon (higher) category theory, duals to the sphere spectrum, equivariant spectra, differential cohomology, and Dirac operators. The outcome of computations made using the Adams spectral sequence is presented and compared to results in the condensed matter literature obtained by very different means. The general perspectives and specific applications fuse into a compelling story at the interface of contemporary mathematics and theoretical physics.

The Set Theory and Applications meeting at York University, Ontario, featured both contributed talks and a series of invited lectures on topics central to set theory and to general topology. These proceedings contain a selection of the resulting papers, mostly announcing new unpublished results.

Set-Theoretic Topology deals with results concerning set theoretic topology and indicates directions for further investigations. Topics covered include normality and conditions in abstract spaces, compactifications, cardinal invariance, mapping theory, product spaces, and metrization. Comprised of 29 chapters, this volume begins with an example concerning the preservation of the Lindelöf property in product spaces, followed by a discussion on closed-completeness in spaces with a quasi-G? diagonal and with weak covering properties. The reader is then introduced to countably compact extensions of normal locally compact M-spaces; continuously semi-metrizable spaces; and closed discrete collections of singular cardinality. Subsequent chapters focus on open mapping theory; a selection-theoretic approach to certain extension theorems; semicompletable Moore spaces; and non-normal spaces. The book also considers complete mappings in base of countable order theory before concluding with an analysis of locally separable Moore spaces. This monograph should be of value to students, researchers, and specialists in the field of mathematics.

Algebraic topology is the study of the global properties of spaces by means of algebra. It is an important branch of modern mathematics with a wide degree of applicability to other fields, including geometric topology, differential geometry, functional analysis, differential equations, algebraic geometry, number theory, and theoretical physics. This book provides an introduction to the basic concepts and methods of algebraic topology for the beginner. It presents elements of both homology theory and homotopy theory, and includes various applications. The author's intention is to rely on the geometric approach by appealing to the reader's own intuition to help understanding. The numerous illustrations in the text also serve this purpose. Two features make the text different from the standard literature: first, special attention is given to providing explicit algorithms for calculating the homology groups and for manipulating the fundamental groups. Second, the book contains many exercises, all of which are supplied with hints or solutions. This makes the book suitable for both classroom use and for independent study.

The amount of algebraic topology a graduate student specializing in topology must learn can be intimidating. Moreover, by their second year of graduate studies, students must make the transition from understanding simple proofs line-by-line to understanding the overall structure of proofs of difficult theorems. To help students make this transition, the material in this book is presented in an increasingly sophisticated manner. It is intended to bridge the gap between algebraic and geometric topology, both by providing the algebraic tools that a geometric topologist needs and by concentrating on those areas of algebraic topology that are geometrically motivated. Prerequisites for using this book include basic set-theoretic topology, the definition of CW-complexes, some knowledge of the fundamental group/covering space theory, and the construction of singular homology. Most of this material is briefly reviewed at the beginning of the book. The topics discussed by the authors include typical material for first- and second-year graduate courses. The core of the exposition consists of chapters on homotopy groups and on spectral sequences. There is also material that would interest students of geometric topology (homology with local coefficients and obstruction theory) and algebraic topology (spectra and generalized homology), as well as preparation for more advanced topics such as algebraic $K$-theory and the s-cobordism theorem. A unique feature of the book is the inclusion, at the end of each chapter, of several projects that require students to present proofs of substantial theorems and to write notes accompanying their explanations. Working on these projects allows students to grapple with the “big picture”, teaches them how to give mathematical lectures, and prepares them for participating in research seminars. The book is designed as a textbook for graduate students studying algebraic and geometric topology and homotopy theory. It will also be useful for students from other fields such as differential geometry, algebraic geometry, and homological algebra. The exposition in the text is clear; special cases are presented over complex general statements.

These are notes from a graduate student course on algebraic topology and K-theory given by Daniel Quillen at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during 1979-1980. He had just received the Fields Medal for his work on these topics among others and was funny and playful with a confident humility from the start. These are not meant to be polished lecture notes, rather, things are presented as did Quillen reflected in the hand-written notes, resisting any temptation to change or add notation, details or elaborations. Indeed, the text is faithful to Quillen's own exposition, even respecting the {\sl board-like presentation} of formulae, diagrams and proofs, omitting numbering theorems in favor of names and so on. This is meant to be Quillen on Quillen as it happened forty years ago, an informal text for a second-semester graduate student on topology, category theory and K-theory, a potential preface to studying Quillen's own landmark papers and an informal glimpse of his great mind. The intellectual pace of the lectures, namely fast and lively, is Quillen himself, and part of the point here is to capture some of this intimacy. To be sure, much has happened since then from this categorical perspective started by Grothendieck, and Misha Kapranov has contributed an Afterword in order to make it more useful to current students.