Excision theoremIn algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics, the excision theorem is a theorem about relative homology and one of the Eilenberg–Steenrod axioms. Given a topological space and subspaces and such that is also a subspace of , the theorem says that under certain circumstances, we can cut out (excise) from both spaces such that the relative homologies of the pairs into are isomorphic. This assists in computation of singular homology groups, as sometimes after excising an appropriately chosen subspace we obtain something easier to compute.
Homotopical algebraIn mathematics, homotopical algebra is a collection of concepts comprising the nonabelian aspects of homological algebra, and possibly the aspects as special cases. The homotopical nomenclature stems from the fact that a common approach to such generalizations is via abstract homotopy theory, as in nonabelian algebraic topology, and in particular the theory of . This subject has received much attention in recent years due to new foundational work of Vladimir Voevodsky, Eric Friedlander, Andrei Suslin, and others resulting in the A1 homotopy theory for quasiprojective varieties over a field.
Local propertyIn mathematics, a mathematical object is said to satisfy a property locally, if the property is satisfied on some limited, immediate portions of the object (e.g., on some sufficiently small or arbitrarily small neighborhoods of points). Perhaps the best-known example of the idea of locality lies in the concept of local minimum (or local maximum), which is a point in a function whose functional value is the smallest (resp., largest) within an immediate neighborhood of points.
Stalk (sheaf)The stalk of a sheaf is a mathematical construction capturing the behaviour of a sheaf around a given point. Sheaves are defined on open sets, but the underlying topological space consists of points. It is reasonable to attempt to isolate the behavior of a sheaf at a single fixed point of . Conceptually speaking, we do this by looking at small neighborhoods of the point. If we look at a sufficiently small neighborhood of , the behavior of the sheaf on that small neighborhood should be the same as the behavior of at that point.
Mapping cylinderIn mathematics, specifically algebraic topology, the mapping cylinder of a continuous function between topological spaces and is the quotient where the denotes the disjoint union, and ∼ is the equivalence relation generated by That is, the mapping cylinder is obtained by gluing one end of to via the map . Notice that the "top" of the cylinder is homeomorphic to , while the "bottom" is the space . It is common to write for , and to use the notation or for the mapping cylinder construction.
Size functionSize functions are shape descriptors, in a geometrical/topological sense. They are functions from the half-plane to the natural numbers, counting certain connected components of a topological space. They are used in pattern recognition and topology. In size theory, the size function associated with the size pair is defined in the following way.
Induced homomorphismIn mathematics, especially in algebraic topology, an induced homomorphism is a homomorphism derived in a canonical way from another map. For example, a continuous map from a topological space X to a topological space Y induces a group homomorphism from the fundamental group of X to the fundamental group of Y. More generally, in , any functor by definition provides an induced morphism in the target for each morphism in the source category.
Zig-zag lemmaIn mathematics, particularly homological algebra, the zig-zag lemma asserts the existence of a particular long exact sequence in the homology groups of certain chain complexes. The result is valid in every . In an abelian category (such as the category of abelian groups or the category of vector spaces over a given field), let and be chain complexes that fit into the following short exact sequence: Such a sequence is shorthand for the following commutative diagram: where the rows are exact sequences and each column is a chain complex.
Higher-dimensional algebraIn mathematics, especially () , higher-dimensional algebra is the study of categorified structures. It has applications in nonabelian algebraic topology, and generalizes abstract algebra. Category theory#Higher-dimensional categories A first step towards defining higher dimensional algebras is the concept of of , followed by the more 'geometric' concept of double category. A higher level concept is thus defined as a of categories, or super-category, which generalises to higher dimensions the notion of – regarded as any structure which is an interpretation of Lawvere's axioms of the elementary theory of abstract categories (ETAC).
Acyclic modelIn algebraic topology, a discipline within mathematics, the acyclic models theorem can be used to show that two homology theories are isomorphic. The theorem was developed by topologists Samuel Eilenberg and Saunders MacLane. They discovered that, when topologists were writing proofs to establish equivalence of various homology theories, there were numerous similarities in the processes. Eilenberg and MacLane then discovered the theorem to generalize this process. It can be used to prove the Eilenberg–Zilber theorem; this leads to the idea of the .
