Making use of linear and homological algebra techniques we study the linearization map between the generalized Burnside and rational representation rings of a group G. For groups G and H, the generalized Burnside ring is the Grothendieck construction of the semiring of G × H-sets with a free H-action. The generalized representation ring is the Grothendieck construction of the semiring of rational G×H-modules that are free as rational H-modules. The canonical map between these two rings mapping the isomorphism class of a G-set X to the class of its permutation module is known as the linearization map. For p a prime number and H the unique group of order p, we describe the generators of the kernel of this map in the cases where G is an elementary abelian p-group or a cyclic p-group. In addition we introduce the methods needed to study the Bredon homology theory of a G-CW-complex with coefficients coming from the classical Burnside ring.

In this thesis we study the homological behaviour of configuration spaces as the number of objects in the configuration goes to infinity. For unordered configurations of distinct points (possibly equipped with some internal parameters) in a connected, open manifold it is a well-known result, going back to G. Segal and D. McDuff in the 1970s, that these spaces enjoy the property of homological stability. In Chapter 2 we prove that this property also holds for so-called oriented configuration spaces, in which the points of a configuration are equipped with an ordering up to even permutations. There are two important differences from the unordered setting: the rate (or slope) of stabilisation is strictly slower, and the stabilisation maps are not in general split-injective on homology. This can be seen by some explicit calculations of Guest-Kozlowski-Yamaguchi in the case of surfaces. In Chapter 3 we refine their calculations to show that, for an odd prime p, the difference between the mod-p homology of the oriented and the unordered configuration spaces on a surface is zero in a stable range whose slope converges to 1 as p goes to infinity. In Chapter 4 we prove that unordered configuration spaces satisfy homological stability with respect to finite-degree twisted coefficient systems, generalising the corresponding result of S. Betley for the symmetric groups. We deduce this from a general “twisted stability from untwisted stability” principle, which also applies to the configuration spaces studied in the next chapter. In Chapter 5 we study configuration spaces of submanifolds of a background manifold M. Roughly, these are spaces of pairwise unlinked, mutually isotopic copies of a fixed closed, connected manifold P in M. We prove that if the dimension of P is at most (dim(M)−3)/2 then these configuration spaces satisfy homological stability w.r.t. the number of copies of P in the configuration. If P is a sphere this upper bound on its dimension can be increased to dim(M)−3.

We discuss a method of classifying 2-dimensional invertible topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) whose domain surface categories allow non-orientable cobordisms. These are known as Klein TQFTs. To this end we study the 1+1 dimensional open-closed unoriented cobordism category K, whose objects are compact 1-manifolds and whose morphisms are compact (not necessarily orientable) cobordisms up to homeomorphism. We are able to compute the fundamental group of its classifying space BK and, by way of this result, derive an infinite loop splitting of BK, a classification of functors K → Z, and a classification of 2-dimensional open-closed invertible Klein TQFTs. Analogous results are obtained for the two subcategories of K whose objects are closed or have boundary respectively, including classifications of both closed and open invertible Klein TQFTs. The results obtained throughout the paper are generalisations of previous results by Tillmann [Til96] and Douglas [Dou00] regarding the 1+1 dimensional closed and open-closed oriented cobordism categories. Finally we consider how our results should be interpreted in terms of the known classification of 2-dimensional TQFTs in terms of Frobenius algebras.

We give a definition of the scanning map for configuration spaces that is equivariant under the action of the diffeomorphism group of the underlying manifold. We use this to extend the Bödigheimer-Madsen result for the stable splittings of the Borel constructions of certain mapping spaces from compact Lie group actions to all smooth actions. Moreover, we construct a stable splitting of configuration spaces which is equivariant under smooth group actions, completing a zig-zag of equivariant stable homotopy equivalences between mapping spaces and certain wedge sums of spaces. Finally we generalise these results to configuration spaces with twisted labels (labels in a fibre bundle subject to certain conditions) and extend the Bödigheimer-Madsen result to more mapping spaces.

