CW complex

In topology, a CW complex is a type of topological space introduced by J. H. C. Whitehead to meet the needs of homotopy theory. This class of spaces is broader and has some better categorical properties than simplicial complexes, but still retains a combinatorial nature that allows for computation (often with a much smaller complex).

Formulation

Roughly speaking, a CW complex is made of basic building blocks called cells. The precise definition prescribes how the cells may be topologically glued together. The C stands for "closure-finite", and the W for "weak topology".

An n-dimensional closed cell is the image of an n-dimensional closed ball under an attaching map. For example, a simplex is a closed cell, and more generally, a convex polytope is a closed cell. An n-dimensional open cell is a topological space that is homeomorphic to the n-dimensional open ball. A 0-dimensional open (and closed) cell is a singleton space. Closure-finite means that each closed cell is covered by a finite union of open cells.

A CW complex is a Hausdorff space X together with a partition of X into open cells (of perhaps varying dimension) that satisfies two additional properties:

Inductive definition of CW complexes

If the largest dimension of any of the cells is n, then the CW complex is said to have dimension n. If there is no bound to the cell dimensions then it is said to be infinite-dimensional. The n-skeleton of a CW complex is the union of the cells whose dimension is at most n. If the union of a set of cells is closed, then this union is itself a CW complex, called a subcomplex. Thus the n-skeleton is the largest subcomplex of dimension n or less.

A CW complex is often constructed by defining its skeleta inductively. Begin by taking the 0-skeleton to be a discrete space. Next, attach 1-cells to the 0-skeleton. Here, each 1-cell begins as a closed 1-ball and is attached to the 0-skeleton via some (continuous) map from the boundary of the 1-ball, that is, from the 0-sphere  S_0 . Each point of  S_0 can be identified with its image in the 0-skeleton under the aforementioned map; this is an equivalence relation. The 1-skeleton is then defined to be the identification space obtained from the union of the 0-skeleton and 1-cells under this equivalence relation.

In general, given the (n  1)-skeleton, the n-skeleton is formed by attaching n-cells to it. Each n-cell begins as a closed n-ball and is attached to the (n  1)-skeleton via some continuous map from the boundary of the n-ball, that is, from the (n  1)-sphere  S_{n-1} . Each point of  S_{n-1} can be identified with its image in the (n  1)-skeleton under the aforementioned map; this is again an equivalence relation. The n-skeleton is then defined to be the identification space obtained from the union of the (n  1)-skeleton and n-cells under this equivalence relation.

Up to isomorphism every n-dimensional complex can be obtained from its (n  1)-skeleton in this sense, and thus every finite-dimensional CW complex can be built up by the process above. This is true even for infinite-dimensional complexes, with the understanding that the result of the infinite process is the direct limit of the skeleta: a set is closed in X if and only if it meets each skeleton in a closed set.

Examples

Homology and cohomology of CW complexes

Singular homology and cohomology of CW complexes is readily computable via cellular homology. Moreover, in the category of CW complexes and cellular maps, cellular homology can be interpreted as a homology theory. To compute an extraordinary (co)homology theory for a CW complex, the Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence is the analogue of cellular homology.

Some examples:

  • For the sphere S^n, take the cell decomposition with two cells: a single 0-cell and a single n-cell. The cellular homology chain complex C_* and homology are given by:

C_k = \left\{
\begin{array}{lr}
\mathbb Z & k \in \{0,n\} \\
0 & k \notin \{0,n\}
\end{array}
\right. H_k =  \left\{
\begin{array}{lr}
\mathbb Z & k \in \{0,n\} \\
0 & k \notin \{0,n\}
\end{array}
\right. since all the differentials are zero.

Alternatively, if we use the equatorial decomposition with two cells in every dimension C_k = \left\{
\begin{array}{lr}
\mathbb Z^2 & 0 \leq k \leq n \\
0 & \text{otherwise}
\end{array}
\right. and the differentials are matrices of the form \begin{pmatrix} 1 & -1 \\ 1 & -1\end{pmatrix}. This gives the same homology computation above, as the chain complex is exact at all terms except C_0 and C_n.

  • For \mathbb{P}^n\mathbb{C} we get similarly
H^k(\mathbb{P}^n\mathbb{C}) = \begin{cases}
  \mathbb{Z} \quad\text{for } 0\le k\le 2n,\text{even}\\
  0  \quad\text{otherwise}.
\end{cases}

Both of the above examples are particularly simple because the homology is determined by the number of cells—i.e.: the cellular attaching maps have no role in these computations. This is a very special phenomenon and is not indicative of the general case.

