This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
STEPHEN SMALE Volume 1 ■ ■•iMorMfi :..Ki"- KM& J*m&
Edited by
F. Cucker R. Wong City University of Hong Kong
SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY PRESS NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
^ | f e World Scientific WM
Singapore *New Jersey • London • Hong Kong
fewMMLtM-
Published by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd. P O Box 128, Fairer Road, Singapore 912805 USA office: Suite IB, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NI0766! UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden. London WC2H 9HE
Library of Congreu Cataloglng-in-PnUication Data Smale, Stephen. 1930[Works. 2000] The collected papers of Stephen Smale / edited by F. dicker, R. Wong. p. cm. ISBN 9810243073 (set) - ISBN 9810249918 (v. 1) -- ISBN 9810249926 (v. 2) - ISBN 9810249934 (v. 3) 1. Mathematics. 2. Computer science. 3. Economics. I. Cucker, Felipe, 1958- II. Wong, R. (Roderick), 1944- III. Tide. QA3 .S62525 2000 510~dc21
00-031992
British Library Cataloguirjg-bi-PubHcatk>n Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center. Inc.. 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers. MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher.
Printed in Singapore.
V
Roderick Wong, Stephen Smale and Felipe Cucker
vi
Digging a well at Hilberry's, 1953.
Our first ascent (in 1953) of the Grand Teton, New Route, with Jack Hilberry and Anne Blackwell.
vii
A young Stephen Smale.
Nat and Stephen Smale, Thanksgiving, Chicago, 1957.
viii
Tiger Leaping Gorge of the Yangtze River, 1999.
Clara and Stephen Smaie, Shenzhen, 1996.
ix
In the office, Hong Kong, 1998.
Mike Shub, Lenore Blum, Felipe Cucker and Stephen Smale, Dagstuhl, 1995.
X
Clara Smale, Stephen Smale, Dick Karp and Bill Clinton.
xi
Foreword On July 15, 2000 Steve Smale will turn seventy. To celebrate his birthday, an international conference will be held at City University of Hong Kong. Some months ago, we had the idoa of taking this opportunity to publish Steve's collected works so that the Bnal volumes could be ready by July 15, 2000. It was probably a timely decision since Steve, who had turned down previous suggestions to publish his collected work, accepted our proposal right from the start. The reasons for publishing Steve's collected papers are only too clear. Steve Smale is one of the great mathematicians of this century, a fact acknowledged not only by the different distinctions he has been granted, but also by the breadth and the depth of his work. Its breadth is witnessed by his fundamental contributions to so many diverse areas of mathematics, ranging from Dynamical Systems to Theory of Computation, from Differential Topology to Mathematical Economics and from Calculus of Variations to Mechanics. Its depth can be seen from the fact that he has an amazing ability to lay foundations, invent techniques, and create new concepts and ideas, as well as being able to crack hard problems such as the Pomcare" conjecture for dimensions greater than or equal to five. The structure of these volumes of collected papers reflects the breadth of Steve's contributions. We have avoided a purely chronological ordering of the papers. Each volume is divided into several parts, and each of these parts contains the papers Steve wrote on a specific subject. Within each part, the papers are sorted chronologically. In some sections, we have included a paper written by a world leader commenting on Steve's contributions to that particular subject. Volume I also contains papers by close friends and colleagues of Steve that describe different aspects of his work, and a paper written by Steve himself, specifically for these volumes, with retrospective remarks on his own work. Many people and institutions have helped make this project possible. These include the different publishing houses that have kindly given us the permission to reprint Steve's papers, and World Scientific for its constant willingness to cooperate with us. Ms Colette Lam, Executive Assistant of the Liu Bie Ju Centre for Mathe matical Sciences here at the City University of Hong Kong, has been of invaluable help in putting the volumes together. Last but not least, we want to thank Steve Smale for his continuous availability and his warm disposition towards our project. As a final thought, we would like to point out that Steve Smale is a man of many accomplishments, a good number of which are not related to mathematics. For instance, he is a very kc^en hiker, has been an accomplished sailor for years, and has managed to put together one of the finest collections of crystals in the world. He has produced excellent photographs of his crystals, and some of these photos grace the covers of these three volumes. Felipe Cucker Roderick Wong
This page is intentionally left blank
XU1
Contents
VOLUME I Research Themes
1
Luncheon Talk and Nomination for Stephen Smale (R. Bott)
8
Some Recollections of the Early Work of Steve Smale (M. M. Peixoto)
14
Luncheon Talk (R. Thorn)
17
Banquet Address at the Smalefest (E. C. Zeeman)
20
Some Retrospective Remarks
22
Part I. Topology The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology (M. Hirsch)
29
A Note on Open Maps
53
A Vietoris Mapping Theorem for Homotopy
56
Regular Curves on Riemannian Manifolds
63
On the Immersion of Manifolds in Euclidean Space (with R. K. Lashof)
84
Self-Intersections of Immersed Manifolds (with R. K. Lashof)
106
A Classification of Immersions of the Two-Sphere
121
The Classification of Immersions of Spheres in Euclidean Spaces
131
Diffeomorphisms of the 2-Sphere
149
On Involutions of the 3-Sphere (with M. Hirsch)
155
The Generalized Poincare Conjecture in Higher Dimensions
163
On Gradient Dynamical Systems
166
Generalized Poincar6's Conjecture in Dimensions Greater Than Four
174
Differentiable and Combinatorial Structures on Manifolds
190
On the Structure of 5-Manifolds
195
On the Structure of Manifolds
204
xiv
A Survey of Some Recent Developments in Differential Topology
217
The Story of the Higher Dimensional Poincard Conjecture (What actually happened on the beaches of Rio)
232
Part II. Economics Stephen Smale and the Economic Theory of General Equilibrium (G. Debreu)
243
Global Analysis and Economics, I: Pareto optimum and a generalization of Morse theory
259
Global Analysis and Economics, IIA: Extension of a theorem of Debreu
271
Global Analysis and Economics, III: Pareto optima and price equilibria
285
Global Analysis and Economics, IV: Finiteness and stability of equilibria with general consumption sets and production
296
Global Analysis and Economics, V: Pareto theory with constraints
305
Dynamics in general equilibrium theory
314
Global Analysis and Economics, VI: Geometric analysis of Pareto Optima and price equilibria under classical hypotheses
321
A Convergent Process of Price Adjustment and Global Newton Methods
335
Exchange Processes with Price Adjustment
349
Some Dynamical Questions in Mathematical Economics
365
An Approach to the Analysis of Dynamic Processes in Economic Systems
368
On Comparative Statics and Bifurcation in Economic Equilibrium Theory
373
The Prisoner's Dilemma and Dynamical Systems Associated to Non-Cooperative Games
380
Global Analysis and Economics
398
Gerard Debreu Wins the Nobel Prize
438
Global Analysis in Economic Theory
440
XV
Part ID. Miscellaneous Scientists and the Arms Race
445
On the Steps of Moscow University
454
Some Autobiographical Notes
461
Mathematical Problems for the Next Century
480
VOLUME II Part IV. Calculus of Variations (Global Analysis) and PDE's Smale and Nonlinear Analysis: A personal perspective (A. J. Tromba)
491
A Generalized Morse Theory (with R. Palais)
503
Morse Theory and a Non-Linear Generalization of the Dirichlet Problem
511
On the Calculus of Variations
526
An Infinite Dimensional Version of Sard's Theorem
529
On the Morse Index Theorem
535
A correction to "On the Morse Index Theorem"
542
What is Global Analysis?
544
Book Review on "Global Variational Analysis: Weierstrass Integrals on a Riemannian Manifold" by Marston Morse
550
Smooth Solutions of the Heat and Wave Equations
561
Part V. Dynamics On the Contribution of Smale to Dynamical Systems (J. Palis)
575
Discussion (S. Newhouse, R. F. Williams and others)
589
Morse Inequalities for a Dynamical System
596
On Dynamical Systems
603
Dynamical Systems and the Topological Conjugacy Problem for Diffeomorphisms
607
Stable Manifolds for Differential Equations and Diffeomorphisms
614
XVI
A Structurally Stable Differentiable Homeomorphism with an Infinite Number of Periodic Points
634
Diffeomorphisms with Many Periodic Points
636
Structurally Stable Systems Are Not Dense
654
Dynamical Systems on /j-Dimensional Manifolds
660
Differentiable Dynamical Systems
664
Nongenericity of ^-Stability (with R. Abraham)
735
Structural Stability Theorems (with J. Palis)
739
Notes on Differential Dynamical Systems
748
The Q-Stability Theorem
759
Stability and Genericity in Dynamical Systems
768
Beyond Hyperbolicity (with M. Shub)
776
Stability and Isotopy in Discrete Dynamical Systems
781
Differential Equations
785
Dynamical Systems and Turbulence
791
Review of "Catastrophe Theory: Selected Papers, 1972-1977" by E. C. Zeeman
814
On the Problem of Reviving the Ergodic Hypothesis of Boltzmann and Birkhoff
823
On How I Got Started in Dynamical Systems
831
Dynamics Retrospective: Great problems, attempts that failed
836
What is Chaos?
843
Finding a Horseshoe on the Beaches of Rio
859
The Work of Curtis T. McMullen
865
Part VI. Mechanics Steve Smale and Geometric Mechanics (J. E. Marsden)
871
Topology and Mechanics, I.
889
xv ii
Topology and Mechanics, II.
916
Problems on the Nature of Relative Equilibria in Celestial Mechanics
936
Personal Perspectives on Mathematics and Mechanics
941
Part VII. Biology, Electric Circuits, Mathematical Programming On the Mathematical Foundations of Electrical Circuit Theory
951
A Mathematical Model of Two Cells via Turing's Equation
969
Optimizing Several Functions
979
Sufficient Conditions for an Optimum
986
The Qualitative Analysis of a Difference Equation of Population Growth (with R. F. Williams)
993
On the Differential Equations of Species in Competition
997
The Problem of the Average Speed of the Simplex Method
1000
On the Average Number of Steps of the Simplex Method of Linear Programming
1010
VOLUME ID PartVIII. Theory of Computation On the Work of Steve Smale on the Theory of Computation (M. Shub)
1035
The Work of Steve Smale on the Theory of Computation: 1990-1999 (L. Blum and F. Cucker)
1056
On Algorithms for Solving/(jc) = 0 (with M. Hirsch)
1076
The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra and Complexity Theory
1108
Computational Complexity: On the geometry of polynomials and a theory of cost, Part I (with M. Shub)
1144
On the Efficiency of Algorithms of Analysis
1180
Computational Complexity: On the geometry of polynomials and a theory of cost, Part II (with M. Shub) On the Existence of Generally Convergent Algorithms (with M. Shub)
1215 1232
XVU1
Newton's Method Estimates from Data at One Point
1242
On the Topology of Algorithms, I.
1254
Algorithms for Solving Equations
1263
The Newtonian Contribution to Our Understanding of the Computer
1287
On a Theory of Computation and Complexity over the Real Numbers: NP-completeness, recursive functions and universal machines (with L. Blum and M. Shub)
1293
Some Remarks on the Foundations of Numerical Analysis
1339
Theory of Computation
1349
Complexity of Bezout's Theorem I: Geometric aspects (with M. Shub)
1359
Complexity of Bezout's Theorem II: Volumes and probabilities (with M. Shub) Complexity of Bezout's Theorem III: Condition number and packing (with M. Shub)
1402 1421
Complexity of Bezout's Theorem IV: Probability of success; Extensions (with M. Shub)
1432
Complexity of Bezout's Theorem V: Polynomial time (with M. Shub)
1453
The Godel Incompleteness Theorem and Decidability over a Ring (with L. Blum) Separation of Complexity Classes in Koiran's Weak Model (with F. Cucker and M. Shub)
1477 1496
On the Intractability of Hilbert's Nullstellensatz and an Algebraic Version of ' W/V/>?" (with M. Shub)
1508
Complexity and Real Computation: A Manifesto (with L. Blum, F. Cucker and M. Shub)
1516
Algebraic Settings for the Problem "P*/VP?" (with L. Blum, F. Cucker and M. Shub)
1540
Complexity Theory and Numerical Analysis
1560
Some Lower Bounds for the Complexity of Continuation Methods (with J.-P. Dedieu)
1589
xix
A Polynomial Time Algorithm for Diophantine Equations in One Variable (with F. Cucker and P. Koiran)
1601
Complexity Estimates Depending on Condition and Round-off Error (with F. Cucker)
Introduction Many mathematicians have contributed powerful theorems in several fields. Smale is one of the very few whose work has opened up to research vast areas that were formerly inaccessible. From his early papers in differential topology to his current work in theory of computation, he has inspired and led the development of several fields of research: topology of nonlinear function spaces; structure of manifolds; structural stability and chaos in dynami cal systems; applications of dynamical systems to mathematical biology, economics, electrical circuits; Hamiltonian mechanics; nonlinear functional analysis; complexity of real-variable computations. This rich and diverse body of work is outlined in the following subsection. There are deep connections between Smale's work in apparently disparate fields, stemming from his unusual ability to use creatively ideas from one subject in other, seemingly distant areas. Thus, he used the homotopy theory of fibrations to study immersions of manifolds, and also the classification of differentiable structures. In another area, he applied handle body decomposi tions of manifolds to structural stability of dynamical systems. Smale applied differential geometry and topology to the analysis of electrical circuits, and to several areas of classical mechanics. He showed how qualitative dynamical systems theory provides a natural framework for investigating complex phe nomena in biology. A recent example is his application of algebraic topology to complexity of computation. In each case his innovative approach quickly became a standard research method. His ideas have been further developed by his more than 30 doctoral students, many of whom are now leading researchers in the fields he has pioneered. This conference brought together mathematicians who are currently mak ing important contributions to these fields. It had two purposes: First, to present recent developments in these fields; and second, to explore the con nections between them. This was best done by examining the several areas of Smale's research in a single conference which crosses the traditional XIX
2
xx
Research Themes
boundary lines between mathematical subjects. In this way, a stimulating environment encouraged a fruitful exchange of ideas between mathemati cians working in topics that are formally separate, but which, as Smale's work demonstrates, have strong intellectual connections. Through this conference proceedings we hope that important new insights may be achieved into the extraordinary diversity and unity of mathematics.
Topics Differential Topology Smale's first work in differential topology, on the classification of immersions of spheres, led to the general classification of immersions of manifolds. But it also presented, for the first time, the use of fibrations of function spaces in what is now called geometric topology. Through fibrations, the power ful tools of algebraic topology were applied in new ways to a host of geo metrical problems. This became, in the hands of Smale and many others, a standard approach to many areas: embeddings, diffeomorphisms, differential structures, piecewise linear theory, submersions, and other fields. The classi fication of differential structures on topological manifolds due to R. Kirby and L. Siebemmann, and many of the profound geometrical theories of M. Gromov, are based on Smale's technique of function space fibrations. In 1960, Smale startled the mathematical world with his proofs of the Generalized Poincare Conjecture and what is now called the H-Cobordism Theorem. Up to that time, the topological classification of manifolds was stuck at dimension three. John Milnor's exciting discovery in 1956 of exotic differential structures on the 7-sphere had pointed to the need for a theory of differential structures, but beyond his examples nothing was known about sufficient conditions for diffeomorphism. Smale had the audacity to attack the problem in dimensions five and above. His results opened the flood gates of research in geometric topology. His techniques of handle cancella tion and his constructive use of Morse theory proved enormously fruitful in a host of problems and have become standard approaches to the structural analysis of manifolds. Michael Freedman's recent topological classification of 4-dimensional manifolds is a far-reaching generalization of Smale's handlecanceling methods. It is closely related to exciting developments in YangMills theory by Donaldson, Uhlenbeck, Taubes, and others. This work in volves other areas of nonlinear functional analysis and mechanics that will be discussed below.
Dynamical Systems In the early 1960s, Smale embarked on the study of dynamical systems. Like topology, this subject was founded by Poincare, who called it the qualitative
3
Research Themes
xxi
theory of differential equations. Intensively developed by G.D. Birkhoff, by 1960 it seemed played out as a source of new ideas. At this point, Smale introduced a new approach, based on geometrical assumptions about the dynamical process, rather than the standard method of examining specific equations coming from physics and engineering. The key notion was a hyper bolic structure for the nonwandering set, a far-reaching generalization of the standard notion of hyperbolic fixed point. Under this hypothesis, Smale proved that the nonwandering set (of points that are recurrent in a certain sense) breaks up into a finite number of compact invariant sets in a unique way; these he called basic sets. Each basic set was either a single periodic orbit or contained infinitely many periodic orbits that were tangled in a way that today would be called "chaotic." Moreover, he proved the dynamics in a basic set to be structurally stable. These new ideas led to a host of conjectures, proofs, examples, and counterexamples by Smale, his many students, and collaborators. Above all, they led to new ways of looking at dynamical systems. These led to precise constructions and rigorous proofs for phenomena that, until then, were only vaguely describable, or only known in very special cases. For example, Smale's famous Horseshoe is an easily described transforma tion of the two-dimensional sphere that he proved to be both chaotic (in a precise sense) and structurally stable, and completely describable in com binatorial terms. Moreover, this construction and analysis generalized to all manifolds of all dimensions. But it was more than merely an artificial class of examples, for Smale showed that any system satisfying a simple hypothesis going back to Poincare (existence of a transverse homoclinic orbit) must have a horseshoe system embedded in it. Such a system is, therefore, not only chaotic, but the chaos is stable in the sense that it cannot be eliminated by arbitrarily small perturbations. In this way, many standard models of natural dynamical processes have been proved to be chaotic. Smale's new dynamical ideas were quickly applied, by himself and many others, to a variety of dynamical systems in many branches of science.
Nonlinear Functional Analysis Smale has made fundamental contributions to nonlinear analysis. His ap plication (with R.S. Palais) of Morse's critical point theory to infinitedimensional Hilbert space has been extensively used for nonlinear problems in both ordinary and partial differential equations. The "Palais-Smale" con dition, proving the existence of a critical point for many variational problems, has been used to prove the existence of many periodic solutions for nonlinear Hamiltonian systems. Another application has been to prove the existence of minimal spheres and other surfaces in Riemannian manifolds. Smale also was a pioneer in the development of the theory of manifolds of maps. The well-known notes of his lectures by Abraham and the related work
4
xxii
Research Themes
of Eells has undergone active development ever since. For example, mani folds of maps were used by Arnol'd, Ebin, Marsden, and others in their work on the Lagrangian representation of ideal incompressible fluids, in which the basic configuration space is the group of volume-preserving difTeomorphisms, and for which the Poisson reduced equations are the standard Euler equa tions of fluid mechanics. In 1965, Smale proved a generalization of the famous Morse-Sard theo rem on the existence of regular values to a wide class of nonlinear mappings in infinite-dimensional Banach spaces. This permitted the use of transversality methods, so useful in finite-dimensional dynamics and topology, for many questions in infinite-dimensional dynamics. An important example is A. Tromba's proof that, genetically (in a precise sense), a given simple closed curve in space bounds only a finite number of minimal surfaces of the topo logical type of the disk. A similar result was proved by Foias and Temam for stationary solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations.
Physical and Biological Applications Smale's first papers in mechanics are the famous ones on Topology and Mechanics." These papers appeared in 1970 around the beginning of the geometric formulation of mechanics and its applications, when Mackey's book on the foundations of quantum mechanics and Abraham's book on the foundations of mechanics had just come out. Smale's work centered on the use of topological ideas, principally on the use of Morse theory and bifurca tion theory to obtain new results in mechanics. Probably the best-known result in this work concerns relative equilibria in the planar n-body problem, which he obtained by exploiting the topological structure of the level sets of conserved quantities and the reduced phase space, so that Morse theory gave interesting results. For example, he showed that a result of Moulton in 1910, that there are in! collinear relative equilibria, is a consequence of critical point theory. Smale went on to determine the global topology and the bifur cation of the level sets of the conserved angular momentum and the energy for the problem. These papers were a great influence: for example, they led to further work of his former student Palmore on relative equilibria in the planar n-body problem and in vortex dynamics, as well as a number of studies by others on the topology of simple mechanical systems such as the rigid body. This work also was the beginning of the rich symplectic theory of reduction of Hamiltonian systems with symmetry. Smale investigated the case of the tangent bundle with a metric invariant under a group action, which was later generalized and exploited by Marsden, Weinstein, Guillemin, Steinberg, and others for a variety of purposes, ranging from fluids and plasmas to representation theory. The international influence of these papers on a worldwide generation of young workers in the now burgeoning area of geometric mechanics was tremendous.
