Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

9-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Mathematics

Advisor

Dennis Sullivan

Committee Members

Martin Bendersky

James Simons

Scott Wilson

Subject Categories

Geometry and Topology

Keywords

almost complex structure, six sphere, rational homotopy theory, de rham homotopy

Abstract

In his seminal paper Infinitesimal Computations in Topology, Sullivan constructs algebraic models for spaces and then computes various invariants using them. In this thesis, we use those ideas to obtain a finiteness result for such an invariant (the de Rham homotopy type) for each connected component of the space of cross-sections of certain fibrations. We then apply this result to differential geometry and prove a finiteness theorem of the de Rham homotopy type for each connected component of the space of almost complex structures on a manifold. As a special case, we discuss the space of almost complex structures on the six sphere and conclude a conjecture about the ordinary homotopy type of that space.

Share

COinS