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Differential Topology

Topology

Differential topology is the field of mathematics dealing with the topological and smooth properties of smooth manifolds. It studies coarse structural features, such as the number of holes in a manifold, its homotopy type and the composition of its diffeomorphism group, rather than the geometric measurements of size and distance that belong to differential geometry, and it has substantial ties to algebraic topology because many of its properties can be expressed in algebraic terms.

Facts
Central Question
Differential topology asks how smooth manifolds can be classified up to a smooth, invertible change of coordinates, a diffeomorphism, and which coarse features, such as the number of holes or the homotopy type, survive that classification. 1
Key Debate
Whether every smooth 4-manifold homeomorphic to the 4-sphere is also diffeomorphic to it, the smooth four-dimensional Poincaré conjecture, remains one of the field's central open problems; the analogous statement is known to be true in dimensions 1 through 3 and known to be false in dimension 7. 1
Classification
Pure or Applied
Pure Mathematics 1
Differential Topology
Filter Results7 entries
Connections

Includes

Source Donaldson's theorem, Wikipedia
Source Hassler Whitney (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Hopf fibration
Source Wikipedia: John Milnor
Source Local Diffeomorphism (Wikipedia)
Source Odd number theorem - Wikipedia
Source Poincare lemma (Wikipedia)
Source Poincare-Hopf theorem, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Simon Donaldson
Source Sphere eversion, Wikipedia
Sources
1. Differential Topology (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    The central goal of the field of differential topology is the classification of all smooth manifolds up to diffeomorphism.
  • Body section on smooth structures in dimension 4
    One of the central open problems in differential topology is the four-dimensional smooth Poincaré conjecture, which asks if every smooth 4-manifold that is homeomorphic to the 4-sphere, is also diffeomorphic to it.
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Odd number theorem - Wikipedia
Includes: Odd Number Theorem, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Odd Number Theorem, Lead sentence
The odd number theorem is a theorem in differential topology about strong gravitational lensing, which states that the number of m
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Local Diffeomorphism (Wikipedia)
Includes: Local Diffeomorphism, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Local Diffeomorphism, Lead sentence
In mathematics, more specifically differential topology, a local diffeomorphism is intuitively a map between smooth manifolds that
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Poincare-Hopf theorem, Wikipedia
Includes: Poincare-Hopf Theorem, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Poincare-Hopf Theorem, Lead sentence
or Hopf index theorem) is an important theorem in differential topology that relates zeros of continuous vector field on compact d
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Wikipedia: Hopf fibration
Includes: Hopf Fibration, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Hopf Fibration, Lead sentence
In differential topology, the Hopf fibration (also known as the Hopf bundle or Hopf map) describes a 3-sphere (a hypersphere in fo
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Sphere eversion, Wikipedia
Includes: Smale's Theorem (Sphere Eversion), Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Smale's Theorem (Sphere Eversion), Lead sentence
In differential topology, sphere eversion is a theoretical process of turning a sphere inside out in a three-dimensional space (th
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Donaldson's theorem, Wikipedia
Includes: Donaldson's Theorem, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Donaldson's Theorem, Lead sentence
In mathematics, and especially differential topology and gauge theory, Donaldson's theorem states that a definite intersection for
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Hassler Whitney (Wikipedia)
Includes: Hassler Whitney, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
Quote, Includes: Hassler Whitney, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
manifolds, embeddings, immersions
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Wikipedia: Simon Donaldson
Includes: Simon Donaldson, Lead
Quote, Includes: Simon Donaldson, Lead
Sir Simon Kirwan Donaldson (born 20 August 1957) is an English mathematician known for his work on the topology of smooth (differentiable) four-dimensional manifolds, Donaldson-Thomas theory, and his contributions to Kähler geometry.
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Wikipedia: John Milnor
Includes: John Milnor, Lead
Quote, Includes: John Milnor, Lead
John Willard Milnor (born February 20, 1931) is an American mathematician known for his work in differential topology, algebraic K-theory and low-dimensional holomorphic dynamical systems.
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Poincare lemma (Wikipedia)
Includes: Poincare Lemma, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Poincare Lemma, Lead section
the Poincaré lemma gives a sufficient condition for a closed differential form to be exact (while an exact form is necessarily
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