5 Research Themes
xxm
Smale's work on dynamical systems also had a great influence in mechan ics. In particular, the Poincare-Birkhoff-Smale horseshoe construction has led to studies by many authors with great benefit. For example, it was used by Holmes and Marsden to prove that the PDE for a forced beam has chaotic solutions, by Kopell and Howard to find chaotic solutions in reac tion diffusion equations, by Kopell, Varaiya, Marsden, and others in circuit theory, by Levi in forced oscillations, and by Wiggins and Leonard to estab lish connections between dynamical chaos and Lagrangian or particle mixing rates in fluid mechanics. This construction is regarded as a fundamental one in dynamical systems, and it is also one that is finding the most applications. In 1972, Smale published his paper on the foundations of electric cir cuit theory. This paper, highly influenced by an interaction between Smale, Desoer, and Oster, examines the dynamical system defined by the equations for an electric circuit, and gives a study of the invariant sets defined by Kirchhoff's laws and the dynamical systems on these sets. Smale was the first to deal with the implications of the topological complexities that this in variant set might have. In particular, he raised the question of how to deal with the hysteresis or jump phenomena due to singularities in the constraint sets of the form f(x,dx/dt) = 0, and he discussed various regularizing devices. This had an influence on the electrical engineering community, such as the 1981 paper of Sastry and Desoer, "The Jump Behavior of Circuits and Sys tems," which provided the answers to some of the questions raised by Smale's work. (This paper actually originated with Sastry's Masters thesis written in the Department of Mathematics at Berkeley.) This work also motivated the studies of Takens on constrained differential equations. The best known of Smale's several papers in mathematical biology is the first, in which he constructed an explicit nonlinear example to illustrate the idea of Turing that biological cells can interact via diffusion to create new spatial and/or temporal structure. His deep influence on mathematical biol ogy came less from the papers that he wrote in this field than from the impetus that his pure mathematical work gave to the study of qualitative dynamical systems. Because of the difficulty in measuring all of the relevant variables and the need for clarifying simplification, qualitative dynamical systems provides a natural framework for investigating dynamically com plex phenomena in biology. These include "dynamical diseases" (Glass and Mackey), oscillatory phenomena such as neural "central pattern generators" (Ermentrout and Kopell), complexity in ecological equations (May) and im mune systems (Perelson), and problems involving spontaneous pattern for mation (Howard and Kopell, Murray, Oster). Another important paper constructed a class of systems of classical com peting species equations in R" with the property that the simplex A"'1 spanned by the n coordinate unit vectors is invariant and the trajectories of the large system asymptotic to those of any dynamical system in A"-1; this demonstrated the possible complexity in systems of competing species. Hirsch has shown that arbitrary systems of competing species decompose
6
xxiv
Research Themes
into pieces which are virtually identical with Smale's construction. Thus, Smale's example, seemingly a very special case, turns out to be the basic building block for the general case.
Economics Smale's geometrical approach to dynamics proved fruitful not only in the physical and biological sciences, but also in economic theory. In 1973, he began a series of papers investigating the approach to equilibria in various economic models. In place of the then standard linear methods relying heav ily on convexity, he used nonlinear differentiate dynamics with an emphasis on generic behavior. In a sense, this represented a return to an older tradition in mathematical economics, one that relied on calculus rather than algebra, but with intuitive arguments replaced by the rigorous and powerful methods of modern topology and dynamics. Smale showed that under reasonable assumptions the number of equilibria in a large market economy is generically finite, generalizing work of Debreu. He gave a rigorous treatment of Pareto optimality. His interest in economic processes inspired his work on global Newton algorithms (see the section below). This led to an important paper on price-adjustment processes. His interest in theoretical economics led Smale to work in the theory of games. In an original approach to the "Prisoner's Dilemma," which is closely related to economic competition, he showed that two players employing certain kinds of reasonable strategies will, in the long run, achieve optimal gains. Smale's work in economics led to this research in the average stopping time for the simplex algorithm in linear programming, discussed below.
Theory of Computation Smale's work in economic equlibrium theory led him to consider questions about convergence of algorithms. The economists H. Scarf and C. Eaves had turned Sperner's classical existence proof for the Brouwer fixed-point theorem into a practical computational procedure for approximating a fixed point. Their methods were combinatorial; Smale transformed them into the realm of differentiate dynamics. His "global Newton" method was a simplelooking variant of the classical Newton-Raphson algorithm for solving f(x) = 0, where / is a nonlinear transformation of n-space. Unlike the classi cal Newton's method, which guarantees convergence of the algorithm only if it is started near a solution, Smale proved that, under reasonable assump tions, the global Newton algorithm will converge to a solution for almost every starting point which is sufficiently far from the origin. Because it is easy to find such starting points, this led to algorithms that are guaranteed to converge to a solution with probability one. The global Newton algorithm was the basis for an influential paper on the theory of price adjustment by Smale in mathematical economics.
7
Research Themes
xxv
This geometrical approach to computation was developed further in a series of papers on Newton's method for polynomials, several of which were joint work with M. Shub. These broke new ground by applying to numer ical analysis ideas from dynamical systems, differential topology and prob ability, together with mathematical techniques from many fields: algebraic geometry, geometric measure theory, complex function theory, and differen tial geometry. Smale then turned to an algorithm that is of great practical importance, the simplex method for linear programming. It was known that this algo rithm usually converged quickly, but that there are pathological examples requiring a number of steps that grows exponentially with the number of variables. Smale asked: What is the average number of steps required for m inequalities in n variables if the coefficients are bounded by 1 in absolute value? He translated this into a geometric problem which he then solved. The surprising answer is that the average number of steps is sublinear in n (or m) if m (or n) is kept fixed. These new problems, methods, and results led to a great variety of papers by Smale and many others, attacking many questions of computational com plexity. Smale always emphasized that he looks at algorithms as mathe maticians do, in terms of real numbers, and not as computer scientists do, in terms of a finite number of bits of information. Most recently this led Smale, L. Blum, and M. Shub to a new algebraic approach to the general theory of computability and some surprizing connections with Godel's theorem.
8
6
Luncheon Talk and Nomination for Stephen Smale R. BOTT
Thank you, Moe. It is a great pleasure to be here, but I must say that I feel a bit like Karen who just remarked that she comes from a different world. I come from the beach! In fact, I'm hardly dry. On my beach, you don't usually wear clothes, but as you see, I put some on for this great occasion. Now, I'm quite amazed to find what deep philosophical things we have becomes involved in here at lunch. But let me warn you about becoming too philosophical—it is a sure sign of age! In fact, this whole discussion reminds me of a happening at the Institute in Princeton circa 1950. Niels Bohr had come to lecture. He was grand, beautiful, but also very philosophical. After a while, von Neumann, who was sitting next to me, leaned over and whispered in my ear, "It's calcium, it's the calcium in the brain." Keep that in mind, youngsters! In a sense, thinking back to those days at the Institute, the man who inspired me most was Carl Ludwig Siegel, and I seem to have inherited his feelings that it is not so much the theory that constitutes mathematics, but the theorem and, above all, the crucial example. He felt that mathematics had started to go down the road of abstraction with Riemann! He was skeptical of Hilbert's proofs; they were too abstract. But I'm not going to become philosophical! In fact, tomorrow I'm heading straight back to my beach. You see, it is very easy for you youngsters to enjoy Steve's birthday, but after all, he was my student, and if he is 60, you can well imagine what that means about my age. So instead of philosophy, let me reminisce, and tell you a little bit about how it all began. I came to Michigan in 1951 from the Institute having learned some topology there. In fact, I had a stellar cast: personal instruction from Specker and Reidemeister and Steenrod! Morse was there, of course, and I was great friends with Morse, but he was not really my mathematical mentor. He was interested in other things at that time—Hilbert spaces, etc. Anyway, I came to Michigan as a young instructor, a rather lowly position, and I cannot help telling you the anecdote that greeted me, so to speak, on arrival. In the summer, there had been an International Congress at Harvard
67
9
68
R. Bott
where I had met my Chairman-to-be, Professor Hildebrand. I had grown a full beard for the occasion as a lark and, indeed, the only other people whom I recall having beards at that time were the Italians. When I presented myself to Hildebrand, I had already shaved off my beard long ago. He looked at me and said, "You mean you don't have a beard?" And I said, "No, I don't usually wear one." Thereupon he said in his customary frank manner, "Well, young man. That beard at the Congress cost you $500. When I came home, I took $500 off your salary; I don't approve of beards." But there, I could entertain you all evening with Hildebrand stories. Michigan had a great tradition in topology at that time. Samelson was there. Also Moise, Wilder, and Young; Steenrod and Sammy Eilenberg had been there. Samelson and I hit it off from the very start and we both started a very business-like seminar on Serre's thesis. This was algebraic topology with a capital A. In fact, that whole generation had lost faith in proving purely geometric theorems. That is why it was so amazing to my generation when later on Steve, and then progressively more and more other people, were able to go back to geometry and with their bare hands do things which at that time we thought were undoable. When I offered my first course in topology, I had three enrolled students, but there were quite a few other people who attended. One was Steve, the other one was Jim Munkres, and the third, as I like to say, was a really bright guy. He was a universalist and just did mathematics on the side. I expect that those of you who know Steve well can imagine what he was like as a student. He sat in the back and it wasn't clear whether he was paying attention, but he always looked benign. I think it is fair to say that he wasn't really consid ered a star at Michigan. In fact, there was some question whether he should be allowed to stay! Maybe that's why he picked me. But I think I gave you, Steve, a good question which in some ways still has unsolved parts to it today. My problem was this. If we take the space of regular curves, starting from a point and project each curve onto its end tangent, does this projection have the fiber homotopy property? This turned out to be very difficult. There was no clean way of doing it. But that didn't stop Steve! Actually I had only a small concrete application in mind related to a theorem of Whitney's about the winding numbers of curves in the plane. So that when Steve later elabo rated his technique to immersion theory I was completely amazed. And in case you have not heard this story, when Steve wrote me that he could turn the sphere inside out, I immediately sent him a counterexample! That's true. I wrote him back, "Don't be foolish. It can't be done." So, you see, this shows how good it is to have a stupid thesis advisor. Once you overcome him, the rest will be easy. Well, so many good things have been said about Steve that I do not want to add to them. I mean, he will become quite insufferable. Let me rather tell you about some of his other gifts. These include many techniques of nearly getting rid of people. Several times I've gone on excursions with Steve, and on returning I've often ended up on my knees: "Back home again and still
10
6. Luncheon Talk and Nomination for Stephen Smale
69
alivel" There was a wonderful excursion organized by Steve on the beaches of the Olympic Peninsula. Maybe he did his best job there. This beach had many promontories which one could only traverse when the tide was low enough. This is what intrigued Steve and he had researched it carefully. Only he had done the trip the wrong way around, so that when we came along we were walking, so to speak, against the grain of his experience. On the last day, he told us that the end was in sight and that we could surely take a rather daring shortcut along the beach. The tide also did look very low. And so we were all walking along very nicely, relaxed, doing mathematics all over the place. My wife and one enterprising daughter were along. And then suddenly I remember turning a corner only to see a quite unexpected bay which we still had to traverse. And, indeed, that already my wife, who was quite a bit ahead of me, was being ushered through the ice-cold waters that were rising along the cliffs by one of our wonderful God-sent mountaineers who had joined our expedition. By the time I got to the spot I did not trust myself to carry my little daughter through the water, but rather put her on the back of another wonderful mountaineer, "Pham." Pham is about half my height, but he took her over to safety, and then ran back to alert all the people behind us, such as Steve, his son, the Shubs, etc. Then I got into the water with all my packs. By this time the waves were crashing in and between their onslaught I managed to get to the place where I was supposed to climb out again. I tried but couldn't quite make it. I tried once again, but of course was weaker. It never occurred to me to remove my pack! Instead, what went through my mind was, "Aha! This is how one drowns!" But at my third attempt that wonderful girl, Megan, another of our mountaineers, came back just in time to get me on my feet. All right. This is enough. I think I have now lowered the level of discourse sufficiently! But in closing, I cannot resist one serious word. It was a great pleasure to have you as a student, Steve—even though you tried to drown me. I've always been very proud of you, and I am sure you will not cease to do great mathematics for many years to come. Happy birthday—you have now finally come of age!
Nomination for Stephen Smale* It is a pleasure and an honour for me to hereby place Stephen Smale's name in nomination for the Presidency of the American Mathematical Society. Smale is one of the leading mathematicians of his generation, whose work has been foundational in differential topology, dynamical systems, and many
♦ Reprinted from Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 38, 7, 758-760, 1991.
11
70
R. Bott
aspects of nonlinear analysis and geometry. It has been his genius also to bring these subjects to bear in a significant way on mechanics, economics, the theory of computation, and other brands of applied mathematics. Smale's characteristic quality is courage, combined with great geometric insight, patience, and power. He is single-minded in his pursuit of under standing a subject on his own terms and will follow it wherever it leads him. These qualities also emerge in many episodes from his personal life. Once his sails are set, it is literally impossible to stop him. Thus in a few short years he moved from Sunday sailor to skippering his own boat across the Pacific with a mathematical crew of hardy souls; and so his interest in minerals has, over the years, not only taken him to obscure and dangerous places all over the globe, but has culminated in one of the finest mineral collections anywhere. Smale characteristically takes on one project at a time, thinks deeply about it and then turns to the next. He likes to share his thoughts with others, keeps his office door open, never seems in a hurry, and inspires his students with his own confidence. His willingness to run for this position therefore assures me that if he were elected he would grace our Society not only with his great mathematical distinction, ecumenical interests and quiet almost shy—manner, but that he would also do his homework thoroughly and give the serious problems that face our subject and our institutions his "prime time." It was my good fortune to have Smale as one of three enrolled students in the first course on topology which I taught at Michigan (1952-1953). (Munkres was another one, but the third, whose name now escapes me, was—as I liked to say—"the really smart one." Indeed, he could play blind folded chess, compose operas, etc.) Smale's manner in class was the same then as it is now. He preferably sits in the back; says little, and seems to let the mathematical waves wash over him, rather than confront them. However, Smale's courage surfaced soon at Michigan when he chose me, the greenhorn of topology—actually of mathematics altogether—as his thesis advisor. I proposed a problem concerning regular curves (i.e., curves with nowhere zero tangents) on manifolds; namely, that the projection of the space of such curves on its final tangent-direction satisfied the "covering homotopy prop erty." This notion had just been invented in the late forties, and I had learned it from Steenrod in Princeton just the year before. The combination of anal ysis and topology in this question appealed to Smale and he went to work. I was pleased and impressed by the geometric insight and technical power of his eventual solution, but completely amazed when he in the next few years extended these techniques to produce his famous "inside-out turning of the sphere" in R3 through regular deformations. In fact, when he wrote me about this theorem I replied curtly with a false argument which purported to prove the impossibility of such a construction! More precisely, what Smale had proved was that the regular immersion classes of a it-sphere S" in R" correspond bijectively to nk{Vk „), the kth homo topy group of the Stiefel-manifold offc-framesin R". He had thus managed to
12
6. Luncheon Talk and Nomination for Stephen Smale
71
reduce a difficult differential topology question to one in pure homotopy theory and so had set the stage for an obstruction theory of immersions. The final beautiful development of this train of thought came in the thesis of Morris Hirsch, directed by Spanier, but also with great interest and encour agement from Smale. In the 1960s, Smale produced his "Generalized Poincare Conjecture" and—what is still to this day the most basic tool in differential topolo gy—the "//-cobordism theorem." All these were corollaries of his deep re thinking of Morse theory, which he perfected to a powerful tool in all aspects of differential topology. Above all, Steve had the courage to look for concrete geometric results, where my generation was by and large taught to be content with algebraic ones. Smale's rethinking of the Morse theory involved fitting it into the broader framework of dynamical systems. This enabled him not only to extend the Morse inequalities to certain dynamical systems, but also to use concepts from dynamical systems to understand the Morse theory more profoundly. By clearly formulating and using the transversality condition on the "de scending" and "ascending" cells furnished by the gradient flow, he was able to control these cell-subdivisions much more accurately than Thorn had been able to do ten years earlier. I distinctly remember when he retaught me Morse theory in this new and exciting guise during a Conference in 1960 in Switzerland. By that time he had actually also constructed his famous "horseshoe" map of the 2-sphere, and so was well on his way to laying the foundations of a subject we now call "chaos." Indeed, he showed that under the assumption of a hyperbolic structure on a "non-wandering" set, this set breaks up into a finite number of compact invariant sets in a unique way. Each of these was either a single periodic orbit or else was an infinite union of such orbits so inextricably tangled that we would call them "chaotic" today. Moreover, he showed that these basic sets, as he called them, were structurally stable (the chaos cannot be removed by a small perturbation) as well as ubiquitous! In the years since these spectacular results—which earned him the Field Medal in 1966—Smale has not ceased to find new and exciting quests for his geometric and dynamical imagination. In the later sixties, he and his students studied the Morse theory in infinite dimensions as a tool in non-linear differential equations. He proved a Sard type theorem in this framework and the Palais-Smale Axioms are now the foundation on which the modern school build their Morse theory beyond "Palais-Smale." In mechanics, Smale was one of the initiators of the "geometric reduction" theory which occurs so prominently in the work of the symplectic school. In economics, Smale reintroduced differential techniques in the search for equi librium with great success, and in computation theory his "probabilistic growth theory" applied to algorithms—in particular his estimates for a mod ified form of Newton's algorithm is an exciting new development in that
13
72
R. Bott
subject. And the last time I heard Smale talk, he was explaining Godel's theorem in dynamical system terms! In fact, with an oeuvre of this magnitude and with more than thirty distin guished doctoral students dispersed all over the world, one would have to invoke truly legendary names to best Smale's impact on today's mathe matical world. He is clearly a candidate of the first order whom we must not pass up.*
* The election was won by Ron Graham.
H
7 Some Recollections of the Early Work of Steve Smale M.M. PEIXOTO
Ladies and gentlemen: It is for me a great honor and a great pleasure to speak at this Smalefest. I will focus here on the personal and mathematical contacts I had with Steve during the period September 1958-June 1960. From September 1958 to June 1959,1 was living in Baltimore and Steve was living in Princeton at the Institute for Advanced Study. I visited him several times there. In June 1959,1 went back to IMPA (Instituto de Matematica Pura e Aplicada) in Rio de Janeiro. Steve spent the first six months of 1960 at IMPA and during that period I had daily contacts with him, mathematical and otherwise. This period of Steve's career is sometimes associated with the "Beaches of Rio" episode. But this episode—originated by an out-of-context reference to a letter of Steve's—is something that happened in the United States and sev eral years later. It will be mentioned here only indirectly. I was introduced to Steve on the initiative of Elon Lima in the late summer of 1958 in Princeton. After spending 1 year there, I was about to leave in a few weeks and Steve was coming for a 2-year stay at the Institute. He was already a substantial mathematician having, among other things, turned the sphere S2 inside out. As Lima had predicted Steve showed immediately great interest in my work on structural stability on the 2-disk. I was delighted to see this in terest; at that time, hardly anybody besides Lefschetz cared about structural stability. In those days, one burning question that 1 had much discussed with Lefschetz was: How to express in n-dimensions the "no saddle connection" condition of Andronov-Pontryagin? Before the end of 1958, Steve had the right answer to this question: The stable and unstable manifolds of singu larities and closed orbits should meet transversally. Simple-minded and rather trivial as this may look to the specialist today, the transversality condition applied to stable and unstable manifolds was a very crucial step in Steve's work in both topology and dynamical systems. In fact, in 1949, Rene Thorn in a seminal short paper considered a Riemannian manifold M together with a Morse function on it / : M -> R and to 73
15
74
M.M. Peixoto
these objects he associated the decomposition A3 [A"] of M into cells given by the stable [unstable] manifolds of grad / . Thorn used this decomposition As to derive, among other things, the Morse inequalities. The important remark that the transversality condition applied to this case implies that the boundary of one of the cells of A5 is the union of lower dimentional cells led Steve to his celebrated work on the high dimensional Poincare conjecture. Whereas Thorn considered only A5, Steve considered both A5 and A" and added the transversality condition. The transversality condition in a more general setting than the one of grad / also played an important role in Steve's subsequent—and no less important—work on dynamical systems. So these two major developments in topology and dynamical systems can be traced back to the way Steve handled the "no saddle connection" condi tion of Andronov-Pontryagin. Very humble beginnings indeed! Steve, his wife Clara and their kids, Nathan aged 2 and Laura aged 1, arrived in Rio in early January 1960. He was then working hard on the Poincare conjecture but kept an eye on dynamical systems. We used to talk almost every day, in the afternoons, about my two-dimensional structural stability problem. During his 6-month stay in Rio, Steve made another important contribu tion to structural stability, the horseshoe diffeomorphism on S2. This was a landmark in dynamical systems theory, showing that structural stability is consistent with the existence of infinitely many periodic orbits. In mid-June 1960 at the end of his stay, he made a quick trip to Bonn and Zurich to speak about his work on the high dimensional Poincare con jecture that he was then finishing. During Steve's absence I discovered a major flaw in my own work, due to the fact that I had bumped into what nowadays is called the closing lemma. So I became very anxious to discuss this with him. On his arrival back in Rio, I invited Clara and Nat to join me and go to the airport to meet Steve at dawn. Even at a distance it was clear that something was wrong with Steve. Haggard, tense and tired he had on his face what to me looked like a black eye. In contrast with his appearance, his speech soon became smooth and even. Yes, he was in trouble, there were objections to his proof, some were serious. He hoped to be able to fix everything. He mentioned names but indicated no hardfeelings toward anyone. Later, he wrote about this trip and called it "rather traumatic" and "dra matic and traumatic." These words of Steve fit very well the overall impression that he left on me in that singular meeting at Rio's airport late June 1960 as the day was just breaking in: cold, measured ferocity of purpose. When I was told about the "Beaches of Rio" episode, with the implication
16
7. Some Recollections of the Early Work of Steve Smale
75
associated to it of a frolicsome trip South of the Rio Grande, I found it a funny counterpoint to what I had actually witnessed. So I was there and saw from a privileged position the birth of two of Stephen Smale's major contributions to mathematics. As it is the case with many great mathematical achievments, one detects there the presence of that magic triad—simplicity, beauty, depth—that we mathematicians strive for. But simplicity is perhaps the more easily detect able of these qualities and simplicity is also a striking feature of Steve's work mentioned above. In this connection, it is perhaps appropriate to mention here some poe tic reflexions of A. Grothendieck about invention and discovery. Translated from the French this is part of Grothendieck's poetical outburst about his craft: A truly new idea does not burst out all made up of diamonds, like aflashof sparkling light, also it does not come out from any machine tool no matter how sophisticated and powerful it might be. It does not announce itself with great noise proclaiming its pedigree: I am this and I am that... It is something humble and fragile, something delicate and alive I will stop here, well aware of the saying according to which "dinner speak ers are like the wheel of a vehicle: The longer the spoke, the greater the tire." Thank you for your attention.
