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Lecture

Homology: Introduction and Applications

In course

MATH-323: Topology III - Homology

Homology is one of the most important tools to study topological spaces and it plays an important role in many fields of mathematics. The aim of this course is to introduce this notion, understand its properties and learn how to compute it. There will be m ...

Description

This lecture introduces the concept of homology as a tool to distinguish spaces in all dimensions, contrasting it with the limitations of fundamental groups. The instructor explains the motivation behind homology, its relation to higher homotopy groups, and the advantages it offers in proving theorems across various mathematical areas. The lecture covers the construction of simplicial homology for intuitive understanding and the transition to singular homology for theoretical handling. The use of delta complexes is presented as a combinatorial approach to defining homology, providing a more restrictive boundary condition. The instructor encourages exploring informal explanations of homology to gain a better grasp of the concept and hints at upcoming topics on cellular homology and applications of homology.

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Instructor

Leonid Monin

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Mathematics

Topology: Algebraic topology

Related concepts (32)

Singular homology

In algebraic topology, singular homology refers to the study of a certain set of algebraic invariants of a topological space X, the so-called homology groups Intuitively, singular homology counts, for each dimension n, the n-dimensional holes of a space. Singular homology is a particular example of a homology theory, which has now grown to be a rather broad collection of theories. Of the various theories, it is perhaps one of the simpler ones to understand, being built on fairly concrete constructions (see also the related theory simplicial homology).

Homology (mathematics)

In mathematics, homology is a general way of associating a sequence of algebraic objects, such as abelian groups or modules, with other mathematical objects such as topological spaces. Homology groups were originally defined in algebraic topology. Similar constructions are available in a wide variety of other contexts, such as abstract algebra, groups, Lie algebras, Galois theory, and algebraic geometry. The original motivation for defining homology groups was the observation that two shapes can be distinguished by examining their holes.

Homology sphere

In algebraic topology, a homology sphere is an n-manifold X having the homology groups of an n-sphere, for some integer . That is, and for all other i. Therefore X is a connected space, with one non-zero higher Betti number, namely, . It does not follow that X is simply connected, only that its fundamental group is perfect (see Hurewicz theorem). A rational homology sphere is defined similarly but using homology with rational coefficients.

Simplicial homology

In algebraic topology, simplicial homology is the sequence of homology groups of a simplicial complex. It formalizes the idea of the number of holes of a given dimension in the complex. This generalizes the number of connected components (the case of dimension 0). Simplicial homology arose as a way to study topological spaces whose building blocks are n-simplices, the n-dimensional analogs of triangles. This includes a point (0-simplex), a line segment (1-simplex), a triangle (2-simplex) and a tetrahedron (3-simplex).

Fundamental group

In the mathematical field of algebraic topology, the fundamental group of a topological space is the group of the equivalence classes under homotopy of the loops contained in the space. It records information about the basic shape, or holes, of the topological space. The fundamental group is the first and simplest homotopy group. The fundamental group is a homotopy invariant—topological spaces that are homotopy equivalent (or the stronger case of homeomorphic) have isomorphic fundamental groups.

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