Aspherical manifolds

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(Construction and examples)
(Construction and examples)
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* $S^1$ is aspherical.
* $S^1$ is aspherical.
* Any [[Surface|surface]] $F$, not homeomorphic to $S^2$ or $\Rr P^2$ is aspherical.
* Any [[Surface|surface]] $F$, not homeomorphic to $S^2$ or $\Rr P^2$ is aspherical.
* A closed, oriented $3$-manifold $M$ is aspherical if and only if it is [[irreducible]] and $\pi_1(M)$ is torsion free.
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* A closed, oriented $3$-manifold $M$ is aspherical if and only if it is [[irreducible]] and $\pi_1(M)$ is torsion free {{cite}}.
* In any dimension, if $M$ admits a metric of non-positive [[Wikipedia:Sectional_curvature|sectional curvature]] then $M$ is aspherical.
* In any dimension, if $M$ admits a metric of non-positive [[Wikipedia:Sectional_curvature|sectional curvature]] then $M$ is aspherical.
* If $L$ is a Lie group with $\pi_0(L)$ finite, $K$ is a maximal compact subgroup of $L$ and $G$ is a discrete torsion free lattice in $L$ then $G \backslash L/K$ is aspherical.
* If $L$ is a Lie group with $\pi_0(L)$ finite, $K$ is a maximal compact subgroup of $L$ and $G$ is a discrete torsion free lattice in $L$ then $G \backslash L/K$ is aspherical.

Revision as of 12:45, 9 February 2010

This page has not been refereed. The information given here might be incomplete or provisional.

Contents

1 Introduction

A path-connected space X is called aspherical is its higher homotopy groups vanish: \pi_i(X) = 0 for all i \geq 2. This article is about closed, aspherical manifolds
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which are connected manifolds with contractible universal cover \widetilde M \simeq *.

2 Construction and examples

  • S^1 is aspherical.
  • Any surface F, not homeomorphic to S^2 or \Rr P^2 is aspherical.
  • A closed, oriented 3-manifold
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    is aspherical if and only if it is irreducible and \pi_1(M) is torsion free [{{{1}}}].
  • In any dimension, if
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    admits a metric of non-positive sectional curvature then
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    is aspherical.
  • If L is a Lie group with \pi_0(L) finite, K is a maximal compact subgroup of L and G is a discrete torsion free lattice in L then G \backslash L/K is aspherical.
  • A product of aspherical manifolds is again aspherical:
    • T^n, the n-torus is aspherical.

3 Invariants

The primary invariant of an aspherical manifold
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is its fundamental group, \pi_1(M).
  • \pi_1(M) is finitely presented and torsion free.
  • \pi_i(M) = 0 for i > 1 by definition.
As each aspherical manifold
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is a K(\pi_1(M), 1), the homology and cohomology of
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are by definition the homology and cohomology of \pi_1(M). For any coefficient module A:
  • H^*(M; A) = H^*(\pi_1(M); A),
  • H_*(M;A) = H_*(\pi_1(M); A).

4 Classification

Two aspherical manifolds
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and N are homotopy equivalent if and only if there is an isomorphism \pi_1(M) \cong \pi_1(N).

The main conjecture organising the classification of aspherical manifolds is the Borel Conjecture.

Conjecture 4.1. Let f : N \simeq M be a homotopy equivalence between aspherical manifolds. Then f is homotopic to a homeomorphism.

5 Further discussion

For further information see [Farrell&Jones1990] and [Lück2008].

6 References

  • [[Template:{{{1}}}|[{{{1}}}]]] {{{{{1}}}}}
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