17
8 Luncheon Talk R. THOM
Dear Steve, Probably more than 35 years have elapsed since the first time I heard about you. It was in Princeton in 1955 when Raoul Bott spoke to me about a very bright student, who had recently found a wonderful theorem about immersions. I was startled by the result, and by the straightforward geomet ric aspect of the proof (of which I gave an account at the Bourbaki Seminar a little later). Moe Hirsch gave us, in his opening lecture, a beautiful review of all the consequences of your theorem. If you will excuse me for some extra technicalities, I would like to add to these a further one, in another—not mentioned —direction; namely, the connection with the theory of singu larities of smooth maps, which started to attract my interest after the found ing theorems of H. Whitney on the cusp and the cuspidal point. The problem of classifying immersions can be generalized as follows: Given two smooth manifolds X" and Y', and some "singularity type" (s) of local smooth maps: g; R" ->■ R", find conditions for a homotopy class h: X -> Y such that no smooth map / of the class h exhibits the singularity (s). Following Ehresmann's theory of jets, one may associate to any singularity of type (s) a set of orbits for the algebraic action of the group Lk(n) x Lk{p) offc-jetsof local isomor phisms of source and target spaces in the space Jk(n,p) of local jets from R" to R'. (See, for instance, H. Levine's Notes on my Lectures as Gastprofessor in Bonn.) If it happens that this set of orbits is an algebraic cycle in homology theory, then it was proved by A. Haefliger that the dual cohomology class to this singular cycle s{f) for a given map / is some specific characteristic class (mod Z or Z2) of the quotient bundle (T{X/f*(T(Y)) [this class is a polyno mial characterizing the singularity (s)]. This may be seen as a faraway conse quence of your immersion theorem. Then came, a few years later, your astonishing proof of the Poincare con jecture, which, with the preceding results, led to your winning the Fields Medal at the Moscow Congress of 1966. This was also the time of your engagement in the Berkeley Movement, and against the Vietnam War. Around that time also, I had more opportunities to get to know you. I remember happily the two trips we made in your VW Camping bus from 76
18
8. Luncheon Talk
77
Paris to Eastern France, first to some Mineral Fair in the Vosges mountains, later on to Geneva. I was deeply impressed by the straightforward generosity of your political action. We, as old Europeans, are far more cautious about general political conditions; we know that things are not going to change so easily. May I seize this opportunity to express a personal comment on the present political situation? As a citizen of France, a nation which, in little more than 25 years, was twice rescued from disaster and annihilation thanks to the American Army, I look forward with apprehension to the day when the last G.I. will move out from European Soil... In those years, this youthful enthusiasm of yours made a strong impression on me, and—excuse again this flowery expression—I had the feeling that you wanted to make of your life a "hymn to freedom." Scientifically also, those were the years when, with your "horseshoe" exam ple, you started a wonderful revival of Qualitative Dynamics, a revival which, for its global impact on general science, could be compared to the glorious period of the years 1935-45 for Algebraic Topology. Not quite, nevertheless, for the revival of Dynamics you started affected only the Western part of the World's Mathematics, whereas in the Soviet Union the Dynamical School with names such as Kolmogorov, Sinai, Arnol'd was still in full bloom. In the years 1975-80, I cannot hide the fact that our relations went through a delicate passage: After the mediatic explosion which popularized Catastrophe Theory in 1975 came a backlash reaction in which you took part. I must say that of all the criticism that Christopher Zeeman and myself had to hear around that time, that which came from you was the most difficult to bear; for being criticized by people you admire is one of the most painful experiences there is. Now, after 15 years have passed, we may look at the matter more serenely. Had we chosen for "catastrophe theory" a less fragrant (or should I say flagrant?) name, had we called it "the use of Qualita tive Dynamics methods in the interpretation of natural phenomena," proba bly nothing of the sort would have happened. But even now, I do not feel too guilty about the mediatic aspect of the catastrophe terminology; I chose it because of its deep philosophical bearing: namely, any phenomenon entails an element of discontinuity—something must be generated by the local phe nomenon, and fall upon your eye (or your measuring apparatus). In this light, the validity of Catastrophe Theory as an interpretative methodology of phe nomena can hardly be denied. Let me end with a general comment on your mathematical style. It could be said that there are basically two styles of mathematical writing: the consti pated style, and the easy-going—or free air—style. Needless to say, the con stipated style originated with our old master Bourbaki (and it found very early, as I discovered in Princeton in 1951, very strong supporters on this side of the Atlantic Ocean). Formalists of the Hilbertian School believed that mathematics can be done—or has to be done—without meaning. But when we have to choose between rigor and meaning, the Free Air people will decidedly choose meaning. In this we concur, and we shall leave the Old
19
78
R. Thorn
Guard to their recriminations about laxist writing. Rigor comes always soon er or later; as General de Gaulle said: Vintendance, fa suit toujours, meaning that the ammunition always follows the fighters. You always considered Mathematics as a game (this may justify some laxity in style), and wc enjoyed your playing. It is now your 60th birthday. For an Academic, this is just an end of youth. We sincerely wish you to continue in the same way, to gratify us with the wonderful Findings of your ever creative mind, and this for many years still to come.
20
9 Banquet Address at the Smalefest E.C. ZEEMAN
It is a pleasure to wish Steve a happy birthday and to acknowledge the profound influence that he has had upon British mathematics. Prior to that influence, I remember the first lecture that I ever heard Henry Whitehead give way back in 1950: Henry was saying rather pessimistically that topologists had to give up the homeomorphism problem because it was too difficult and should content themselves with algebraic topology. Marshall Stone said much the same thing in a popular article called "The Revolution in Mathe matics," that topology had been nearly completely swallowed up by algebra. Then, during the next decade, two spectacular results came whizzing across the Atlantic completely dispelling that pessimism. The first was Barry Mazur's proof of the Schonflies Conjecture (later beautifully refined by Mort Brown), and the second was Steve's proof of the Poincare Conjecture. The secret in each case was the audacity to bypass the main obstruction that had blocked research for half a century. In Barry's case, the blockage was the Alexander horned sphere which he bypassed by the hypothesis of local flat ness, and in Steve's case it was dimension 3 which he bypassed by going up to dimensions 5 to infinity. Steve's result, in particular, gave a tremendous boost to the resurgent British interest in geometric topology. But even more profound has been his influence in dynamical systems. British mathematics had suffered since the war from an artificial apartheid between pure and applied, causing research in differential equations in the UK to fall between two stools and almost disappear. But thanks to the influence of Steve and Rene Thorn, there is now a flourishing school of dy namical systems in the UK, which is having the beneficial side effect of bring ing pure and applied together again. In particular, Steve and many of his students came to the year-long Warwick symposia in 1968-69 and 1973-74 which had the effect of drawing widespread attention to the field, and in 1974 we were very proud to be able to give him an honorary degree at Warwick. I would like to focus on three characteristics of Steve's work. Firstly, his perception is very geometric, and this has always enabled him to see through to the heart of the matter. It has given a unifying thread to all his work. His lectures are beautifully simple, and yet profound, because he always chooses
79
21
80
E.C. Zceman
exactly the right little sketch that will enable his audience to visualise the essence and remember it. The second characteristic is his excellent mathematical taste. Or to put it another way, I happen to like the same kind of mathematics as he does. We both started in topology, and then both moved into dynamical systems. I remember at one point we both independently became interested in game theory, and when we turned up at the next conference—I think it was at Northwestern—we discovered we had both inadvertently advertised talks with the same title, dynamics in game theory, but luckily the talks were quite different. Of course, the real evidence for the excellence of Steve's mathematical judgement is the number of mathematicians worldwide who now follow his taste. In fact, I have only known him to make one serious error of judgement, and that was his opinion of catastrophe theory. The third characteristic of Steve's work to which I would like to draw attention is his audacity and courage. These two qualities are complemen tary. His audacity is his desire to make a splash, to shock people, to get under their skins, and to make them confront themselves. But one can forgive his audacity because of his courage, his courage to stand by his beliefs even when swimming against the tide. These two personality traits pervade all his activi ties, his mathematics, his sport and his politics. In mathematics, he has the audacity to let his intuition leap ahead of proof, and the courage to publish that intuition as bold conjectures. In sport, he has the audacity to tackle mountains and set sail across the oceans, and the courage to carry through with these achievements. In politics, he had the audacity to rebuke the Soviet Union on the steps of Moscow University for invading Hungary, and the courage to face the KGB afterwards if necessary; and in the same breath the audacity to rebuke his own country for invading Vietnam, and the courage to face the consequences afterwards of having to defend his funding against attacks by politicians. This week he had the au dacity to refuse to have his broken ankle set in plaster, and the courage to endure the resulting pain so that he would not disappoint us at the Smalefest. Of course, much of Steve's courage springs from Clara, who has always stood by him through thick and thin, giving him a secure harbour within which to anchor, and from which he could then sail out to conquer the world. It was she who introduced him to the collecting of minerals, to which he has devoted so much of his enthusiasm over the years. I would like to say spe cially to her tonight that we all include her in the celebrations. So I call upon you to drink a toast to Clara and Steve.
22
Some Retrospective Remarks Steve Smale DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG KOWLOON, HONG KONG
The purpose of this section is to add a few odd thoughts and other remarks relative to the papers collected below. This addenda will be brief in view of the fine reviews prefacing each part by Moe Hirsch, Gerard Debreu, Jacob Palis, Mike Shub, Tony Tromba, Jerry Marsden, and Lenore Blum/Felipe Cucker. There are also the informal talks by Raoul Bott, Mauricio Peixoto, Ren6 Thorn, and Christopher Zeeman above, and discussions reprinted below which pre-empt things I could say. A biography of me by Steve Batterson is about to appear, published by the American Mathematical Society. I have not read it at the time these words are being written, but I have every reason to expect that this carefully researched work will portray accurately the environment in which my articles were created. I can recommend the proceedings of the Smalefest of Hirsch, Marsden, and Shub, for related further historical accounts. I take this opportunity to acknowledge, with great appreciation, the expositions of these many mathematicians towards the understanding of my work.
Remarks on Part 1. Topology A particular example of the results of references 3, 6, and 7 has been subsequently named "Turning a sphere inside out" or "everting the 2-sphere". There were three movies made of this homotopy. The first was made by Nelson Max, the second was done by the Minnesota Geometry Center, and the third was finished in time for the Berlin ICM, in 1998. A photograph inspired by the second movie adorns the cover of the recent biography by Steve Batterson. There were two covers of the Scientific American, May 1966 and October 1993, picturing the evcrsion. (The last attributed the result to Bill Thurston and he made a correction in the following issue.) As to Vietoris Mapping Theorem for Homotopy, reference 2, I recall Eldon Dyer telling me the following story: Chern as editor had given him the manuscript to referee with the suggestion he reject it. (At that time I was an unknown student at the University of Michigan, and as an editor I might well have taken the same action as Chern). However upon looking at it, KIdon liked it and recommended acceptance. It was published. Both papers, reference 5, on self-intersections, and 9, on involutions of the 3-sphere, have fundamental mistakes in them.
23
There is the story in reference 17, which chronicles my work on Poincart's conjecture in higher dimension, and the h-cobordism theorem, of references 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. For a fine detailed mathematical account close to my original spirit, I like the book Differential Manifolds by Antoni Kosinski, 1993, Academic Press. I have said on a number of occasions that I "left topology" in the summer of 19(51 upon com pletion of the h-cobordism article (paper 15). I believe that at that time I felt that tbn outstanding problems in dimensions three and four represented exceptional cases in topology. The challenges of dynamics at that time seemed more exciting, and I said so publicly. Maybe some of the topologists never forgave me! In the meantime I have gained more respect for the problems in dimension 3 and 4. The paper on gradient dynamical systems (number 11) played an important role in the devel opment of my work in topology. Hut at the same time that paper (as well as paper 46) helped me see some ideas for dynamics, for example giving a special case of the Kupka-Smale Theorem and beginning the clarification of the global stable manifolds.
Remarks on Part 2. Economics In spite of a great support for me by the mathematical economics community, there was one disappointment. I suggested that the proof of the existence of equilibrium, should be integrated into a framework where supply and demand are seen as maps from the space of commodities to the space of prices. Here 1 emphasize that these spaces are distinct, and also the natural source and target for these fundamental quantities of economic theory. Following Walras of the 19th century, one can show that this system (structured) of equations, supply equals demand, has a solution, to obtain the basic existence theorem of economic equilibrium theory. The fundamental advance of equilibria theory occurred in the 1950's with the proof of existence of equilibria in great generality by Ken Arrow and Gerard Debreu. Their work transformed this problem of existence into a situation which utilized fixed point theory (of Kakutani) to solve. But this transformation by using an auxilliary map, destroys the natural structure of the supply/demand maps from commodities to prices. In much of my work in economics I tried to reorient the Arrow-Debreu framework toward the original Walrasian. For example in my handbook paper, reference 31, I developed the existence theory via the supply-demand maps with the same generality of Arrow-Debreu, using degree theory and approximations. However I think that the economics community never accepted my point of view. Even though Gerard in his review discusses my work on existence with great generosity, I feel that this point must be made. My approach to the "Prisoner's Dilemma" (reference 30) centered around a resolution using repeated games. This was followed by some popular lectures. Although I believe that I was not
24
the first to see the connection between this game and the opera Toaca, I did give the UC Berkeley Faculty Research Lecture with the title, The Tragedy of Tosca and the Logic of the Arms Race. Moreover I spoke on the same subject at a German meeting Natur- Witsentchafter Gegen Atomrusting. My talk, reference 34, was received by the very large audience well enough, but Linus Pauling who spoke after me, received a long lasting standing ovation. I recall that during this applause, he graciously came to me and had me stand up as if I were a supporting musician!
Remarks on Part 3. Miscellaneous An Extended version of my paper on mathematical problems for the next century, reference 37, is about to appear in a book edited by Arnold et al, published by the American Math Society.
Remarks on Part 5. Dynamical Systems Here is some chronology on the horseshoe: It was 5 years between the discovery and the pub lishing of the paper. See reference 69 for the story in Rio, spring 1960, of finding the horseshoe on the beaches there. This account gives some of my more recent perspectives on the meaning of the results. I did speak of my work on this subject in Berkeley in 1960, but until the next summer I was spending most of my time finishing the papers in topology. It was in late summer 1961 in Kiev at an international conference on non-linear oscillations when I began speaking systematically on the horseshoe and homoclinic points, and right after that were my lectures in Moscow on the subject. It was eventually at the Morse Symposium in Princeton, that I took the opportunity to publish the full paper with details. I did announce the results in the proceedings of the Kiev meeting and also mentioned them in my ICM Stockholm 1962 paper. I think that an overlooked part of the history of dynamics has to do with foundational aspects related to the concept of global stable manifold. Before the early 60's, the definition of this object had not been satisfactorily given and for that reason progress in dynamics was slowed. In retrospect I see now my attention to the concept of the global stable manifolds, especially as in my Pisa lectures, reference 49, played this foundational role. The clarification of just how these objects were defined helped pave the way to make my further work in dynamics possible. Mathematicians as Birkhoff could certainly recognize one-dimensional stable manifolds for sur face diffeomorphisms, and basic text of Coddington-Levinson gave the difficult existence proof for the local objects, very generally. But this last book did not proceed to a definition of the global object. It stopped abruptly with the local result. I am reminded a bit by the situation in numerical analysis, where an "algorithm" is readily recognized, but a mathematician working in that subject can't define the object.
25 Rene1 Thorn and Christopher Zeeman have been important and supportive friends for several decades. But I am afraid that my critique of Catastrophe Theory in the review of reference 64, made them quite angry with me. I can understand that, as I was pretty sharp in what could well be seen as an attack on their work. One can see some of their more recent perspectives expressed in their informal talks above. I recall that my feeling at that time was, I said what had to be said about an issue that was swirling about my head. I spent a long time trying to assess Catastrophe Theory and putting my thoughts into the words of that controversial paper. A number of my papers in general were written in the midst of political turmoil, but those that appeared in the 1968 Berkeley global analysis conference organized by Chern and myself, papers 55, 56, 57, 58, were special even at that. David and Sue Elworthy arrived in Berkeley for the conference, in the middle of a street battle between students and police. They took the side of the students, and with their suitcases at their side, fought behind the barricades. Helicopters dropped tear gas on campus and the opening cocktail party had to be ended early because of curfew. The conference in Salvador, Brasil, of reference 61, was held during a very repressive time under the military dictatorship. I was under attack by Grotendieck for even attending the meeting. And Paul Koosis wrote a critique of me for going to Brasil in the journal Mother Functor. In Brasil the situation became tougher as my Brasilian friends Mauricio Peixoto and Jacob Palis became upset with me and other mathematicians who supported a math student at IMPA, one who had been imprisoned and tortured by the military. They were concerned that our actions could have as a consequence the destruction of Brasilian mathematics. Mike Shub has a written letter on this, which appeared in the New York Review of Books. Mike and I also reported to Mother Functor an account of the trip. Serge Lang discussed the event at the Berkeley 1990 Smalefest. One notable aspect of that summer in Brasil was an automobile trip with Jacob, from Rio to Babia, where the conference was held. The great tensions between us were mediated by our very warm friendship. Incidently on that trip, we stopped in Teofilo Otoni and at the home of the famed mineral dealer "Jacinto", acquired our first important Brasilian mineral specimen. One can see Batterson's biography for some context in which the article Differentiable Dynamical Systems, reference 54, was written.
Remarks on Part 6. Mechanics Jerry Marsden in his article below gives as reference for my lectures on elementary particles, notes by Ralph Abraham. Actually the Abraham notes relate to my course on the calculus of variations. The notes of the elementary particle lectures were written up by Victor Guillemin (Columbia University, cerca 1962). The topology of celestial mechanics has come a long way since my 1970 papers, ref 71, 72. The recent AMS Memoir of McCord, Meyer and Wang gives some picture of the developments.