Modification of CW structures

There is a technique, developed by Whitehead, for replacing a CW complex with a homotopy-equivalent CW complex which has a simpler CW decomposition.

Consider, for example, an arbitrary CW complex. Its 1-skeleton can be fairly complicated, being an arbitrary graph. Now consider a maximal forest F in this graph. Since it is a collection of trees, and trees are contractible, consider the space X/\sim where the equivalence relation is generated by x \sim y if they are contained in a common tree in the maximal forest F. The quotient map X \to X/\sim is a homotopy equivalence. Moreover, X/\sim naturally inherits a CW structure, with cells corresponding to the cells of X which are not contained in F. In particular, the 1-skeleton of X/\sim is a disjoint union of wedges of circles.

Another way of stating the above is that a connected CW complex can be replaced by a homotopy-equivalent CW complex whose 0-skeleton consists of a single point.

Consider climbing up the connectivity ladder—assume X is a simply-connected CW complex whose 0-skeleton consists of a point. Can we, through suitable modifications, replace X by a homotopy-equivalent CW complex where X^1 consists of a single point? The answer is yes. The first step is to observe that X^1 and the attaching maps to construct X^2 from X^1 form a group presentation. The Tietze theorem for group presentations states that there is a sequence of moves we can perform to reduce this group presentation to the trivial presentation of the trivial group. There are two Tietze moves:

1) Adding/removing a generator. Adding a generator, from the perspective of the CW decomposition consists of adding a 1-cell and a 2-cell whose attaching map consists of the new 1-cell and the remainder of the attaching map is in X^1. If we let \tilde X be the corresponding CW complex \tilde X = X \cup e^1 \cup e^2 then there is a homotopy-equivalence \tilde X \to X given by sliding the new 2-cell into X.
2) Adding/removing a relation. The act of adding a relation is similar, only one is replacing X by \tilde X = X \cup e^2 \cup e^3 where the new 3-cell has an attaching map that consists of the new 2-cell and remainder mapping into X^2. A similar slide gives a homotopy-equivalence \tilde X \to X.

If a CW complex X is n-connected one can find a homotopy-equivalent CW complex \tilde X whose n-skeleton X^n consists of a single point. The argument for n \geq 2 is similar to the n=1 case, only one replaces Tietze moves for the fundamental group presentation by elementary matrix operations for the presentation matrices for H_n(X;\mathbb Z) (using the presentation matrices coming from cellular homology. i.e.: one can similarly realize elementary matrix operations by a sequence of addition/removal of cells or suitable homotopies of the attaching maps.

'The' homotopy category

The homotopy category of CW complexes is, in the opinion of some experts, the best if not the only candidate for the homotopy category (for technical reasons the version for pointed spaces is actually used).[2] Auxiliary constructions that yield spaces that are not CW complexes must be used on occasion. One basic result is that the representable functors on the homotopy category have a simple characterisation (the Brown representability theorem).

Properties

See also

References

Notes

  1. Turaev, V. G. (1994), "Quantum invariants of knots and 3-manifolds", De Gruyter Studies in Mathematics (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.) 18
  2. For example, the opinion "The class of CW complexes (or the class of spaces of the same homotopy type as a CW complex) is the most suitable class of topological spaces in relation to homotopy theory" appears in Baladze, D.O. (2001), "CW-complex", in Hazewinkel, Michiel, Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-1-55608-010-4
  3. Milnor, John, "On spaces having the homotopy type of a CW-complex" Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 90 (1959), 272–280.
  4. "Compactly Generated Spaces" (PDF).
  5. Hatcher, Allen, Algebraic topology, Cambridge University Press (2002). ISBN 0-521-79540-0. A free electronic version is available on the author's homepage
  6. Hatcher, Allen, Vector bundles and K-theory, preliminary version available on the authors homepage

General references

  • Hatcher, Allen (2002). Algebraic topology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79540-0.  This textbook defines CW complexes in the first chapter and uses them throughout; includes an appendix on the topology of CW complexes. A free electronic version is available on the author's homepage.
  • Lundell, A. T.; Weingram, S. (1970). The topology of CW complexes. Van Nostrand University Series in Higher Mathematics. ISBN 0-442-04910-2. 


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