In Image Classification, pictures of the same type of object can have very different pixel values. Traditional norm-based metrics therefore fail to identify objectsin the same category. Topology is a branch of mathematics that deals with homeomorphic spaces, by discarding length. With topology, we can discover patterns in the image that are invariant to rotation, translation and warping. Persistent Homology is a new approach in Applied Topology that studies the presence of continuous regions and holes in an image. It has been used successfully for image segmentation and classification [12]. However, current approaches in image classification require a grayscale image to generate the persistence modules. This means information encoded in colour channels is lost. This thesis investigates whether the information in the red, green and blue colour channels of an RGB image hold additional information that could help algorithms classify pictures. We apply two recent methods, one by Adams [2] and the other by Hofer [25], on the CUB-200-2011 birds dataset [40] andfind that Hofer’s method produces significant results. Additionally, a modified method based on Hofer that uses the RGB colour channels produces significantly better results than the baseline, with over 48 % of images correctly classified, compared to 44 % and with a more significant improvement at lower resolutions.This indicates that colour channels do provide significant new information and generating one persistence module per colour channel is a viable approach to RGB image classification.

The topological entropy of a continuous map quantifies the amount of chaos observed in the map. In this dissertation we present computational methods which enable us to compute topological entropy for given time series data generated from a continuous map with a transitive attractor. A triangulation is constructed in order to approximate the attractor and to construct a multivalued map that approximates the dynamics of the linear interpolant on the triangulation. The methods utilize simplicial homology and in particular the Lefschetz Fixed Point Theorem to establish the existence of periodic orbits for the linear interpolant. A semiconjugacy is formed with a subshift of nite type for which the entropy can be calculated and provides a lower bound for the entropy of the linear interpolant. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of possible applications of this analysis to experimental time series. / by Mark Wess. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

A bound for Betti numbers of sets definable in o-minimal structures is presented. An axiomatic complexity measure is defined, allowing various concrete complexity measures for definable functions to be covered. This includes common concrete measures such as the degree of polynomials, and complexity of Pfaffian functions. A generalisation of the Thom-Milnor Bound [17, 19] for sets defined by the conjunction of equations and non-strict inequalities is presented, in the new context of sets definable in o-minimal structures using the axiomatic complexity measure. Next bounds are produced for sets defined by Boolean combinations of equations and inequalities, through firstly considering sets defined by sign conditions, then using this to produce results for closed sets, and then making use of a construction to approximate any set defined by a Boolean combination of equations and inequalities by a closed set. Lastly, existing results [12] for sets defined using quantifiers on an open or closed set are generalised, using a construction from Gabrielov and Vorobjov [11] to approximate any set by a compact set. This results in a method to find a general bound for any set definable in an o-minimal structure in terms of the axiomatic complexity measure. As a consequence for the first time an upper bound for sub-Pfaffian sets defined by arbitrary formulae with quantifiers is given. This bound is singly exponential if the number of quantifier alternations is fixed.