26
Remarks on Part 7. Biology, Electric Circuits, Math. Programming Reference 79 is on my work with Bob Williams on the period doubling map, which I learned from Bob May and was made famous by Mitch Feigenbaum. In fact Mitch was in the audience at Aspen when 1 spoke on our result, and he has written how this influenced his own discoveries. Subsequently when he showed me what he had found, I put him in touch with Oscar Lanford who gave him useful support. Another paper, reference 80, dealt with population biology. Later Moe Hirsch developed this whole area with a series of beautiful papers.
Remarks on Part 8. Theory of Computation My efforts in the theory of computation are still going on after quite a number of years. I was supportive of the development of the new organization called Foundations of Computational Mathematics. There is the need for such a group because there are strong pressures against theory and foundational work in the area of scientific computation. I received demands from funding agencies and mathematicians for explicit applications and numerical evidence that what I was doing was useful. This contrasts very much with the situation in theoretical computer science where theoretical work as on the problem "does P=XP?1' is encouraged. I end these words by expressing my great appreciation to Colette Lam for the onormous and effective job that she has done in assembling these papers. Especially I give my warm thanks to Felipe Cucker and Roderick Wong for making these volumes possible.
29
10
The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology MORRIS W. HIRSCH
Background The theme of this conference is "Unity and Diversity in Mathematics." The diversity is evident in the many topics covered. Reviewing Smale's work in differential topology will reveal important themes that pervade much of his work in other topics, and thus exhibit an unexpected unity in seemingly diverse subjects. Before discussing his work, it is interesting to review the status of differen tial topology in the middle 1950s, when Smale began his graduate study. The full history of topology has yet to be written (see, however, Pont [52], Dieudonne [8]). Whereas differentiable manifolds can be traced back to the smooth curves and surfaces studied in ancient Greece, the modern theory of both manifolds and algebraic topology begins with Betti's 1871 paper [4]. Betti defines "spaces" as subsets of Euclidean spaces define by equalities and inequalities on smooth functions.1 Important improvements in Betti's treatment were made by Poincare in 1895. His definition of manifold de scribes what we call a real analytic submanifold of Euclidean space; but it is clear from his examples, such as manifolds obtained by identifying faces of polyhedra, that he had in mind abstract manifolds.2 Curiously, Poincarc's "homeomorphisme" means a C 1 diffeomorphism. Abstract smooth manifolds in the modern sense— described in terms of coordinate systems—were de fined (for the two-dimensional case) by Weyl [73] in his 1913 book on Riemann surfaces. Despite these well-known works, at mid-century there were few studies of the global geometrical structure of smooth manifolds. The subject had
1 This is the paper defining, rather imprecisely, what are now called Betti numbers. Pont [52] points out thai the same definition is given in unpublished notes of Riemann, who had visited Betti. 2 It is not obvious that such manifolds imbed in Euclidean space!
83
30
84
M.W. Hirsch
not yet been named.3 Most topologists were not at all interested in smooth maps. The "topology of manifolds" was a central topic, and the name of an important book by Ray Wilder, but it dealt only with algebraic and point-set topology. Steenrod's important book The Topology of Fibre Bundles was published in 1956. The de Rham theorems were of more interest to differen tial geometers than to topologists, and Morse theory was considered part of analysis. A great deal was known about algebraic topology. Many useful tools had been invented for studying homotopy invariants of CW complexes and their mappings (Eilenberg MacLane spaces, Serre's spectral sequences, Postnikov invariants, Steenrod's algebras of cohomology operations, etc.) Moreover, there was considerable knowledge of nonsmooth manifolds—or more accu rately, manifolds that were not assumed to be smooth, such as combina torial manifolds, homology manifolds, and so forth. Important results in clude Moise's theory of triangulations of 3-manifolds, Reidemeister's torsion classification of lens spaces, Bing's work on wild and tame embeddings and decompositions, and "pathology" such as the Alexander horned sphere and Antoine's Necklace (a Cantor set in R3 whose complement is not simply connected). The deeper significance of many of these theories emerged later, in the light of the /i-cobordism theorem and its implications. A great deal was known about 3-dimensional manifolds, beginning with Poincare's examples and Heegard's decomposition theory of 1898. The latter is especially important for understanding Smale's work, because it is the origin of the theory of handlebody decompositions. The deepest results known about manifolds were the duality theorems of Poincare, Alexander, and Lefschetz; H. Hopf's theorem that the indices of singularities of a vector field on a manifold add up to the Euler characteristic; de Rham's isomorphism between singular real cohomology and the coho mology of exterior differential forms; Chern's generalized Gauss-Bonnet for mula; the foliation theories of Reeb and Haefliger; theories of Tiber bundles and characteristic classes due to Pontryagin, Stiefel, Whitney, and Chern, with further developments by Steenrod, Weil, Spanier, Hirzebruch, Wu, Thorn, and others; Rohlin's index theorem for 4-dimensional manifolds; Henry Whitehead's little-known theory of simple homotopy types; Wilder's work on generalized manifolds; P.A. Smith's theory of fixed points of cyclic group actions. Most relevant to Smale's work was M. Morse's calculus of variations in the large, Thorn's theory of cobordism and transversality, and Whitney's studies of immersions, embeddings, and other kinds of smooth maps. 3
The term "differential topology" seems to have been coined by John Milnor in the late 1950s, but did not become current for some years. The word "diffeomorphism" did not yet exist—it may be due to W. Ambrose. While Smale was at the Institute for Advanced Study, he showed me a letter from an editor objecting to "diffeomorphism," claiming that "differomorphism" was etymologically better!
31
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
85
No one yet knew of any examples of homeomorphic manifolds that were not diffeomorphic, or of topological manifolds not admitting a differentiable structure—Milnor's invention of an exotic 7-sphere was published in 1956. Work on the classification of manifolds, and many other problems, was stuck in dimension 2 by Poincare's conjecture in dimension 3 (still unsolved). The transversality methods developed by Pontryagin and Thorn were not widely known. The use of manifolds and dynamical systems in mechanics, electrical circuit theory, economics, biology, and other applications is now common4; but in the fifties it was quite rare. Conversely, few topologists had any interest in applications. The spirit of Bourbaki dominated pure mathematics. Applications were rarely taught or even mentioned; computation was despised; classification of structure was the be-all and end-all. Hardly anyone, pure or applied, used computers (of which there were very few). The term "fractals" had not yet been coined by Mandelbrot; "chaos" was a biblical rather than a mathematical term. In this milieu, Smale began his graduate studies at Michigan in 1952.5 The great man in topology at Michigan being Ray Wilder, most topology students chose to work with him. Smale, however, for some reason became the first doctoral student of a young topologist named Raoul Bott. In view of Smale's later work in applications, it is interesting that Bott had a degree in electrical engineering; and the "Bott-Duffin Theorem" in circuit theory is still important.
Immersions Smale's work in differential topology was preceded by two short papers on the topology of maps [56, 57]. His theorems are still interesting, but not closely related to his later work. Nevertheless, the theme of much subsequent work by Smale, in many fields, is found in these papers: fibrations, and more generally, the topology of spaces of paths. Given a (continuous) map p: E-*B, a lift of a map / : X -* B is a map g:X-*E such that the following diagram commutes: E
X
"
y
B
That is, p o g = / We say (p, E, B) is a fibration if every path f:-* B can be 4
Thanks largely to Smale's pioneering efforts in these fields. Smale's autobiographical memoir in this volume recounts some of his experiences in Michigan. 5
32
86
M.W. Hirsch
lifted, the lift depending continuously on specified initial values in £. 6 Fibrations, the subject of intense research in the fifties, are the maps for which the tools of algebraic topology are best suited. In his doctoral thesis [65], Smale introduced the use of flbrations of spaces of differentiable maps as a tool for classifying immersions. This novel tech nique proved to be of great importance in many fields of geometric topology, as will be discussed below. Smale's first work in differential topology was about immersions. An immersion f:M-*Nis& smooth map between manifolds M, N such that at every x e M, the tangent map TJ~: TXM -» Tflx)N is injective. Here TM denotes the tangent vector bundle of M, with fiber Tfx over x e Af. A re gular homotopy is a homotopy /„ 0 ^ t ^ 1 of immersions such that Tf, is a homotopy of bundle maps.7 An immersion is an embedding if it is a homeomorphism onto its image, which is necessarily a locally closed smooth submanifold. A regular homotopy of embeddings is an isotopy. Here is virtually everything known about immersions in the early fifties: In a tour de force of differential and algebraic topology and geometric intu ition in 1944, Hassler Whitney [77, 78] had proved that every (smooth) n-dimensional manifold could be embedded in R2" for n ^ 1, and immersed in R2""1 for n > 2. On the other hand, it was known that the projective plane and other nonorientable surfaces could not be embedded in R \ and Whitney had proved other impossibility results using characteristic classes. Steenrod had a typewritten proof that the Klein bottle does not embed in real projec tive 3-space. The Whitney-Graustein theorem [76] showed that immersions of the circle in the plane are classified by their winding numbers. As a student working with Ed Spanier I proved the complex projective plane, which could be embedded in R7, could not be immersed in R6.8
Immersions of Circles The problem Smale solved in his thesis is that of classifying regular homo topy classes of immersions of the circle into an arbitrary manifold N. More generally, he classified immersions / : / -»N of the closed unit interval / = 6 Precisely: Given a compact polyhedron P and maps F: P x / -► B, g: P x 0 - » £ such that pog = F\P x 0 - » £ , there is an extension of g to a map C : P x / ■ ♦ £ such that p o G = F. 7 What is important and subtle here is joint continuity in (r, x) of df,{x)/dx. Without it, "regular homotopy" would be the same as "homotopy of immersions." In the plane, for example, the identity immersion of the unit circle is not regularly homotopic to its reflection in a line, but these two immersions are homotopic through immersions, as can be seen by deforming a figure-eight immersion into each of them. 8 The proof consisted of computing the secondary obstruction to a normal vector field on an embedding in R7, using a fonnula of S.D. Liao [38], another student of Spanier. This calculation was immediately made trivial by a general result of W.S. Massey [40].
33
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
87
[0,1] having fixed boundary data, i.e., fixed initial and terminal tangent vec tors/'(0) and/'{l). Smale's approach was to study the map p:E-*B, where • £ is the space of immersions' f:I-*N having fixed initial value /(0) and fixed initial tangent /'(0); • B is the space of nonzero tangent vectors to N; • p assigns to / the terminal tangent vector f'(\). The classification problem is equivalent to enumerating the path components of the fibers because it can be seen that such a path component is a regular homotopy class for fixed boundary data. Bott asked Smale an extraordinarily fruitful question: Is (p,E,B) afibrationl This amounts to asking for a Regular Homotopy Extension Theorem. In his thesis [65], Smale proved the following: Theorem. Let {u„0 < t < 1} be a deformation of f'{\) in B, i.e., a path of nonzero tangent vectors beginning with f'( 1). Then there is a regular homotopy F'.S1 x / -»N, F{x, t) = f,(x) such that f0 = / , all f, have the same initial tan gent, and the terminal tangent of f, is u,. Moreover, F can be chosen to depend continuously on the data f and the deformation {u,}. This result is nontrivial, as can be seen by observing that it is false if N is 1-dimensional (exercise!). It is not hard to see that the total space £ is contractible. Therefore the homotopy theory of fibrations implies that the klh homotopy group of any fiber F is naturally isomorphic to the (k + l)st homotopy group of the base space B. Now B has a deformation retraction onto the space T, N of unit tangent vectors. By unwinding the homotopies involved, Smale proved the following result theorem for Riemannian manifolds N of dimension B > 2: Theorem. Assume N is a manifold of dimension n ;> 2. Fix a base point x0 in the circle, and a nonzero "base vector" v0 of length 1 tangent to N. Let F denote the space of immersions f:Sl-*N having tangent v0 at x0. To f assign the loop / # : S 1 -* TjiV, where f0 sends xe Sl to the normalized tangent vector to f at x, namely /'(x)/||/'(x)||. Then f, induces a bijection between the set of path components of F and the fundamental group 71,(71 N, v0). For the special case where N is the plane, this result specializes to the Whitney-Graustein theorem [76] stated above.
9
A space of immersions is given the C1 topology. This means that two immersions are close if at each point their values are close and their tangents are close. It turns out that the homotopy type of a space of immersions is the same for all C topologies, 1 S r < oo.
34
88
M.W. Hirsch
Immersions of Spheres in Euclidean Spaces Smale soon generalized the classification to immersions of thefc-sphcreS* in Euclidean n-space R". Again the key was a fibration theorem. Let E now denote the space of immersions of the closed unitfc-diskDk into R", and B the space of immersions of S*"1 into R". The map p: E-> B assigns to an immer sion / : Z)* -► R" its restriction to the boundary. Smale proved that (p, E, B) is a fibration provided k R* Smale assigned the homotopy class of a map d: Sk -*■ VHk as follows. By a regular homotopy, we can assume / coincides with the standard inclusion Sk -+ R" on a small open Ac-disk in S\ whose complement is a closedfc-diskB. Let e(x) denote a field of Jc-frames tangent to B. Form a k-sphere £ by gluing two copies B0 and B, of B along the boundary. Define a map a{f): I -» VHk by mapping x to f+e(x) if x e B0, and to e(x) if x e B,. Here f+ denotes the map of frames induced by Tf. The homotopy class of a{f) is called the Smale invariant of the immersion /. The calculation of homotopy groups is a standard task for algebraic to pology. While it is by no means trivial, in any particular case a lot can usual ly be calculated. The Stiefel manifold Vnk has the homotopy type of the homogeneous space 0(n)/0{n — k), where 0(m) denotes the Lie group of real orthogonal m x m matrices. Therefore explicit classifications of immersions were possible for particular values of k and n, thanks to Smale's theorem.10 A surprising application of Smale's classification is his theorem that all immersions of the 2-sphere in 3-sphere are regularly homotopic, the reason being that n2{0{3)) = 0. u In particular the identity map of S1, considered as an immersion into R3, is regularly homotopic to the antipodal map. The analo gous statement is false for immersions of the circle in the plane. When Smale submitted his paper on immersions of spheres for publica tion, one reviewer claimed it could not be correct, since the identity and
10
Even where the homotopy group nk(VnJl) has been calculated, there still remains the largely unsolved geometric problem of finding an explicit immersion / : Sk -»R" representing a given homotopy class. Some results for k = 3, n = 4 were obtained by J. Hass and J.Hughes [18]. 1 ' Always remember:rc2of anv Lie group is 0.
35
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
89
antipodal maps of S2 have Gauss maps of different degrees!12 Exercise: Find the reviewer's mistake! It is not easy to visualize such a regular homotopy, now called an eversion of the 2-sphere. After Smale announced his result, verbal descriptions of the eversion were made by Arnold Shapiro (whom I could not understand), and later by Bernard Morin (whom I could).13 One way to construct an eversion is to first regularly homotop the identity map of the sphere into the composition of the double covering of the projective plane followed by Boy's surface, an immersion of the projective plane into 3-space pictured in Geometry and the Imagination [24]. Since this iden tifies antipodal points, the antipodal can also be regularly homotoped to this same composition. Tony Phillips' Scientific American article [49] presents pictures of an ever sion. Charles Pugh made prizewinning wire models of the eversion through Boy's surface, unfortunately stolen from Evans Hall on the Berkeley campus. There is also an interesting film by Nelson Max giving many visualizations of eversions. Even with such visual aids, it is a challenging task to understand the deformation of the identity map of S2 to the antipodal map through immersions. Smale's proof of the Regular Homotopy Extension Theorem (for spheres and disks of all dimensions) is based on integration of certain vector fields, foreshadowing his later work in dynamics. There is no problem in extending a regular homotopy of the boundary restriction of / to a smooth homotopy of / ; the difficulty is to make the extension a regular homotopy. Smale proceeded as follows. Since D* is contractible, the normal bundle to an immersion / : D" -»R" is trivial. Therefore, to each x e Dk, we can continuously assign a nonzero vector w(x) normal to the tangent plane to /(D*) at f(x).1* (Note the use of the hypothesis k < n.) Now f(Dk) is not an embedded submanifold, and w is not a well-defined vector field on /(D*), but / is locally an embedding, and w extends locally to a vector field in R". This is good enough to use integral curves of w to push most of/(£>*) along these integral curves, out of the way of the given deformation of / along S*"1. Because of the extra dimension, Smale was able to use this device to achieve regularity of the extension. Of course, the details, containing the heart of the proof, are formidable. But the concept is basically simple. In his theory of immersions of spheres in Euclidean spaces, Smale introduced two powerful new methods for attacking geometrical problems:
12
The Gauss map, of an embedding f of a closed surface S into 3-space, maps the surface to the unit 2-sphcre by sending each point xeSlo the unit vector outwardly normal to f(S) at f(x). 13 Morin is blind. 14 More precisely, w(x) is normal to the image of Df(x), the derivative of/at x.
36
90
M.W. Hirsch
Dynamical systems theory (i.e., integration of vector fields) was used to con struct deformations in order to prove that certain restriction maps on func tion spaces are fibrations; and then algebraic topology was used to obtain isomorphisms between homotopy groups. These techniques were soon used in successful attacks on a variety of problems.
Further Development of Immersion Theory I first learned of Smale's thesis at the 1956 Symposium on Algebraic Topol ogy in Mexico City. I was a rather ignorant graduate student at the Univer sity of Chicago; Smale was a new Ph.D. from Michigan.13 While I under stood very little of the talks on Pontryagin classes, Postnikov invariants and other arcane subjects, I thought I could understand the deceptively simple geometric problem Smale addressed: Classify immersed curves in a Riemannian manifold. In the fall of 1956, Smale was appointed Instructor at the Univcrstiy of Chicago. Having learned of Smale's work in Mexico City, I began talking with him about it, and reading his immersion papers. I soon found much simpler proofs of his results. Every day I would present them to Smale, who would patiently explain to me why my proofs were so simple as to be wrong. By this process I gradually learned the real difficulties, and eventually I un derstood Smale's proofs. In my own thesis [25] directed by Ed Spanier, I extended Smale's theory to the classification of immersions f:M-*N between arbitrary manifolds, provided dim N > dim M. In this I received a great deal of help from both Smale and Spanier. The main tool was again a fibration theorem: the restric tion map, going from immersions of M to germs of immersions of neighbor hoods of a subcomplex of a smooth triangulation of M, is a fibration. The proof of this fibration theorem used Smale's fibration theorem for disks as a local result; the globalization was accomplished by means of a smooth triangulation of M, the simplices of which are approximately disks. The classification took the following form. Consider the assignment to / of its tangent map TF: TM -* TN between tangent vector bundles. This defines a map 0 going from the space of immersions of M in N to the space of (linear) bundle maps from TM to TN that are injective on each fiber. The homotopy class of this map (among such bundle maps) generalizes the Smale invariant. Using the fibration theorem and Smale's theorems, I showed <1> induces isomorphisms on homotopy groups. By results of Milnor and J.H.C. Whitehead, this implies <1> is a homotopy equivalence. The proof of the classi fication is a bootstrapping induction on the dimension of M; the inductive step uses the fibration theorem.
1
* For an account of the atmosphere in Chicago in the fifties, see my memoir [28].
37
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
91
Thus immersions are classified by certain kinds of bundle maps, whose classification is a standard task for algebraic topology. A striking corollary of the classification is that every parallelizable manifold is immersible in Euclidean space of one dimension higher.16 Several topologists'7 reformulated the classification of immersions of an m-dimensional manifold M into a Euclidean space R"+* as follows. Let "PM: M -»BO be the classifying map (unique up to homotopy) for the stable nor mal bundle of M. An immersion / : M -* R"+* determines a lift of 4*M over the natural map BO(k) -» BO. Using homotopy theory, it can be deduced from the classification theorem that regular homotopy classes of immersions cor respond bijectively in this way to homotopy classes of lifts of *PM. Subsequently many other classification problems were solved by showing them to be equivalent to the homotopy classification of certain lifts, or what is the same thing, crosssections of a certain flbration. The starting point for this approach to geometric topology was the extraordinarily illuminating talk of R. Thorn at the International Congress of 1958 [70], in which he stated that smoothings of a piecewise linear manifold correspond to sections of a certain flbration.18 Other proofs of the general immersion classification theorem were ob tained by R. Thorn [69], A. Phillips [48], V. Poenaru [50], and M. Gromov and Ja. Eliasberg [14. 15] (see also A. Haefliger [16]). Each of these dif ferent approaches gave new insights into the geometry of immersions. Many geometrically minded topologists were struck by the power of the flbration theorem and attacked a variety of mapping and structure problems with fibration methods. The method of fibrations of function spaces was applied to submersions (smooth maps f:M-*Noi rank equal to dim N) by A. Phillips [48]. Again the key was a fibration theorem, and the classification was by induced maps between tangent bundles. This was generalized to k-mersions (maps of rank k > dim N) by S. Feit [10]. General immersion theory was made applicable to immersions between manifolds of the same dimension, provided the do main manifold has no closed component, by V. Poenaru [50] and myself [26]. Fibration methods were used to classify piecewise linear immersions by Haefliger and Poenaru [17]. Topological immersions were classified by J.A. Lees [37] and R. Lashof [36]. * M. Gromov [11-13] made a profound study of mapping problems amena ble to fibration methods, and successfully attacked many geometric problems of the most diverse types. The article by D. Spring in this volume discusses 16 Exercise (unsolved): Describe an explicit immersion of real projective 7-space in R8! 17 The first may have been M. Atiyah [2]. 18 This may have been only a conjecture—Thorn was not guilty of excessive clarity.
