Fundamental classIn mathematics, the fundamental class is a homology class [M] associated to a connected orientable compact manifold of dimension n, which corresponds to the generator of the homology group . The fundamental class can be thought of as the orientation of the top-dimensional simplices of a suitable triangulation of the manifold. When M is a connected orientable closed manifold of dimension n, the top homology group is infinite cyclic: , and an orientation is a choice of generator, a choice of isomorphism .
Poincaré dualityIn mathematics, the Poincaré duality theorem, named after Henri Poincaré, is a basic result on the structure of the homology and cohomology groups of manifolds. It states that if M is an n-dimensional oriented closed manifold (compact and without boundary), then the kth cohomology group of M is isomorphic to the ()th homology group of M, for all integers k Poincaré duality holds for any coefficient ring, so long as one has taken an orientation with respect to that coefficient ring; in particular, since every manifold has a unique orientation mod 2, Poincaré duality holds mod 2 without any assumption of orientation.