Topological order is a new paradigm for quantum phases of matter developed to explain phase transitions which do not fit the symmetry breaking scheme for classifying phases of matter. They are characterized by patterns of entanglement that lead to topologically depended ground state degeneracy and anyonic excitations. One common approach for studying such phases in two-dimensional systems is through exactly solvable lattice Hamiltonian models such as quantum double models and String-Net models. The former can be understood as the Hamiltonian formulation of lattice gauge theories and, as such, it is defined by a finite gauge group. However, not much is known about topological phases in tridimensional systems. Motivated by this we develop a new class of three-dimensional exactly solvable models which go beyond quantum double models by using finite crossed modules instead of gauge groups. This approach relies on a lattice implementation of 2-gauge theory to obtain models with a richer topological structure. We construct the Hamiltonian model explicitly and provide a rigorous proof that the ground state degeneracy is a topological invariant and that the ground states can only be characterized with nonlocal order parameters. / Ordem topológica é um novo paradigma para fases quânticas da matéria desenvolvido para explicar transições de fase que não se encaixam no esquema de classificação de fases da matéria por quebra de simetria. Estas fases são caracterizadas por padrões de emaranhamento que levam a uma degenerescência de estado fundamental topológica e a excitações anyonicas. Uma abordagem comum para o estudo de tais fases em sistemas bidimensionais é através de modelos Hamiltonianos exatamente solúveis de rede como os modelos duplos quânticos e modelos de String-Nets. O primeiro pode ser entendido como a formulação Hamiltoniana de teorias de gauge na rede e, desta maneira, é definido por um group de gauge finito. Entretanto, pouco é conhecido a respeito de fases topológicas em sistemas tridimensionais. Motivado por isso nós desenvolvemos uma nova classe de modelos tridimensionais exatamente solúveis que vai alem de modelos duplos quânticos pelo uso de módulos cruzados finitos no lugar de grupos de gauge. Esta abordagem se baseia numa implementação em redes de teoria de 2-gauge para obter modelos com uma estrutura topológica mais rica. Nós construímos o modelos Hamiltoniano explicitamente e fornecemos uma demonstração rigorosa de que a degenerescência de estado fundamental é um invariante topológico e que os estados fundamentais só podem ser caracterizados por parâmetros de ordem não locais.

Orientador: João Peres Vieira / Banca: Alice Kimie Miwa Libardi / Banca: Ermínia de Lourdes Campello Fanti / Resumo: Este trabalho é espelhado no livro "Teoria do Índice" [1] de Daciberg Lima Gonçalves e José Carlos de Souza Kiihl, publicado em 1983 no 14o Colóquio Brasileiro de Matemática pelo IMPA. Para a leitura deste trabalho é necessário uma familiaridade prévia com Topologia Algébrica, na qual indicamos [2] e [3] para consulta. Inicialmente apresentaremos alguns pré-requisitos algébricos e topológicos necessários para o desenvolvimento do trabalho e a seguir estudaremos: pontos fixos de aplicações contínuas de X em X, em que X é um espaço topológico; Grau de Brouwer de aplicações contínuas de Sn em Sn (ou respectivamente (Bn+1; Sn) em (Bn+1; Sn)); Grau Local de uma aplicação contínua f de V em Sn em torno de um ponto Q 2 Sn, em que V Sn é um aberto e f����1(Q) é um compacto e Índices dos Pontos Fixos de uma aplicação contínua de V em Sn, em que V Rn é um aberto / Abstract: This work is based on the book titled "Teoria do Índice" [1] by Daciberg Lima Gonçalves and José Carlos de Souza Kiihl , published in 1983 in the 14o Brazilian Math Colloquium held by IMPA . In order to perform the reading of this work, a basic acquaintance from the algebraic topology is needed, on which we can indicate the following [2] and [3] references. Firstly, for the development of the work, some previous necessary algebraic and topological requirements are shown and the next topics will be studied: fixed points of continuous maps from X to X, where X is a topological space, Brouwer's degree of continuous maps from Sn to Sn ( or respectively (Bn+1; Sn) to (Bn+1; Sn)), Local Degree of continuous maps from V to Sn around a point Q 2 Sn, where V Sn is an open set and f����1(Q) is a compact set and Fixed Points Index of continuous maps from V to Sn, where V Rn is an open set / Mestre

We introduce a new class of Conley-Morse chain maps for the purpose of comparing the qualitative structure of flows across multiple scales. Conley index theory generalizes classical Morse theory as a tool for studying the dynamics of flows. The qualitative structure of a flow, given a Morse decomposition, can be stored algebraically as a set of homology groups (Conley indices) and a boundary map between the indices (a connection matrix). We show that as long as the qualitative structures of two flows agree on some, perhaps coarse, level we can construct a chain map between the corresponding chain complexes that preserves the relations between the (coarsened) Morse sets. We present elementary examples to motivate applications to data analysis.