38
92
M.W. Hirsch
Gromov's far-reaching extensions of immersion theory to other mapping problems such as immersions which are symplectic, holomorphic, or isomet ric; see Chapters 2 and 3 of Gromov's book [13]. R. Thom [69] gave a new, more conceptual proof of Smale's theorem. R.S. Palais [47] proved an isotopy extension theorem, showing that the restric tion map for embeddings is not merely a fibration, it is a locally trivial fiber bundle (see also E. Lima [39]). R. Edwards and R. Kirby [9] proved an isotopy extension theorem for topological manifolds. The 1977 book [35] by R. Kirby and L. Siebenmann contains a unified treatment of many classification theories for structures on topological, piecewise linear, and smooth manifolds. Besides many new ideas, it presents devel opments and analogues of Smale's fibration theories, Gromov's ideas, and Smale's later theory of handlebodies. See in particular, Siebenmann's articles [54] and [55], a reprinting of [53].
Diffeomorphisms of Spheres In 1956 Milnor astounded topologists with his construction of an exotic differentiable structure on the 7-sphere, that is, a smooth manifold homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to S7. This wholly unexpected phenomenon trig gered intense research into the classification of differentiable structures, and the relation between smooth, piecewise linear, and topological manifolds. Milnor's construction was based on a diffeomorphism of the 6-sphere which, he proved, could not be extended to a diffeomorphism of the 7-ball; it was, therefore, not isotopic to any element of the orthogonal group 0(7) considered as acting on the 6-sphere. His exotic 7-sphere was constructed by gluing together two 7-balls by this diffeomorphism of their boundaries. These ideas stimulated investigation into diffeomorphism groups.
Two-spheres In 1958 Smale [59] published the following result: Theorem. The space Diff(S2) of diffeomorphism of the 2-sphere admits the orthogonal group 0(3) as a deformation retract.19 Again a key role in the proof was played by dynamical systems. I recall Smale discussing his proof of this at Chicago. At one stage he did not see 19
Around this time an outline of a proof attributed to Kneser was circulating by word of mouth; it was based on an alleged version of the Riemann mapping theorem which gives smoothness at the boundary of smooth Jordan domains, and smooth dependence on parameters. I do not know if such a proof was ever published.
39
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
93
why the proof did not go through for spheres of all dimensions, except that he knew that the analogous result for the 6-sphere would contradict Milnor's constructions of an exotic differentiable structure on the 7-sphere! It turned out that the Poincare- Bendixson Theorem, which is valid only in dimension 2, played a key role in his proof. In 1958 Smale went to the Institute for Advanced Study. This was a very fertile period for topology, and a remarkable group of geometers and topologists were assembled in Princeton. These included Shiing-Shen Chern, Ed Spanier, Armand Borel, Ed Floyd, Dean Montgomery, Lester Dubins, Andy Gleason, John Moore, Ralph Fox, Glenn Bredon, John Milnor, Richard Palais, Jim Munkres, Andre Weil, Henry Whitehead, Norman Steenrod, Bob Williams, Frank Raymond, S. Kinoshita, Lee Neuwirth, Stewart Cairns, John Stallings, Barry Mazur, Papakyriakopoulos, and many others. I shared an office, with Smale and benefited by discussing many of his ideas at an early stage in their development. Among the many questions that interested him was a famous problem of P.A. Smith: Can an involution (a map of period 2) of S 3 have a knotted circle of fixed points? He did not solve it, but we published a joint paper [29] on smooth involutions having only two fixed points. Unfortunately it contains an elementary blunder, and is totally wrong.20
Three-spheres Smale worked on showing that the space Diff(S3) of diffeomorphism of the 3-sphere admits the orthogonal group 0(4) as a deformation retract. Using several fibrations, such as the restriction map going from diffeomorphisms of S 3 to embeddigs of D 3 in S3, and from the latter to embeddings of S2 in S3, and so forth, he reduced this to the same problem for the space of embeddings of S2 in R3. Although it failed, his approach was important, and stimulated much further research. Hatcher [20] proved Smale's conjecture in 1975. In a manuscript for this work Smale analyzed an embedding in Euclidean space by considering a height function, i.e., the composition of the embedding with a nonzero linear function.21 Smale tried to find a height function which, for a given compact set of embeddings of S2 in R \ would look like a Morse function for each embedding, exhibiting it as obtained from the unit sphere by extruding pseudopods in a manageable way. These could then all be pushed back, following the height function, until they all became diffeomorphisms of S2. 20
I am glad to report that other people have also made mistakes in this problem. This idea goes back to Mobius [45], who used it in an attempt to classify surfaces; see Hirsch [27] for a discussion. J. Alexander [1] had used a similar method to study piecewise linear embeddings of surfaces. 21
40_
94
M.W. Hirsch
At that point, appeal to his theorem on diffeomorphisms of S2 would finish the proof. He had a complicated inductive proof; but Robert Williams, Henry Whitehead and I (all at the Institute then) found that the induction failed at the first step! Nevertheless the idea was fruitful. J. Cerf [6] succeeded in proving that Diff(S3) has just two path components. Cerf used a more subtle development of Smale's height function: He showed that for a one-parameter family of embeddings, there is a function having at worst cubic singularities, but be having topologically like a Morse function for each embedding in the family. Cerf's ideas were to prove useful in other deformation problems in topology and dynamics, and surprisingly, in algebraic K-theory. See Hatcher [19], Hatcher and Wagoner [21], and Cerf [5, 7]. Smale would return to the use of height functions as tools for dissecting manifolds in his spectacular attack on the generalized Poincare conjecture. In using height functions to analyze embedded 2-spheres, Smale was grap pling with a basic problem peculiar to the topology of manifolds: There is no easy way to decompose a manifold. Unlike a simplicial complex, which come equipped with a decomposition into the simplest spaces, a smooth manifold —without any additional structure such as a Riemannian metric—is a ho mogeneous global object. If it is "closed"—compact, connected and without boundary—it contains no proper closed submanifold of the same dimen sion, is not a union of a countable family of closed submanifolds of lower dimension. This is a serious problem if we need to analyze a closed manifold because it means we cannot decompose it into simpler objects of the same kind. Before 1960 the traditional tool for studying the geometric topology of manifolds was a smooth triangulation. Cairns and Whitehead had shown such triangulations exist and are unique up to isomorphic subdivisions. Thus to every smooth manifold there is associated a combinatorial manifold. In this way simplicial complexes, for which combinatorial techniques and in duction on dimension are convenient tools, are introduced into differential topology. But useful as they are for algebraic purposes, they are not wellsuited for studying differentiable maps.22 Smale would shortly return to the use of Morse functions to analyze mani folds. His theory of theory of handlebodies was soon to supply topologists with a highly succussful technique for decomposing smooth manifolds.
22
Simplicial complexes were introduced, as were so many other topological ideas, by Poincare. Using them he gave a new and much more satisfactory definition of Betti numbers, which had originally been defined in terms of boundaries of smooth sub manifolds. It is interesting that while the old definition was obviously invariant under Poincare's equivalence relation of "homeomorphisme," which meant what we call "C1 difieomorphism," invariance of simplicially defined Betti numbers is not at all obvi ous. (It was later proved by J. Alexander.) Thus the gap between simplicial and difTerentiable techniques has plagued topology from its beginnings.
41
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
95
The Generalized Poincare Conjecture and the /j-Cobordism Theorem In January of 1960 Smale arrived in Rio de Janeiro to spend six months at the Instituto de Matematica Pura e Aplicada (IMPA). Early in 1960, he submitted a research announcement: The generalized Poincare conjecture in higher dimensions [60], along with a handwritten manuscript outlining the proof. The editors of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society asked topologists in Princeton to look over the manuscript. I remember Henry Whitehead, who had once published his own (incorrect) proof, struggling with Smale's new techniques.23 The theorem Smale announced in his 1960 Bulletin paper is, verbatim: Theorem (Theorem A). / / M" is a closed differentiable (C00) manifold which is a homotopy sphere, and ifn±\ 4, then Af" is homeomorphic to S". The notation implies M" has dimension n. "Closed" means compact with out boundary. Such a manifold is a homotopy sphere if it is simply connected and has the same homology groups as the n-sphere (which implies it has the same homotopy type as the n-sphere). Poincare [51] had raised the question of whether a simply connected 3-manifold having the homology of the 3-sphere is homeomorphic to the 3-sphere S 3 . 24 Some form of the generalized conjecture (i.e., the result proved by Smale without any dimension restriction) had been known for many years; it may be have been due originally to Henry Whitehead. Very little progress had been made since Poincare on his conjecture.25 Because natural approaches to the generalized conjecture seemed to require knowledge of manifolds of lower dimension, Smale's announcement was 23 Whitehead was very good about what he called "doing his homework," that is, reading other people's papers. "I would no more use someone's theorem without reading the proof," he once remarked, "than I would use his wallet without permis sion." He once published a paper relying on an announcent by Pontryagin, without proof, of the formula n4(S2) = 0, which was later shown (also by Pontryagin) to have order 2. Whitehead was quite proud of his footnote stating that he had not seen the proof. Smale, on the other hand, told me that if he respected the author, he would take a theorem on trust. 24 As Smale points out in his Mathematical Intelligencer article [67], Poincare docs not hazard a guess as the the answer. He had earlier mistakenly announced that a 3-manifold is a 3-sphere provided it has the same homology. In correcting his mis take, by constructing the dodecahedral counterexample, he invented the fundamental group. Thus we should really call it Poincare's question, not conjecture. 29 There is still no good reason to believe in it, except a lack of counterexamples; and some topologists think the opposite conjecture is more likely. Maybe it is undecidable!
42
96
M.W. Hirsch
astonishing. Up to then, no one had dreamed of proving things only for manifolds of higher dimension, three dimensions already being too many to handle.
Nice Functions, Handles, and Cell Structures Smale's approach is intimately tied to his work, both later and earlier, on dynamical systems. At the beginning of his stay in Princeton, he had been introduced to Mauricio Peixoto, who got Smale interested in dynamical systems.26 Smale's proof of Theorem A begins by decomposing the manifold Af (dropping the superscript) by a special kind of Morse function / : Af -»R, which he called by the rather dull name of "nice function." He wrote: The first step in the proof is the construction of a nice cellular type structure on any closed C manifold M. More precisely, define a real-valued / on W to be a nice function if it possesses only nondegenerate critical points and for each critical point P.JXP) = A(0), the index of p. It had long been known (due to M. Morse) that any Morse function gives a homotopical reconstruction of Af as a union of cells, with one 5-cell for each critical point of index $. Smale observed that the s-cell can be "thickened" in Af to a set which is diffeomorphic to D1 x D*~*. Such a set he calls a handle of type s; the type of a handle is the dimension of its core V x 0. Thus from a Morse function he derived a description of Af as a union of handles with disjoint interiors. But Smale wanted the handles to be successively adjoined in the order of their types: First 0-handles (n-disks), then 1-handles, and so on. For this, he needed a "nice" Morse function: The value of the function at a critical point equals the index of the critical point. A little experimentation shows that most Morse functions are not nice. Smale stated: Theorem (Theorem B). On every closed C°° manifold there exist nicefunctions. To get a nice function, Smale had to rearrange the fc-cell handle cores, and to do this he first needed to make the stable and unstable manifolds of all the critical points to meet each other transversely.27 26
See Peixoto's article on Smale's early work, in this volume; and also Smale's auto biographical article [66]. 27 If p is a singular point of a vector field, its stable manifold is the set of points whose trajectories approach p as t -» oo. The unstable manifold is the stable manifold for —/, comprising trajectories going to p in negative time.
43
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
97
Smale referred to his article "Morse Inequalities for a Dynamical System" [61] for the proof that a gradient vector field on a Riemannian manifold can be C approximated by a gradient vector Field for which the stable and unstable manifolds of singular points meet each other transversely. From this he was able to construct a nice function. The usefulness of this will be seen shortly. In his Bulletin announcement [60] Smale then made a prescient observation: The stable manifolds of the critical points of a nice function can be thought of as the cells of a complex while the unstable manifolds are the dual cells. This structure has the advantage over previous structures that both the cells and the duals are differentiably imbedded in M. We believe that nice functions will replace much of the use of C triangulations and combinatorial methods in differential topology. With nice functions at his disposal, Smale could decompose any closed manifold into a union of handles, successively adjoined in the same order as their type. This is a far-reaching generalization of the work of Mobius [45], who used what we call Morse functions in a similar way to decomposed surfaces.
Eliminating Superfluous Handles The results about nice functions stated so far apply to all manifolds. To prove Theorem A required use of the hypothesis that M is a homotopy sphere of dimension at least five. What Smale proved was that in this case there is a Morse function with exactly two critical points—necessarily a maximum and a minimum. It then follows easily, using the grid of level surfaces and gradient lines, that M is the union of two smooth n-dimensional submanifolds with boundary, meeting along their common boundary, such that each is diffeomorphic to D". From this it is simple to show that M is homeomorphic to S".28 Actually more is true. In the first place, it is not hard to show from the decomposition of M into two n-balls that the complement of point in M is diffeomorphic to R". Second, it follows from the theory of smooth triangulations that the piecewise linear (PL) manifold19 which smoothly triangulates M is PL isomorphic to the standard PL n-sphere. How did Smale get a Morse function with only two critical points? He used the homotopical hypothesis to eliminate all other critical points. To
28
In fact, it takes some thought to see why one cannot immediately deduce that M is diffeomorphic to S"; but recall Milnor's celebrated 7-dimensional counterexample [42]. 29 A piecewise linear manifold has a triangulation in which the closed star of every vertex is isomorphic to a rectilinear subdivision of a simplex.
44
98
M.W. Hirsch
visualize the idea behind his proof, imagine a sphere embedded in 3-space in the form of a U-shaped surface. Letting the height be the nice Morse function, we see that there are two maxima, one minimum, and one saddle. The stable manifold of the saddle is a curve, the two ends of which limit at the two maxima. Now change the embedding by pushing down on one of the maxima until the part of the U capped by that maximum has been mashed down to just below the level of the saddle. This can be done so that on the final surface the saddle point has become noncritical, and no new saddle has been introduced. Thus on the new surface, which is diffeomorphic to the original, there is a Morse function with only two critical points. If we had not known that the original surface is diffeomorphic to the 2-sphere, we would realize it now. The point to observe in this process is that we canceled the extra maximum against the saddle point; both disappeared at the same time. Smale's task was to do this in a general way. Because M is connected, there is no topological reason for the existence of more than one maximum and one minimum. If there are two maxima, the Morse inequalities, plus some topology, require the existence of a saddle whose stable manifold is onedimensional and limits at two maxima, just as in the U-shaped example earlier. Smale redefined the Morse function on the level surfaces above this saddle, and just below it, to obtain a new nice function having one fewer saddle and one fewer maximum. In this way, he proved [62] there exists, on any connected manifold, a nice function with only one maximum and one minimum (and possibly other critical points). The foregoing had already been proved by M. Morse [46]. Smale went further. Assuming that M is simply connected and of dimension at least five, he used a similar cancellation of critical points to eliminate all critical points of index 1 and n — 1. Each handle corresponds both to a critical point and to a generator in a certain relative singular chain group. Under the assumptions that homology groups vanish, it follows that these generators must cancel algebraically in a certain sense. The essence of Smale's proof of Poincare's conjecture was to show how to imitate this algebraic calculation vith a geometric one: By isotopically rearranging the handles, he showed that a pair of handles of successive dimensions fit together to form an n-disk. By absorbing this disk into previously added handles, he produced a new handle decompostion with two fewer handles, together with a new Morse function having two fewer critical points. To make the algebra work and to perform the isotopies, Smale had to assume the manifold is simply connected and of dimension at least five. In this way he proved the following important result. Recall that M is r-connected if every map of an i-sphere into M is contractible to a point for 0 ^ 11 ^ r. The ith type number u, of a Morse function is the number of critical points of index i.
45
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
99
Theorem (Theorem D). Let M" be a closed (m — i)-connected Cw manifold, with n ^ 2m and (n, m) # {4,2). Then there is a nice function on M whose type numbers satisfy u0 = u„= 1 and a, = 0 for 0
"Handlebody" is from the German "henkelkorper," a term common in the fifties (but J. Eells always said "Besselhagen"). Although it sounds innocuous today, at the time "handlebody" struck many people as a clumsy neologism—which only made Smale use it more. 31 Both Jordan [31] and Mobius [45] published proofs of the classification of com pact surfaces in the 1860s. From a modern standpoint these are failures. The authors lacked even the language to define what we mean by homeomorphic spaces. It is striking that the following "definition" was used by both of them: Two surfaces are equivalent if each can be decomposed into infinitely small pieces so that contiguous pieces of one correspond to contiguous pieces of the other. While we find it hard to make sense of this, apparently none of their readers was disturbed by it!
46
100
M.W. Hirsch
Theorem (Theorem H). There exists a triangulated manifold with no differentiable structure. In fact he proved a significantly stronger result: There is a closed PL mani fold which does not have the homotopy type of any smooth manifold. Smale started with a certain 12-dimensional handlebody H e Jf(12,8,6) previously constructed by Milnor in 1959 [43]. Milnor had shown that the boundary is a homotopy sphere which could not be diffeomorphic to a stan dard sphere because H has the wrong index. Smale's results showed that the boundary homeomorphic to S 11 and a smooth triangulation makes the boundary PL homeomorphic to S u . By gluing a 12-disk to H along the boundary, Smale constructed a closed PL 12-manifold Af. Milnor's index argument implied that M did not have the homotopy type of any smooth closed manifold. An entirely different example of this kind was independently constructed by M. Kervaire [33]. 3 2
The h-Cobordism Theorem In his address to the Mexico City symposium in 1956 [71], Thorn introduced a new equivalence relation between manifolds, which he called "./-equiva lence." This was renamed "/i-cobordism" by Kervaire and Milnor [34]. Two closed smooth n-manifolds M0, M, are h-cobordant if there is a smooth com pact manifold W of dimension n + 1 whose boundary is diffeomorphic to the disjoint union of submanifolds Vh i = 0,1, such that M, and N, are diffeomor phic, and each N, is a deformation retract of W. Such a W is an h-cobordism between Af0 and M — 1. This is a very convenient relation, linking differential and algebraic topol ogy. It defines an equivalence relation between manifolds in terms of another manifold, just as a homotopy between maps is defined as another map, thus allowing knowledge about manifolds to be used in studying the equivalence relation. Whereas the geometric implications of two manifolds being /j-cobordant is not clear, nevertheless it is often an easy task to verify that a given manifold W is a cobordism: It suffices to prove that all the relative homotopy groups of (W, N,) vanish, and for this the machinery of algebraic topology is available. In contrast, there are very few methods available for proving that two manifolds are diffeomorphic; and a diffeomorphism is a very different object from a manifold. 32 Kervaire's example is constructed by a similar strategy from a 10-dimensional handlebody in Jf(l 0,2,5). It has an elegant description: Take two copies of the unit disk bundle of S3 and "plumb" them together, interchangingfiberdisks and base disks in a product representation over the upper hemisphere. In place of the index, Kervaire used an Arf invariant.
