General Cohomology Theory and K-Theory


Book Description

These notes constitute a faithful record of a short course of lectures given in São Paulo, Brazil, in the summer of 1968. The audience was assumed to be familiar with the basic material of homology and homotopy theory, and the object of the course was to explain the methodology of general cohomology theory and to give applications of K-theory to familiar problems such as that of the existence of real division algebras. The audience was not assumed to be sophisticated in homological algebra, so one chapter is devoted to an elementary exposition of exact couples and spectral sequences.




The $K$-book


Book Description

Informally, $K$-theory is a tool for probing the structure of a mathematical object such as a ring or a topological space in terms of suitably parameterized vector spaces and producing important intrinsic invariants which are useful in the study of algebr




Generalized Etale Cohomology Theories


Book Description

A generalized etale cohomology theory is a theory which is represented by a presheaf of spectra on an etale site for an algebraic variety, in analogy with the way an ordinary spectrum represents a cohomology theory for spaces. Examples include etale cohomology and etale K-theory. This book gives new and complete proofs of both Thomason's descent theorem for Bott periodic K-theory and the Nisnevich descent theorem. In doing so, it exposes most of the major ideas of the homotopy theory of presheaves of spectra, and generalized etale homology theories in particular. The treatment includes, for the purpose of adequately dealing with cup product structures, a development of stable homotopy theory for n-fold spectra, which is then promoted to the level of presheaves of n-fold spectra. This book should be of interest to all researchers working in fields related to algebraic K-theory. The techniques presented here are essentially combinatorial, and hence algebraic. An extensive background in traditional stable homotopy theory is not assumed. ------ Reviews (...) in developing the techniques of the subject, introduces the reader to the stable homotopy category of simplicial presheaves. (...) This book provides the user with the first complete account which is sensitive enough to be compatible with the sort of closed model category necessary in K-theory applications (...). As an application of the techniques the author gives proofs of the descent theorems of R. W. Thomason and Y. A. Nisnevich. (...) The book concludes with a discussion of the Lichtenbaum-Quillen conjecture (an approximation to Thomason’s theorem without Bott periodicity). The recent proof of this conjecture, by V. Voevodsky, (...) makes this volume compulsory reading for all who want to be au fait with current trends in algebraic K-theory! - Zentralblatt MATH The presentation of these topics is highly original. The book will be very useful for any researcher interested in subjects related to algebraic K-theory. - Matematica




K-theory


Book Description

These notes are based on the course of lectures I gave at Harvard in the fall of 1964. They constitute a self-contained account of vector bundles and K-theory assuming only the rudiments of point-set topology and linear algebra. One of the features of the treatment is that no use is made of ordinary homology or cohomology theory. In fact, rational cohomology is defined in terms of K-theory.The theory is taken as far as the solution of the Hopf invariant problem and a start is mode on the J-homomorphism. In addition to the lecture notes proper, two papers of mine published since 1964 have been reproduced at the end. The first, dealing with operations, is a natural supplement to the material in Chapter III. It provides an alternative approach to operations which is less slick but more fundamental than the Grothendieck method of Chapter III, and it relates operations and filtration. Actually, the lectures deal with compact spaces, not cell-complexes, and so the skeleton-filtration does not figure in the notes. The second paper provides a new approach to K-theory and so fills an obvious gap in the lecture notes.




Higher Algebraic K-Theory: An Overview


Book Description

This book is a general introduction to Higher Algebraic K-groups of rings and algebraic varieties, which were first defined by Quillen at the beginning of the 70's. These K-groups happen to be useful in many different fields, including topology, algebraic geometry, algebra and number theory. The goal of this volume is to provide graduate students, teachers and researchers with basic definitions, concepts and results, and to give a sampling of current directions of research. Written by five specialists of different parts of the subject, each set of lectures reflects the particular perspective ofits author. As such, this volume can serve as a primer (if not as a technical basic textbook) for mathematicians from many different fields of interest.




K-Theory


Book Description

From the Preface: K-theory was introduced by A. Grothendieck in his formulation of the Riemann- Roch theorem. For each projective algebraic variety, Grothendieck constructed a group from the category of coherent algebraic sheaves, and showed that it had many nice properties. Atiyah and Hirzebruch considered a topological analog defined for any compact space X, a group K{X) constructed from the category of vector bundles on X. It is this ''topological K-theory" that this book will study. Topological K-theory has become an important tool in topology. Using K- theory, Adams and Atiyah were able to give a simple proof that the only spheres which can be provided with H-space structures are S1, S3 and S7. Moreover, it is possible to derive a substantial part of stable homotopy theory from K-theory. The purpose of this book is to provide advanced students and mathematicians in other fields with the fundamental material in this subject. In addition, several applications of the type described above are included. In general we have tried to make this book self-contained, beginning with elementary concepts wherever possible; however, we assume that the reader is familiar with the basic definitions of homotopy theory: homotopy classes of maps and homotopy groups.Thus this book might be regarded as a fairly self-contained introduction to a "generalized cohomology theory".




Equivariant Homotopy and Cohomology Theory


Book Description

This volume introduces equivariant homotopy, homology, and cohomology theory, along with various related topics in modern algebraic topology. It explains the main ideas behind some of the most striking recent advances in the subject. The works begins with a development of the equivariant algebraic topology of spaces culminating in a discussion of the Sullivan conjecture that emphasizes its relationship with classical Smith theory. The book then introduces equivariant stable homotopy theory, the equivariant stable homotopy category, and the most important examples of equivariant cohomology theories. The basic machinery that is needed to make serious use of equivariant stable homotopy theory is presented next, along with discussions of the Segal conjecture and generalized Tate cohomology. Finally, the book gives an introduction to "brave new algebra", the study of point-set level algebraic structures on spectra and its equivariant applications. Emphasis is placed on equivariant complex cobordism, and related results on that topic are presented in detail.




Handbook of K-Theory


Book Description

This handbook offers a compilation of techniques and results in K-theory. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific topic and is written by a leading expert. Many chapters present historical background; some present previously unpublished results, whereas some present the first expository account of a topic; many discuss future directions as well as open problems. It offers an exposition of our current state of knowledge as well as an implicit blueprint for future research.




Algebraic Topology from a Homotopical Viewpoint


Book Description

The authors present introductory material in algebraic topology from a novel point of view in using a homotopy-theoretic approach. This carefully written book can be read by any student who knows some topology, providing a useful method to quickly learn this novel homotopy-theoretic point of view of algebraic topology.