47
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
101
For these reasons there was great excitement when, shortly after the an nouncement of the generalized Poincare conjecture, Smale proved the follow ing result [64]: Theorem (The h-Cobordism Theorem). Let W be an h-cobordism between M0 and Mx. If W is simply connected and has dimension at least 6, then W is diffeomorphic to M0 x /. Therefore, M, and M0 are diffeomorphic. So important is the /t-cobordism theorem that it deserves to be called The Fundamental Theorem of Differential Topology. Kervaire and Milnor studied oriented homotopy n-spheres under the rela tion of /t-cobordism. Using the operation of connected sum, they made the set of h-cobordism classes of homotopy n-spheres into an Abelian group 0„ [34]. They proved these groups to befinitefor all n # 3 (the case n = 3 is still open), and computed their orders for 1 ^ n ^ 17, n / 3. For example, the order is 1 for n = 1,2,4, 5,612; it is 2 for n = 8,14, 16; and it is 992 for n = 11. In this work, they did not use the h-cobordism theorem. Use of that theorem, however, sharpens their results, as they remark: "For n # 3, 4, 0„ can be described as the set of all diffeomorphism classes of differentiable structures on the topological n-sphere," where it should be understood that the diffeomorphisms preserve orientation. From Milnor and Kervaire's work Smale proved, as a corollary to the /t-cobordism theorem, that every smooth homotopy 6-sphere is diffeomorphic toS6.
The Structure of Manifolds In this paper "On the Structure of 5-Manifolds" [63], Smale puts handle theory to work in classifying certain manifolds more complicated than ho motopy spheres, namely, boundaries of handlebodies of type (2m, k, m). Using Milnor's surgery methods he is able to show, for example, that a smooth, closed 2-connected 5-manifold, whose second Stiefel-Whitney class vanishes, is the boundary of a handlebody of type (6, k, 3). He then shows that such a 5-manifold is completely determined up to diffeomorphism by its second homology group, and he constructs examples in every diffeomor phism class. Another result Smale states in this paper is that every smooth, closed 2connected 6-manifold is homeomorphic either to S6 or to a connected sum of S3 x S3 with copies of itself In the same issue of the Annals, C.T.C. Wall has a paper [72] called "Classification of (n — l)-connected 2n-manifolds" containing a detailed study of the smooth, combinatorial and homotopical structure of such manifolds. The h-cobordism theorem is the main tool (in addition to results of Milnor and Kervaire, plus a lot of algebra). Wall proves:
48
102
M.W. Hirsch
Theorem. Let n ^ 3 be congruent modulo 8 to 3, 5, 6 or 7.33 Let M, N be smooth, closed (n — l)-connected 2n-manifolds of the same homotopy type. Then M is diffeomorphic to the connected sum of N with a homotopy 2n-sphere. If n = 3 or 6 then they are diffeomorphic. Milnor had shown in 1956 that there are smooth manifolds homeomor phic but not diffeomorphic to S7. Kervaire and Milnor's work [34], plus the )i-cobordism theorem, showed that up to orientation-preserving difleomorphism there are exactly 28 such manifolds. Wall [72] proved a surprising result about the product of such manifolds: Theorem. The product of two smooth manifolds, each homeomorphic to S1, is diffeomorphic to S 7 x S7.
The s-Cobordism Theorem There is no room to chronicle the all consequences, generalizations, and applications of the /i-cobordism theorem and its underlying idea of handle cancellation. But one—the s-cobordism theorem—is worth citing here for its remarkable blend of homotopy theory, algebra and differential topology. As with much of topology, this story starts with J.H.C. Whitehead. In 1939, he published a paper with the mysterious title "Simplicial Spaces, Nu clei and m-Groups" [74], followed a year later by "Simple Homotopy Types" [75]. In these works, he introduced the notion of a simple homotopy equiva lence between simplicial (or CW) complexes. Very roughly, this means a homotopy equivalence which does not overly distort the natural bases for the cellular chain groups. He answered the question of when a given homotopy equivalence is homotopic to a simple one, by inventing an obstruction, lying in what is now called the Whitehead group of the fundamental group, whose vanishing is necessary and sufficient for the existence of such a homotopy. Whitehead proved that his invariant vanishes—because the Whitehead group is trivial—whenever the fundamental group is cyclic of order 1, 2, 3,4, 5 or oo. See Milnor's excellent exposition [44]. Several people independently realized that Whitehead's invariant was the key to extending Smale's /i-cobordism theorem to manifolds whose funda mental groups are nontrivial: D. Barden [3], B. Mazur [41], and J. Stallings [68]. The result is this: Theorem (The s-Cobordism Theorem). Let W be an h-cobordism between M0 and Mx.lfWhas dimension at least 6, and the inclusion of M0 (or equivalently, of A/,) into W is a simple homotopy equivalence, then W is diffeomorphic to M0 x I. Therefore, Mj and M 0 are diffeomorphic.
These are the dimensions for which 7i„_, (SO) = 0.
49
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
103
Using Whitehead's calculation we immediately obtain: Corollary. The conclusion of the h-cobordism theorem is true even if W is not simply connected, provided its fundamental group is infinite cyclic or cyclic of order ^ 5 . The s-cobordism theorem has been expounded by J. Hudson [30] and M. Kervaire [32].
References 1. J.W. Alexander, On the subdivision of 3-space by a polyhedron, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 9 (1924), 406-407. 2. M.F. Atiyah, Immersions and embeddings of manifolds. Topology 1 (1962), 125132. 3. D. Barden, The structure of manifolds, Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge University, 1963. 4. E. Betti, Sopra gli spazi di un numero qualunque di dimension!, Ann. Mathemat. PuraAppi.4{Wl). 5. J. Cerf, Isotopie et pseudo-isotopie, Proceedings of International Congress of Mathematicians (Moscow), pp. 429-437 (1966). 6. , Sur les diffeomorphismes de la sphire de dimension trois (T4 = 0), Springer Lecture Notes in Mathematics Vol. S3, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1968. 7. , Les stratification naturelles des espaces de fonctions diflerentiables reclles et le theoreme de la pseudo-isotopie, Publ. Math. Inst. Hautes Etudes Scient. 39 (1970). 8. J.A. Dieudonne, A History of Algebraic and Differential Topology, 1900-1960, Birkhauser, Boston, 1989. 9. R.D. Edwards and R.C. Kirby, Deformations of spaces of embeddings, Ann. Math. 93 (1971), 63-88. 10. S.D. Feit, /c-mersions of manifolds, Ada Math. 122 (1969), 173-195. 11. M.L. Gromov, Transversal maps of foliations, Dokl. Akad. Nauk. S.S.S.R. 182 (1968), 225-258 (Russian). English Translation: Soviet Math. Dokl. 9 (1968), 11261129. Math. Reviews 38, 6628. 12. , Stable mappings of foliations into manifolds, hv. Akad. Nauk. S.S.S.R. Mat. 33 (1969), 707- 734 (Russian). English translation: Trans. Math. U.SS.R. (Jzves»'a)3(1969),671-693. 13. , Partial Differential Relations, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1986. 14. M.L. Gromov and Ja.M. Eliasberg, Construction of non-singular isoperimetric films, Proceedings of Steklov Institute 116 (1971L 13-28. 15. , Removal of singularities of smooth mappings. Math. USSR (lzvestia) 3 (1971), 615-639. 16. A. Haefliger, Lectures on the Theorem of Gromov, Liverpool Symposium 11, Lecture Notes in Mathematics Vol. 209, (C.T.C. Wall, ed.), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 118-142. 17. A. Haefliger and V. Poenaru, Classification des immersions combinatoires, Publ. Math. Inst. Hautes Etudes Scient. 23 (1964), 75-91. 18. J. Hass and J. Hughes, Immersions of surfaces in 3-manifolds, Topology 24 (1985), 97-112.
50 104
M.W. Hirsch
19. A. Hatcher, Concordance spaces, higher simple homotopy theory, and applica tions, Proceedings of the Symposium on Pure Mathematics, Vol. 32, American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI. 20. , A proof of the Smale Conjecture, Diff(S3) = 0(4), Ann. Math. 117 (1983). 553-607. 21. A. Hatcher and J. Wagoner, Pseudo-isotopies of compact manifolds, Astirisque 6(1973). 22. P. Heegard, Forstudier til en topolgisk teori for de algebraiske sammenhang, Ph.D. thesis. University of Copenhagen, 1898. 23. , Sur Panalysis situs. Bull. Soc. Math. France 44 (1916), 161-242. 24. D. Hilbert and S. Cohn-Vossen, Geometry and the Imagination, Chelsea, New York, 1956. 25. M.W. Hirsch, Immersions of manifolds, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 93 (1959), 242276. 26. , On imbedding differentiable manifolds in euclidean space, Ann. Math. 73 (1961), 566-571. 27. , Differential Topology, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1976. 28. , Reminiscences of Chicago in the Fifties, The Halmos Birthday Volume (J. Ewing, ed.), Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991. 29. M.W. Hirsch and S. Smale, On involutions of the 3-sphere, Amer. J. Math. 81 (1959), 893-900. 30. J.F.P. Hudson, Piecewise Linear Topology, Benjamin, New York, 1969. 31. C. Jordan, Sur les deformations des surfaces, J. Math. Pures Appl. (2) 11 (1866), 105-109. 32. M. Kervaire, A manifold which does not admit any differentiable structure, Com ment. Math. Helv. 34 (1960), 257-270. 33. , Le theoremc de Barden-Mazur-Stallings, Comment. Math. Helv. 40(1965), 31-42. 34. M. Kervaire and J. Milnor, Groups of homotopy spheres, I, Ann. Math. 77 (1963), 504-537. 35. R.C. Kirby and L. Siebenmann, Foundational Essays on Topological Manifolds, Smoothings, and Triangulations, Annals of Mathematics Studies Vol. 88, Princeton University Press and Tokyo University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1977. 36. R. Lashof, Lees' immersion theorem and the triangulation of manifolds, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 75 (1969), 535-538. 37. J. Lees, Immersions and surgeries on manifolds, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 75 (1969), 529-534. 38. S.D. Liao, On the theory of obstructions of fiber bundles, Ann. Math. 60 (1954), 146-191. 39. E. Lima, On the local triviality of the restriction map for embeddings, Comment. Math. Helv. 38 (1964), 163-164. 40. W.S. Massey, On the cohomology ring of a sphere bundle, J. Math. Mechanics 7 (1958), 265-290. 41. B. Mazur, Relative neighborhoods and the theorems of Smale, Ann. Math. 77 (1936), 232-249. 42. J. Milnor, On manifolds homeomorphic to the 7-spherc, Ann. Math. 64 (1956), 395-405. 43. , Differentiable manifolds which are homotopy spheres. Mimeographed, Princeton University, 1958 or 1959.
51
10. The Work of Stephen Smale in Differential Topology
105
44. , Whitehead torsion, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 72 (1966), 358-426. 45. A.F. Mobius, Theoric der elemcntaren Verwandtschaft, Leipziger Sitzungsberichte math.-phys. Classe 15 (1869), also in Werke, Bd. 2. 46. M. Morse, The existence of polar nondegenerate functions on differentiable mani folds, Ann. Math. 71 (I960), 352-383. 47. R.S. Palais, Local triviality of the restriction map for embedding?. Comment. Math. Helv. 34 (1960X 305-312. 48. A. Phillips, Submersions of open manifolds, Topology 6 (1966), 171-206. 49. , Turning a sphere inside out, Sci. Amer. (1966), 223, May, 112-120. 50. V. Poenaru, Sur la theorie des immersions, Topology 1 (1962), 81-100. 51. H. Poincare, Cinquieme complement a I'Analysis Situs, Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo 18 (1904), 45-110. 52. Jean-Claude Pont, La topologie algibrique: des origines a Poincari, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1974. 53. L. Siebenmann, Topological manifolds, Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Nice, September 1970 {Paris 6*), Vol. 2, Gauthiers-Villars, Paris (1971) pp. 133-163. 54. , Classification of sliced manifold structures, Appendix A, Foundational Essays on Topological Manifolds, Smoothings, and Trianguiations, Princeton Uni versity Press and Tokyo University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1977; Ann. Math. Study 88, pp. 256-263. 55. , Topological manifolds, Foundational Essays on Topological Manifolds, Smoothings, and Triangulations, Vol. 88, Princeton University Press and Tokyo University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1977; Ann. Math. Study 88, pp. 307-337. 56. S. Smale, A note on open maps, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 8 (1957), 391-393. 57. , A Vietoris mapping theorem for homotopy, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 8 (1957), 604-610. 58. , The classification of immersions of spheres in euclidean spaces, Ann. Math. 69 (1959), 327-344. 59. , Diffeomorphisms of the 2-sphere, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 10(1959), 621626. 60. , The generalized Poincare conjecture in higher dimensions, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 66 (1960), 373-375. 61. , Morse inequalities for a dynamical system, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 66 (1960), 43-49. 62. , Generalized Poincare conjecture in dimensions greater than four, Ann. Math. 74 (1961), 391-406. 63. , On the structure of 5-manifolds, Ann. Math. 75 (1962), 38-46. 64. , On the structure of manifolds, Amer. J. Math. 84 (1962), 387-399. 65. , Regular curves on Riemannian manifolds, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 87 (1968), 492-512. 66. , On how 1 got started in dynamical systems, The Mathematics of Time, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1980, pp. 147-151. 67. , The story of the higher dimensional Poincare conjecture (what actually happened on the beaches of Rio), Math. Intelligencer 12, No. 2 (1990), 44-51. 68. J. Stallings, Lectures on polyhedral topology, Technical report, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, 1967, Notes by G. Ananada Swarup. 69. R. Thorn, La classifications des immersions, Seminaire Bourbaki, Expose 157, 1957-58 (mineographed).
52 106 70.
M.W. Hirsch
, Des varietes triangulees aux varietes differentiables, Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians 1962 (J.A. Todd, ed.), Cambridge Uni versity Press, Cambridge, 1963, pp. 248-255. 71. , Les classes characteristiques de Pontryagin des varietes triangules, Sym posium Internacional de Topologia Algebraica (Mexico City), Universidad Nacional Autonomia, pp. 54-67. 72. C.T.C. Wall, Classification of (n - l)-connected 2n-manifolds, Ann. Math. 75 (1962), 163-189. 73. H. Weyl, Ober die Idee der Riemannschen Flachen, B.G. Teubner Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1973. Translated as The Concept of a Riemann Surface, AddisonWesley, New York, 1955. 74. J.H.C. Whitehead, Simplicial spaces, nuclei and m-groups, Proc. London Math. Soc. 45 (1939), 243-327. 75. , Simple homotopy types, Amer. J. Math. 72 (1940), 1-57. 76. H. Whitney, On regular closed curves in the plane, Compositio Math. 4 (1937), 276-284. 77. , The self-intersections of a smooth n-manifold in (2n — l)-space, Ann. Math. 45 (1944), 220-246. 78. , The singularities of a smooth n-manifold in (2n — l)-space, Ann. Math. 45 (1944), 247-293.
53
A NOTE ON OPEN MAPS STEPHEN SMALE
In [ l ] E. E. Floyd proved t h a t if X and F a r e Peano continua and f: X—>7 is light, open, and onto, then the covering homotopy prop erty for a point holds. Here we will prove (Theorem 1) that under different (roughly speaking, more general) conditions the covering homotopy property for a point holds up to a homotopy. This has cer tain implications on the induced homomorphism of the fundamental groups (Theorem 2). 1. Definitions. We consider a triple (X, p, Y) to consist of two topological spaces X and Y and a map p from X into Y. We denote by / the closed unit interval. A triple (X, p, Y) has the covering homotopy property for a point if given a m a p / : I—*Y and a point £/>_1/(0), there exists a map / : I-+X with^O) ==q and pj=f. The covering homotopy property for a point holds up to homotopy if given (X, p, Y),f and q as above, there exists a map / : I—*X with /(0) = q, pj(l) = / ( l ) and pf is homotopic t o / with the homotopy fixed on the end points of / . A map is called proper if the inverse images of compact sets are compact. If A is a subset of a space X, then TI(A/X) will denote the image of iri(A) in -w\{X) under the homomorphism induced by inclu sion. A space S will be called semilocally 1-connected if for each point x £ S , there exists a neighborhood U of x such that m( U/S) = 1. A triple (X, p, Y) will be said to have Property A if the following is true: Property A. The space X is locally arcwise connected and Hausdorff; Y is semilocally 1-connected and metric. The map p is open, proper, and onto. The main theorem of this note is the following. THEOREM 1. A triple (X, p, Y) having Property A has the covering homotopy property for a point up to homotopy. 2. Proof of Theorem 1. LEMMA 1. Let Y be a metric space andf: X—*Y be proper and onto. Suppose y(EY and U is an open set of X containing f~*{y). Then there exists a neighborhood V of y such that f~l(V)CU.
Presented to the Society, April 14, 1956 under the title The effect of an open map on the fundamental group; received by the editors May 1, 1956.
391
54 STEPHEN SMALE
392
[April
PROOF. Suppose the lemma is not true. For each integer » > 0 , let Vi be a neighborhood of y of diameter 1 /»'. Then for each i there exists a pointyiGVtwithf~1(yt)r\(iX-U)?£0. Choosex < Gf- l (y i )n{XU) for each *'. The set K — \Jyi\Jy is compact hence f~l(K) is. Therefore the set \xi] has a limit point, say x. By the continuity of/, x£J~l(y). Since X — U is closed, x^X—U, contradicting the previous state ment. q.e.d. REMARK. R. L. Wilder has pointed out to me that if instead of Y being metric, Y is Hausdorff and has a countable basis of neighbor hoods at each point then the proof for this lemma is still valid. In all the theorems in this paper, metric may be replaced by possession of this property. The proof of Theorem 1 proceeds as follows. For each y £ Fchoose by the semilocally 1-connectedness property of Y a neighborhood Uy of y such that ri(Uy/X) = 1. Then for each x(zp~l(y) let Py(x) be an arcwise connected neighborhood of x such that p \Pv{x) ] C Uy. By the compactness of p~l(y) choose a finite number of these neighborhoods, say P\v, • • • , P* v , covering p~*(y). Let Py = \JPiy and Vy = fi/>(P,y). Since p is open Vy is an open set of Y containing y. Choose by Lemma 1 a neighborhood Vy of y con tained in 7 , such that p~l\vy)CPy. Let g: I—*Y be given with g(0) =y<> and SoG^'Ovo). We will con struct a map g: /—>X such that £(0) =Xo, £1(1) = g ( l ) and pg is homotopic to g with fixed end points. Let 8 be the Lebesgue number of the covering of / , {g - , ( Vy)/y€ Y}. If / o = [tGI/0 . The open sets here are to correspond in the obvious fashion to those of the previous paragraphs. Then xa will lie in some Pi say Pi. Let xi be an arbitrary point in the nonempty intersection P i f V - l [ g ( 8 ) ] . For 0
3. Applications. COROLLARY 1. / / (X, p, Y) is a triple possessing Property A, y G K, and x£.p~l(y), then the induced transformation prir^X, />_,Cy), x) —nri( Y, y) is onto.
This is an immediate consequence of Theorem 1.
55
'9571
A NOTE ON OPEN MAPS
393
COROLLARY 2. Suppose under the conditions of Corollary 1 the single inverse image p~*{y) is arcwise connected. Then the induced homomorphism pn wi{X, x)—MTI( Y, y) is onto.
Corollary 2 follows from Corollary 1 and the exact homotopy se quence of the pair {X, £ - I (y))THEOREM 2. Let (AT, p, Y) be a triple having Property A. Then the quotient Ti(Y, y)/pt[iri(X, x)] is finite.
M. L. Curtis [2, p. 239] proved a somewhat weaker theorem using the previously mentioned result of E. E. Floyd. The proof in his paper applys directly here to yield Theorem 2 from Theorem 1. It will not be repeated. Theorem 2 is roughly a generalization of a result obtained by T. Ganea [3, p. 195]. Ganea proved that under local connectedness con ditions, given an open map of a compact Hausdorff space X onto a Hausdorff space Y, if vi(X) is finite then iri(Y) is. Ganea uses Chevalley's definition of fundamental group. In the following, the homology is the singular theory, Q denotes the rational group and Z the group of integers. THEOREM 3. If {X, p, Y) is a triple possessing Property A and X is arcwise connected then the induced homomorphism p*:H\(X; Q) -*Hi(Y; (?) is onto. PROOF. The Hurcwicz homomorphism h: vi(Y)—*H\{Y) induces a homomorphism ht: Tci(Y)/p*[ir1(X)]-+H1(Y; Z)/p*[Hi(X; Z)]. Since h is onto, hf is also onto. Then from Theorem 2 it follows that Hi(Y; Z)/p*[Hi(X; Z)\ is finite. Theorem 3 follows from the univer sal coefficient theorem for homology. It might be mentioned that Whyburn [4] proved a result similar to Theorem 3 using rational Vietoris homology. The only differences are that his spaces were compact metric without local connectedness conditions and he assumed that the Vietoris group Hi(X; Q) was finitely generated. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. E. E. Floyd, Some characterizations of interior maps, Ann. of Math. vol. 51 (1950) pp. 571-575. 2. M. L. Curtis, Deformation free continua, Ann. of Math. vol. 57 (1953) pp. 231247. 3. Tudor Ganea, Simply-connected spaces, Fund. Math. vol. 38 (1951) pp. 179-203. 4. G. T. Whyburn, The mapping of Betti groups under interior transformations, Duke Math. J. vol. 4 (1938) pp. 1-8. UmvBRjrnr or MICHIGAN
56
A VIETORIS MAPPING THEOREM FOR HOMOTOPY STEPHEN SMALE
Let X and Y be compact metric spaces and let a map / : X-* Y be onto. The Vietoris Mapping Theorem as proved by Victoria [8] states that if for all 0£r£n-i. and all y£Y, Hr(f-l(y))-0(aug mented Vietoris homology mod two) then the induced homomorphism ft:Hr(X)—*Bf(Y) is an isomorphism onto for rj»n —1 and onto for r—». Begle [l; 2] has generalized this theorem to nonmetric spaces and more general coefficient groups. Simple examples show that an analogous theorem does not hold directly for homotopy. However by imposing strong local connectedness conditions, results can be obtained. That is the idea of this paper. We prove: MAIN THEOREM. Letf: X-* Y be proper and onto where X and Y are ^-connected, locally compact, separable metric spaces, X is LO, and for each yGY,f~l(y) is LO~l and {n-\)-connected. Then (A) YisLCand (B) the induced homomorphism ft: rr(X)-*rT(Y) is an isomorphism onto for allO £r£n — l and onto for r—«.
We recall that a map is called proper if the inverse image of a com pact set is compact. Clearly any map between compact Hausdorff spaces is proper. A space X is said to be n-connected if T,(X) —0 for O^r i n . As above we often suppress the base point of a homotopy group. Part (A) of the Main Theorem is a homotopy analogue of a theorem of Wilder [9, p. 31 ]• The proof of the Main Theorem can be pieced together from Theorems 8 and 9 of {2 and Theorem 11 of §3. These theorems taken together in fact say a little more than the Main Theorem. It should be mentioned that the Vietoris Mapping Theorem has been generalized using proper maps of noncompact spaces; for example see [10]. 1. It will be assumed that all spaces are locally compact, separa ble, and metric. A proof of the following may be found in [7]. l.Letf: X—*Y be proper and onto. Suppose y&Y and U is an open set of X containing /"'(y»). Then there exists a neighborhood Vof y,such thattKV)QU. Presented to the Society in part, February 25,1956; received by the editors AugtutS.1956. LEMMA
604
57 A VIET0RIS MAPPING THEOREM FOR HOMOTOPT
60S
The following theorem may be found in [S, p. 82] where the terms are defined. THEOREM 1. If X is compact and LC*, then given any c>0, there exists ij**t}*(X, <) > 0 such that every dense partial realisation of mesh
If / and g are two maps of a compact space X into a space Y, by <*(/. g) we will mean max {<*(/(*), g(x))\ x£X}. The next theorem is a special case of one which may be found in [6, p. 48]. THEOREM 2. Given a compact set F in an LC* space X and <>0, there exists an i?-i?"(«, F) with the following property: If K is a poly hedron of dimension £n, and if ft, /i map K into F satisfying d(/o,A)
We will use the same symbol to denote a polyhedron and one of its underlying complexes. If K is a complex, K' will, as usual, mean the rth skeleton of K. If XQ Y, the symbol Tr(X/Y) denotes the image of Tr(X) in T,(Y) under the homomorphism induced by inclusion. We say that X iB semi-r=LC if for every * £X there exists a neighbor hood V of x such that rr(V/X)=0. Obviously if X is r-LC it is semi-r—LC 3. Given a compact set Fin a semi-n=LC, LC**1 space X, there exists an v=ri*(F) with the following property: If K is a poly hedron of dimension ^n, and if ft, f\ map K into F satisfying d(f«, f\)
PROOF. By the local compactness of X, choose a > 0 so that Cl (U(F, a))*=F is compact. Since X is semi-«—LC we can find « with 0 < e < a so that if V is a neighborhood in F of diameter
58 STEPHEN SMALE
606
Quaa
H may be extended to
PROOF. Choose a > 0 so that Cl (U(M, a)) — F is compact and con tained in P. Let i;o— *7"(a, F) be given by Theorem 2. Let 171 ^ri'r~l(,M, ijo/3) be given by Theorem 1. It will be shown that ()— U(if, tii/3) may be taken as the Q of our theorem. Let g: S*—*Q be given. Take a subdivision Sd of S* so fine that for
5. Let X be LC*-1 and semi-n-LC and let M be a compact LC*- subset of X. Then there exists a Q-'Q'iM) containing M with this property: For every map g: S*-*Q there is a homotopy g,: S*—*X of gwithgi(S*)QM. THEOREM 1
Theorem 5 is proved in the same way as the proceeding one only this time using Theorem 3 instead of Theorem 2. 2. THEOREM 6. Let f: X~* Y be proper and onto. Suppose X is LC-1, and for each yE Y.f-1^) is LC— and (n-l)-connected. Let be given (1) v>0, (2) a mbcomplex L of an n-dimensional {or less) complex K, (3) amopg:K-+Y, (4) a map J: L-+X such Ptatfl-g\z.. Then there exists an extension G of \toK such that d(JG, g)
59 19571
A VIETORIS MAPPING THEOREM FOR HOMOTOPT
607
then it is true for n — k. Let ij, L, K, g, and f be given as in (1), (2), (3), and (4) (with n = k). Choose 0, O<0<JJ, so that Cl (U(g(K), /3)) —5 is compact. For each y£B, a system (y, U„ P„ F„ Q„ Vt) is defined as fol lows: XJ% is a neighborhood of y of diameter less than 0, P, —/"'(t/»), and F,=f-l{y). As defined in Theorem 4, Q, is 0*_1(-P„ ^»). Finally 7, is a neighborhood of y w i t h / - , ( ^ ) C 0 » as given by Lemma 1. Let i be the Lebesgue number of the covering {V,\yeB} of B. Take a subdivision Sd of X so fine that for every simplex a of K, g((F») -=0, |i can be extended to v*. Then £* can be extended to a map £»':
The proof of Theorem 7 is very similar to that of the preceding theorem except that Theorem 5 is used in place of Theorem 4. It will not be given. THEOREM 8. Let f: (X, *■)—»( Y, y0) be proper and onto where X is LC-* and semi-{n-\)=LC. Suppose for each yG Y,f~l(y) " LC—*, (n-2)-connected, and T_i(f~l(y)/X)-0. Then the induced homomorphism ft: r*-i(X, x.)-+x»-i( Y, y8) ** one-to-one. PROOF. Let g: (/", P)-*(X, *.) represent an element of T _ I ( X , X,) such that/f: (/", p)~*(Y, ye) can be extended to J". It is sufficient
60
608
STEPHEN SMALE
(JOM
to show that g can be extended to 7s. Theorem 7 says that this in deed can be done, q.e.d. THEOREM 9. Let/: (X, xt)—*(Y, yt) be proper and onto where X and Y are LC^1 and Y is also semi-n-LC. Suppose for all y£ Y, /^(y) is i C " - 1 and (» — l)-connected. Then the induced homomorphism ft: vn(X, Xt)-**m(Y, y,) is onto. PROOF. Let g: (S», p)-*(Y, y») represent an element of wn(Y, y9). Choose <x>0 so that Cl (UhiS*), a))-P is compact. Choose by Theorem 3 ijo~ij*(^) with ijo
3. THEOREM 10. Let f: X—*Y be proper and onto and suppose for each yEY,f~l(y) is Q-connected and 0-LC. Let X be LC1. Then Y is LO. PROOF. That Kis 0-I.Cia well-known. Let ^G^and W, a neigh borhood of p be given: Let P-f-^W) and F - / - 1 ^ ) . Choose by l Theorem 4, Q"Q (P, F). From the construction of Q and the fact that P is O-connected it follows that we may assume Q is 0-connected. By Lemma 1 let 7 be a neighborhood of p withf~l(V)QQ. To prove the theorem it is sufficient to show Ti(V/W)-l. Let g: S»-*V be given. For each tES1 and <>0 we define a system (W(t, «), P{t, e), F(*i <)> Q(U <)> Vfo ')) similar to the one used in the proof of Theorem 6 and in the preceding paragraph. Let W(t, «) - U(g(t), t/2), P(t, t) -tKW(t, «)), and F(t, t) - / ^ ( i W ) . Then Q(t, e) is chosen by Theo rem 4 equal to Ql(P(t, «), F(t, «)). As in the previous paragraph we will assume Q(t, t) to be 0-connected. Choose V(t, <), a neighborhood of g(t), by Lemma 1 so t h a t / ^ W . «))C0 so that UtgiS1), ei)CT. Define Vi to be the collection {V(t, tJltES1}. Take a subdivision Sdi of S1 so fine that for each trESdi, g(v) is contained in an element of Vi say V,. Denote the cor responding system as defined above by (W„ Pr, F„ Q„ VJ). Note that by the choice of
61 i9J7)
A VIETORIS MAPPING THEOREM FOR HOMOTOPT
609
By the choice of Q, fc is homotopic in P to a map of Sl into F. This implies that £1 is homotopic in W to p. Choose *i "ince Q M C T K W.t) C/-i( Kfl)C0«r This implies it(
0^»^l/2, _ i 2* - 1 ^ — £ » S - ^ - , * = 2,3, • - • ,
2 »-i
tf(*,p) - **(*,2»» - 2 » - 2 )
F(M)-i<0. From the facts in the previous paragraph it is easily checked that H is well-defined and continuous. As we have already shown that fi is homotopic to p in W, this proves Theorem 10. For homology in the rest of the paper we will use augmented Cech theory with compact carriers over the integers. The following theorem is the goal of thiB section. It generalizes Theorem 10. THEOREM 11. Let f: X-+Y be proper and onto. Suppose for each yGY, /-!(>) is (» -1)-connected and LC—1. Let X be LO. Then Y is LO.
62
610
STEPHEN SMALE
PROOF. First, an argument that Y is Ic* will be roughly sketched. For the case of field coefficients this would follow from a theorem of Wilder [9]. By a local theorem of Hurewicz [4], since X is LC* it is Un. For each yG-Y,f~l(y) is (» —l)-connected. Then by the Hurewicz Theorem, the augmented singular homology groups oif~l{y) vanish up through dimension » —1. By a theorem in [5], since/ -1 (y) is LC*-1 this im plies that the Cech homology groups H,(/~l(y)) vanish for 0 £ r £ n — 1. Thus/is (» —l)-monotone over the integers in the sense of Wilder [$>]. Let pG Y and U, a neighborhood of p, be given. Let F—f~l(p) and P-/ - 1 (17). By an easily proved homology analogue of Theorem 4 one chooses QDF so that an r-cycle (r fixed less than n+1) on Q is homologous in P to one in F. Choose a neighborhood V of p so that f~KV)QQ by Lemma 1. Let s, be an r-cycle of V. By the Begle-Vietoris theory [l; 2; 3] using the fact that X is k*, one can find an r-cycle w, of Q so that f(wt) is homologous to %,. By the choice of Q this implies that *v is homologous to zero in U. Thus Y is k*. By Theorem 10 Y is LC1. Then by the previously mentioned theorem of Hurewicz in [4] it follows that Y is LC*. q.e.d. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. E. G. Begle, The Vutori* napping fJuoremfor bicompaet spout, Ann. of Math. vol. 51 (1950) pp. 534-543. 2. , The Vietoris mapping theorem for bicompaet spaces, II, Michigan Mathe matical Journal vol. 3 (1956). 3. , A fixed Point theorem, Ann. of Math. vol. 51 (1950) pp. 544-550. 4. W. Hurewicz, Homotopie, Homologi*, und lohaler Zusammenhang, Fund. Math. vol. 25 (1935) pp. 4«7-t85. 5. S. Lefachetz, Topics in topology, AnnaU of Mathematics Studies, Princeton, 1942. 6. M. H. A. Newman, Local connection in locally compact spaces, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. vol. 1 (1950) pp. 44-53. 7. S. Sraale, A note on open maps, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. vol. 8 (1957) pp. 391393. 9, L. Vietoris, Cher den htheren Zusammenhang kompahter Rlume und tine Klaste von fusammenhangstreuen Abbildungen, Math. Ann. vol. 97 (1927) pp. 454-472. 9. R. L. Wilder, Mappings of manifolds, Summer Institute on Set Theoretic Topology, Madison, 1955. 10. , Some mapping theorems with applications to nonAocaUy connected spaces, Algebraic Geometry and Topology, Princeton, 1956. UmvBJtsrrr or CHICAGO
63
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS^) •Y
STEPHEN SMALE
Introduction. A regular curve on a Riemannian manifold is a curve with a continuously turning nontrivial tangent vector. (*) A regular homotopy is a homotopy which at every stage is a regular curve, keeps end points and directions fixed and such that the tangent vector moves continuously with the homotopy. A regular curve is closed if its initial point and tangent coin cides with its end point and tangent. In 1937 Hassler Whitney [17] classified the closed regular curves in the plane according to equivalence under regular homotopy. The main goal of this work is to extend this result to regular curves on Riemannian manifolds. THEOREM A. Let x« be a point of the unit tangent bundle T of a Riemannian manifold M. Then there is a 1-1 correspondence between the set x« of classes (under regular homotopy) of regular curves on M which start and end at the point and direction determined by x9 and xi(7\ xt).
This correspondence may be described as follows. If/€«"« let/be a repre sentative of 7 and let $f at t be the vector of T whose base point is f(t) and whose direction is defined by f(t), the derivative of/at t. Then £/is a curve on T which represents an element of xt(7\ XC). The correspondence of Theo rem A is that induced by $. If / is a closed regular curve in the plane then its rotation number y(f) is the total angle which f(l) turns as t traverses I. The Whitney-Graustein Theorem says that two closed regular curves on the plane are regularly homotopic if and only if they have the same rotation number. Using the fact that the unit tangent bundle of the plane is E*XSl, this theorem follows from Theorem A. Let xe be a point of the unit tangent bundle T of a Riemannian manifold M. The space of all regular curves on M starting at the point and direction determined by x» is denoted by E. A map x from E onto T is defined by send ing a curve into the tangent of its endpoint at its endpoint. The following can be considered as the fundamental theorem of this work. THEOREM
B. The triple (E, x, T) has the covering homotopy property for
polyhedra. Presented to the Society, August 24, 1956; received by the editors September 29, 1956. 0) The material in this paper U essentially a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Michigan, 1956. (*) These definitions will be made precise in the body of the work. Also, theorems stated will be proved later. 492
64
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
493
Let T be the fiber over xt of (£, T, T) and let fl be the ordinary loop apace of T at xp. THEOREM
C. The map $ is a weak homotopy equivalence between T and Q.
Theorem B is used to obtain Theorem C and, in turn, Theorem A follows from Theorem C. If / is a regular curve on M, $f is a curve, as we shall say, a lifted curve, on T—T(M). Clearly, not all curves on T are lifted curves. In particular, every lifted curve must be an integral curve of a certain 1-form «o on T. If the integral curves of at were exactly the lifted curves, Theorems A, B, and C could be proved by proving theorems on integral curves. Unfortunately, however, u« admits as integral curves some non-lifted curves. Nevertheless, these considerations raise questions concerning the loop space of integral curves of u» on T. THEOREM D. Let a be a l-form of Class A on a three dimensional manifold M such that wAdwstQ on M and let x«GAf. Denote by fl« the loop space at xt of piecewise regular curves on M which are integral curves ofw and by 0 the ordinary loop space of M at x„. Then the inclusion i:fl„—»0is a weak homotopy equiva lence.
I would like to express my appreciation to my adviser, Professor Raoul Bott, for the encouragement and advice which he gave throughout the preparation of this thesis. I would also like to thank Professor Hans Samelson for reading the manuscript and for suggesting several corrections. 1. Fiber spaces. A triple (22, p, B) will consist of two arcwise connected spaces E, B and a map p from E into B. A triple will be said to have the CHP if it has the covering homotopy property for polyhedrons [ l l j . If g is a map from a space X into a space Y, then the restriction of g to a subset A of X will be denoted by *u or sometimes just g. P will always denote a polyhedron. The set \t real|a £t £b] is denoted by [a, b]. A cube P is the Cartesian product of k copies of / , the closed unit interval. The following proposition is well-known. It is a special case of a theorem proved in [6, p. 136]. PROPOSITION 1.1. Let (£, p, B) be a triple which has the covering homotopy property for cubes. Then it also has the CHP. LEMMA 1.2. Let a triple (E, p, B) have the CHP. Let a be a simplex of some dimension n and let g: aXl—*B be given. Suppose o is the {pointset) boundary of 9, A »ffXPJoXQQoXl andf: A-+E covers gu- Then there exists an exten sion F off to all of9XI covering g.
The proof is immediate. There is a homeomorphism from 9X1 onto PXl which sends A homeomorphically onto I"X0. Then the application of the CHP yields the desired map F.
65
494
STEPHEN SMALE
[Much
The statement of the following theorem is quite similar to what Hurewicz calls the Uniformitation Theorem in [5]. It will be found useful in proving the CHP for a triple whose base space is a manifold. PROPOSITION 1.3. Suppose a triple (£, p, B) has the CHP locally; that is, for each point x £ B , there exists a neighborhood V of x such that (p~*{ V), p, V) has the CHP. Then {E, p, B) has the CHP.
Proof. Let H: PXI-+B be a given homotopy and h: PX0—*E a covering of H\rxt. We will define a covering homotopy H:PXl-*E. For each yGH(PXl) let 7, be a neighborhood of y so that (p-l(Vt), p, Vw) has the CHP. Assume PXI has been given some definite metric. Denote by S the Lebesgue number of the covering { U,-H-i(V,)\yEH(Pxr)} of PXI. Put Jo — [0, 3/3], It is sufficient to define 27 on PXlt for then iteration will yield a full covering homotopy. Take a simplicial complex K such that | K\ - P . Let Sd(K) be a subdivi sion of K such that the diameter of any simplex of Sd(iT) is less than 3/3, and let Sd(K)r be the r-skeleton of Sd(K). If v is a vertex of Sd(K) the choice of Jo yields that H{vXh) is contained in some neighborhood V where P~l(V), P, V) ha» the CHP. This fact immediately gives a definition of 27 on Sd(iT),| Xl». Proceeding by induction suppose 27 has been defined on SdC-K")*"-1! Xl», and a* is an r-simplex of Sd(.K). From the choices of Sd(£) and U it follows that , the tangent vector space of M at/(
66
1958]
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
495
is a true equivalence. A regular curve is an equivalence class of parametrized regular curves. The arc-length of a regular curve g, defined in the usual way, exists, and is independent of its representative. It will be denoted by L(g). Implicit use of the following proposition will be made throughout this work. PROPOSITION 2.1. If g is a regular curve on a manifold then there exists a unique representative of g still denoted by g such that |g'(t)1 =L(g) for all * £ / . L(g) is the only possible constant value here.
The proof for the plane is in [17]. The same proof holds for the general case of a manifold. The representative of a regular curve given by 2.1 will be called distinguished. A distinguished representative is just a parametrization proportional to arc-length. Unless we note otherwise, a regular curve will be identified with its distinguished representative. Let i f be a manifold and xt a fixed point of T(M). We denote by E(M) or sometimes simply E, the space of regular curves on M whose normalized initial tangents are x9; in other words, E(M)
<£ is a regular curve on M .
. — *»>
^(0)1
Let i: T9XT9—*R+ be any metric on Tt (R+ is the space of non-negative real numbers). Then for/ and g&E, let d(J>g) =
mAx{i\f'(t),g'(t)]\tGl}-
From the fact that J is a metric, it follows easily that d is a metric on E. We will suppose E to have the topology induced by d. Let /< be a sequence of points of E converging to a point / of E. Then for each <£/,/{(/) converges to f(t). If a sequence xn of points of Tt converges to *o then from the topology of Tt it follows that the base points of *» in M converge to the base point of x». Thus/<(f) converges to/(») for each <£/. The map x: E—*T of Theorem B may be defined by x(fl - / ( 1 ) / | / ( 1 ) |. To speak of (£, x, F) as a triple, E must be arcwise connected. This is proved later (Lemma 6.2). 3. The reduction of the proof of Theorem B to 3.1 and 3.2. The proof of Theorem B depends essentially on Propositions 3.1 and 3.2. PROPOSITION 3.1. Let M be a manifold and f: E(M)-*M be the map f(g) =*(1). Then (E, f, M) has the CHP.
Suppose If is a manifold. Let xi: Tt(M)-*M be the map which sends a tangent vector into its base point. A homotopy /,: P—+Tt(M) will be called vertical if for all p^P and v£I, x^.(£)-Xi/,(/>). A homotopy / , : P-*X (X any space) is said to be stationary on a subpolyhedron A of P if f.(J>) =/o(/>) for all PGA and v£I.
67
496
STEPHEN SMALE
[M»rch
PROPOSITION 3.2. Let M be a manifold andf,: P—*T{M) be a given vertical homotopy with J: P—*E(M) covering /0- Then there exists a covering homotopy J,: P—*E. Furthermore iff, is stationary on a subpolyhedron A of P then } , will also be.
Propositions 3.1 and 3.2 will be proved in the following sections. Now we will show how Theorem B follows from 3.1 and 3.2. LEMMA 3.3. Let P be a polyhedron and A be a subpolyhedron which is a strong deformation retract [2] of P. Let g and h be maps of P into a space X which agree on A. Then there exists a homotopy H-.PX I—*X between g and h which is stationary on A.
Proof. Since A is a strong deformation retract of P there is a homotopy K: PXI->P such that K(p, 0) -/>, K(p, l)EA, and if p£A, K(p, t) =p. The desired homotopy H: PXl—*X may be defined as follows: B(P, t) = gK(p, 2/) B(p, t) - hK(p, 2 - 20
0 £ / £ 1/2, 1/2 g * £ 1.
The fc-sphere is denoted by Sk. LEMMA 3.4. Let P and A be as above with P contractible, and M be an n dimensional manifold. Let F: P-*M be given and g: P->T- T(M), hi P^T be two covering maps of F which agree on A. Then there exists a homotopy h,: P—*T between g and h such that h, is stationary on A and for each » £ / , h, covers F.
Proof. Let E' be the induced bundle F-^T)
[13, p. 47].
E'-^T
I'1 I"'
* F * P >M By definition:
£' = IfoOePxrl *(»-*,<*)}. qi(f, 0 =- t,
qi(p,
t) - p.
Since P is contractible, E' is a product P X S " - 1 [13, p. 53] with qx being the projection of E' onto P. Let x': E'—*SH~1 be the other projection. Define l:P-+E'CPXT by i(p)-(p, g(p)) and let f*:P->S>-' be the composition r'g. Similarly, define k and h~* from h. Apply the previous lemma to obtain a homotopy J£:P-*S~~l between i* and k* which is stationary on A. Define h\:P-*E'-PXS*-1 by h\(p) "(J>, #(£)) and h.:P->T by h.-qik\. It can be quickly checked that A,
68
1958]
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
497
satisfies the lemma, q.e.d. To prove Theorem B it is sufficient by Proposition 1.1 to show that (£, T, T) has the covering homotopy property for cubes. Suppose, then, we are given a homotopy/,: P—*T and a map/: P-*E covering/o where P is a cube. We will construct a covering homotopy/.: P—*E. Application of Proposition 3.1 yields a covering map h: PXI-+E of xi/» such that k(p, 0) =/(£). Lemma 3.4 then yields a homotopy Hu: PXI—*T such that (1) H,(p, v)=Tk(p, v), (2) Hxip, »)-/.(£), (3) Hu(p, v) covers *if,(P) for each u£I, and (4) Hm is stationary on PXO. By (3) H„ is a vertical homotopy so Proposition 3.2 applies to yield a homotopy 27.: PY.I-+E of h~ which covers HM. We assert that 27i(p, c) can be taken as the desired covering homotopy /,(/>). From Hi(p, v) =/.(/>) it follows that 27i(», p) covers /,(£). Since Hu is stationary on PXO, 2T. is also. Then Z7i(£, 0) = 27,(/>, 0)=JJ(p, 0) =-/(/>) or 27i(p, r) is a homotopy of J(p). This shows that Theorem B follows from Propositions 3.1 and 3.2. 4. Proof of Proposition 3.1. We will need two lemmas. By v ±w it is meant that the vectors v and w are perpendicular. 4.1. Let n> 1 and S*~l be the unit vectors of Euclidean n-space £" considered as a vector space. Suppose P is a cube and a map w: P—tS*-1 is given. Then there exists a map u: P-+S—1 such that for all P&P, u{p)±w(p). LEMMA
This lemma is not true for a general polyhedron. In particular, if P =» S"_1 and u> is the identity, the existence of such a map u implies the existence of a unit vector field on 5"~l. It is well known that this is impossible for odd n. Proof of 4.1. Let V„,t be the Stiefel manifold [13, p. 33] of ordered orthogonal unit 2-frames in £". With a projection Pi sending a 2-frame into its first vector, Vn,* becomes an (n—2)-sphere bundle over S"-1. Let E' be the induced bundle ur'( V*,t).
Since P is contractible E' is a product. Let s: P—►£' be any cross-section, and let Pt: V*,t—*Sn~l send a 2-frame into its second vector. Then the composition u—pifs has the desired property, q.e.d. LEMMA 4.2. Given yB, 0
Proof. Consider the function:
69 STEPHEN SMALE
498
[March
Ky) = 0 r(y)
0 £ y £ y«/2, (1 - y.)y + r(l - y.)
y» r (y) = 4y - 4
y/2 £ y * y., yo £ y S 1.
Note that r(y) could be taken as /9(y) except for the fact that it has corners at y™yo/2 and y »yo. By 'rounding off the corners" of r(y) the desired func tion can be obtained. In order to prove 3.1 it is sufficient by Proposition 1.3 to show that (j-1(Z7o), p, U%) has the CHP where U» is a coordinate neighborhood of M. Since U» is homeomorphic to £" we can identify the two spaces under this homeomorphism. Thus Ut*=E*QM. Ti(U«) is a product space £"X£" where the first factor comes from the base point and the second from the direction and magnitude of a vector. We identify each of the two factors of T%( Ut) with a single £" whose elements we consider as vectors. If 5* -1 is the space of unit vectors of £", T(U9) =£"X5" - 1 . The magnitude of a vector v of £* is writ ten \v\. For convenience the following new convention is used in this section and the next. The derivative of a regular curve at a point of Uo will not carry the base point. That is, it is now the projection of the old derivative onto the second factor of T»(Uo). This is possible since most of the analysis in these sections is concerned with Tt(Ut) and U0. By Proposition 1.1 it is enough to show that (f~l(U»),f, Ut) has the cover ing homotopy property for cubes. Let A,: P-*Ut be a given homotopy with R: P—*f~\Ut) covering *• where P is a cube. We will construct a covering homotopy k.: P->f-l(U,). Choose /with 0 £ / < l such that for all p£P and GP and *G [J,, 1J,
„<„<„_,<,)(1)I < i » . The following choices are motivated by the need to insure the regularity of the covering homotopy curves we are constructing. Let K - max { | k.(p) - h,(p) | | « G /, p G P). If K-0,
yo-1/2. Otherwise let
»-m\l
. n
I^KDld-/.) «E
A __\ eP
* )-
The compactness of P yields that y»>0. Taking yo as above, let /3(y) be the function given by Lemma 4.2. By taking v>{p) -*'(/>)(!)/1 i'(P)(l)\, Lemma4.1 yields a map u: P - » S - 1
70
1958]
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
499
such that u(p)±Ji'(p)(l). We define the desired covering homotopy A"»: P—*f~i{U9) as follows. For OS<S/o »et *".(#(<)-*(*)(0. For 7 , £ < £ 1 let s = s{t)-{t-J,)/(l-Jt); then set
*.(*)(') = *W(0 + ' ^ O ) - *•(*)] + /*(*) I UP) - W I u(P). Here J(p) is to be taken distinguished (see (2), but k\(p), in general will not be. Note that for / Js/ 0 all the terms used to define h\{p) lie in U* and hence the additions make sense. The following properties of k\ can be readily checked: (1) k\(P)(t) is continuous in v, p, and t. (2) *.(/>)(l)-*.(£)• (3) *.(/>)-%). The derivative of h\(P)(t) for t£J» can be computed to be:
U (p)(t) - *'0)«) + SbfciP) - W)] + J V « I *.(>) - *•(#) I «(Ph Then it can be seen: (4) *.(£) » differentiable. (5) hi {p)(0)/\ ki (p)(0) | «*„. The derivative meant here is in the sense of §2. The following requires proof: (6) h(P) i» a regular curve. For this it is sufficient to show that k,'(p)(t)r*Q for t^J9. For such t we can write ki (/»)(/) — Ai+At where Ai - h'(p)(t) + Wls) | k.(p) - ko(p) | u(p) and A, - 2J'*[A.(» - k,(p)]. We will divide the proof into two parts. CASE I. s*y,: We claim | At\ £ (9/10) | k'(p)(l) |. For a certain number A, Ax - k'(p)(l) + Au(p) - (J'(tf(l) -
k'W))
and then by the triangle inequality
Mil fc I ^wa) + A««I - l ma) - n'ipmi. By the choice of /» we obtain
Mil * l * W ) + «Wl -^\*
71 STEPHEN SMALE
500
(March
M«I s *'(i/3)! *'(»(D! (i - Ja) - d/3)! From the triangle inequality it follows that CASE II. s&y,:
A"'(»(I)
i.
h\'{p)(t)^0.
We use a lemma.
LEMMA 4.3. Let a, b, and c be vectors in £" such that \b\ < ( l / 1 0 ) | o | and cLa. Let v be a scalar, p>4. Then the inequality \a+b+vc\ > | 3c| holds.
Proof. Since | a + b + vc\ £ | o + vc\ -
\bl
it is sufficient to show \a + vc\'Z
(|3c|
+\b\)*
or using the fact that cLa | . | « + | « | ' 2 9 | c | ' + 6|ft| \c\+
|6|«.
Since v 2j4 it is sufficient to show
|o|»fc - 7 | c j « + 6 | 6 | C | + |*|». This is easily checked considering separately the two cases \c\
5 \b\
and
\ c\ > \b\ .
It follows from 4.3 that M i l £ 3*'| k,(p) - ht(p)\
taking Ji'(p)(l) = a,
*"'(*>) (1)-*"'(£) (*)=*. s'\K(p)-ht(p)\u = c, and P'(s)=v. By the choice of /o, |&| < l / 1 0 | a | and since s^y0, f ^ 4 . On the other hand | 4 , | S 2 5 ' | A . ( £ ) - A , ( » | . Then by the triangle in equality A7 (p)(t) ?*0. This finishes the proof of (6). Properties (1), (4), (5) and (6) imply that K,(p) is really an element of E, (2) says that A", covers A, and (3) that A", is a homotopy of ft. Therefore we have proved 3.1. 5. Proof of Proposition 3.2. Let C/ebea coordinate neighborhood on M, and let V= T(Uo). By the argument used to prove Proposition 1.3, it is suffi cient to prove 3.2 for the case where {/,(/>)|ti£J, PE.P) C.V. The notation and conventions of the last section will be continued. Let n: T^Ut) = £"X £"-»£" be the projection onto the second factor. Then T»(r(t/ 0 )) C-S"-1. The angle between two vectors of 5*-' is a continuous function of the vectors. This fact, together with the compactness of P, justifies the following choice. Pick e > 0 such that for all PE.P and \v—v*] <«, the angle (measured in radians) between Ttf,(P) and x*/,'(i>) is less than 1/10. For v <e let a,(p) be the oriented angle from icift(P) to T»/.(J>). By our choice of t, a.(/>) < 1/10. For v£t, and < £ / , we will define Q,(P, t) to be the following rotation of
72_
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
1958]
501
E%; that is, we are defining a map Q,: P XI~*R» where 2?» is the rotation group of £". If Ttft{p)~rtfr{p) let Q,(p, t) = e, the identity rotation. Otherwise let Q*i.P, 0 rotate V, the unique plane determined by *tf»(p) and ftfwip), through the angle ta,{p) and leave Vx, the orthogonal complement of V, fixed. That (?.(/>, 0 is continuous in r, p, and * and has a continuous first deriva tive in t, Qt'(p, t), is easily seen. Later, in fact, we will have occasion to com pute this derivative. Choose J,0£J<1, such that
{/(»(<) I P e P, t e [J, i]} c ut. LEMMA
5.1. There exists a Jt with J£J«<1
such that for all PEP and
/ € [ / o , 1],
7(#)<0 -KPKD Jt-
SylTWDl
1
Proof. It follows from the definition that
7(0(0
/ ( 0 ( 1 ) = lim-
■/(♦)(!)
/-1 so by the compactness of P there exists a J» with / 5J/o
7(0(0 -7(0(D *- 1
np)w sj\rwM\.
Then by the triangle inequality
KPW) -7(0(i) t-1
* yl7'(0(Dl
Also clearly for Jo it ^ 1,
7(0(0 -7(0(D
TW«
-;wd)
7fl- 1 These last two inequalities yield the lemma. Choose Jt by 5.1 and such that also |7'(0(D - T W O I < (V10) min { | / ( 0 ( 1 ) | | p e P} holds for all p£P and , s)[e + (5« - *)g.'(>, o ) ] + 7 ( 0 ( D . Here Q,(p, s), Q,' (p, 0) and e are to be considered as transformations acting
73
502
STEPHEN SMALE
(Much
on the right. The curve J(p) is taken distinguished, but in general, 7»(£) will not be. The following properties of the covering homotopy can be quickly checked. U) 7»(£)(0 » continuous in 0, p, and t. (2)/.(*)»/(*). (3) JwiP) is stationary on a subpolyhedron A of P if/,(/>) is. The first derivative of/,(£) can be computed as follows for <£./»:
?.'O)0) - T(P)(t)Q*(P, ■»)[« + (*' - *)Qi (P, 0)] + -WHO -7W(i)J{G/(#, *)[« + (*■ - *)#(>, 0)1 Using this it can be further checked that: (4) 7. (/»)(<) »» differentiable. (5)7.'(P)(0)/7.'(*)(0) x« in the sense of §2. (6)7/(P)(i)/7^)(D f*(P) again in the sense of §2. The following requires proof: (7) The curve}*{p)(t) is regular. For the proof of (7) we will use: LEMMA 5.2. Let 0 £ < £ 1 . Then (a) *A« transformation Qi(f, t) reduces the magnitude of a vector to less than 1/10 of its original magnitude and (b) the transformation e+{t*—t)Qi (P, 0) does not change the magnitude of a vector by a factor of more than 1/10. Proof. For given p and v let coordinates x\, • - • , x" of En be chosen so that V (from the definition Q,(p, t)) is the Xi —x% plane and the direction of r%f»(p) coincides with the x% axis. Then with this system suitably oriented Q,(J>, t) can be represented in the matrix form, cos [ta,(p)] sin [l*.(p)] 0 0
-sin[ta,(#)]0- • 0 cos [ta,(#)J 0 • •0 0 1 0 0
0 •• • 1
Then Qi {p, t) will be of the form,
-cn(p)
sin [Uu(p)] cos [ta.(p)] 0 • • • 0 -co»[ta,(p)] an[ta,{p)]0 0 0 0 0 0 • •
• •
• •
• •
6
6
6 • • • 6.
74
1958]
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
503
If ftf Pt, • ' • , P% are the components of a vector p* in the above system then
I PQiiP, 01 = I °.(P) I [0»i)f + W ] 1 ' 1 £ I « . « I I P\This yields (a) since |a.(/>)| <1/10. (b) follows from (a) and 5.2 is proved. To prove (7) it is clearly sufficient to show that /,'(£)(/) 3*0 for t^J». Let ?.' (/>)(<) « J 4 I + 4 , where ^i -}'(P)(t)Q-(P, *)[• + (*" ~ ' ) # ( > , #)1 and
+C.f>,*)(2*-l)0/O,0)}. From Lemma 5.2(b) and the fact that Q,(p, s) does not change the mag nitude of a vector, it follows that | J!I| 2 (9/10) \J'(p) (*) |. Then by the choice
of/„|A»Ifc(8/lO)l7'<0(l)I. On the other hand, by Lemma 5.2 one easily obtains
\A,\s3no\m"J-_Jfm ■ Then from the choice of / . (see 5.1) it follows that \A,\ ^(4/10)|7'O)(l)|. By the triangle inequality the inequalities on |i4i| and \Ai\ yield / / ( £ ) ( 0 ^ 0 and hence (7). Properties (1), (4), (5) and (7) imply that /,(/>) really belongs to E, (2) says that/• is a homotopy of /and (6) that/, covers/,. Lastly, (3) is the sta tionary property demanded by 3.2. Thus / , is a satisfactory covering homo topy fort>3«. The above construction may be repeated if < < 1 using /,(/>) instead of /(/>) and using a new value for /«, if necessary. This yields a covering homo topy for r^2«. Iteration yields a full/, and the proposition is proved. 6. On the topology of the liber I\ We recall some definitions and theorems of [11 ]. Let A* be a space and x*£X. The path space of X written E^X) or sometimes Em, is the space of all curves (or paths) on X which start at x», with the compact open topology. Define p: EH—*X by sending a path onto its endpoint, i.e., let p{f) - / ( l ) . The loop space of X at x0, P~l(xt) is denoted by Q(X) or 0. It is shown in [11, pp. 479-481] that (£„, p, X) has the CHP and that E„t is contractible. Using the notation of the previous sections let M be a manifold, T= T(M), E=E(M) and r-r(JI)-«r- | (»»). Define a map 4>:E-*E.t{T) by *(f)(<) ae / f ( 0 / | f ' ( 0 | for i£E. It can be seen that is continuous as follows. Let E' be the set E,,(T) endowed with the metric topology <*•(/, t) - max {d\f®, t(t)] | / € / } •
75
504
STEPHEN SMALE
[Match
Then £ can be factored through £ ' by maps &: E—*E' and
Theorem C and 6.1 yield that $ induces isomorphisms of the singular homology groups of Y and Q. This is of interest because a certain amount of attention has been given to the problem of determining the singular homology of loop spaces. For example see [ l l ] and [15]. The proof of Theorem C requires the following lemma. LEMMA
6.2. If M is a manifold the space E(M) is homotopically trivial.
Proof. Consider first the case where M is Euclidean n-space E". Assume xi*o to be the origin of a coordinate system of En and let Tix e =* 0 where T§ is the projection of T=E»XS*-1 onto S"~'. For some k^0 let/: 5*—►£ be given. To prove the lemma for E" it is suffi cient to show that / is homotopic to a constant. Since S* is compact we can choose 7 > 0 close enough to 0 so that for all £ES* and <£ [0, J],
\rm)-f(p)(o)\ < l/'(»(o)|. Then for t 6 [ 0 , 1/2] let/,(£)(I) -f(p)(t-2(1 -J)vt). The curve/(/>) is to be distinguished, but/,(/>) will not be, in general. This homotopy merely con tracts f(p) into a curve whose tangent is fairly close to a constant. Define e(f) as the fixed path of E given by *tt. Then for *G [1/2, 1 ] define / . ( » « ) - (2 - 2t)fllt(p)(t) + (2» ~ !)«(')• where fyi{p)(f) is the nondistinguished curve given by the previous homotopy. It can be checked that/.(£) is really contained in E, that/0(f>) =/(£) and that fi(p) =e. It is the selection of / that yields the necessary regularity of MP) for v% 1/2. We have proved the lemma for M =»£*. The proof for a general M goes as follows. As before, let/: &-+E. Now for v£ 1/2 let/,(£) be a "shortening" oif(p) so that for all p(!i&,fi/t(P) lies in a certain coordinate neighborhood about *#. For P E [ 1 / 2 , l ] the homotopy is the same as the total homotopy for £". q.e.d. Theorem C is proved as follows.
76
1058]
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
505
From the definition of # it follows easily that ^ commutes with the identity of 7*, i.e., ^ « i or
U' T >T commutes. Then, ^ induces a homomorphism of the homotopy sequence of E into that of E,r We have the following commutative diagram with the horizontal sequences exact. »rt(T)
1*
>rt(B) —► *k(D -> • • •
i«
41*
►r4((D)-Ti(iEN)-f»»(20- ■ •• From T * ( £ ) ■ ■ T * ( £ , ^ = 0 for all ft (using 6.2), it follows that $f is an iso morphism for all k. This proves Theorem C. 7. Classes of regular curves on a manifold. Two regular curves on a manifold M are said to be regularly homotopic if they are homotopic and the homotopy f«: I—*M can be chosen such that for each « £ / , g, is a regular curve, f.'(0)«g§ (0), f / ( l ) - f o (1), and {,'(<) depends continuously on v. A regular curve f on i f will be called closed if f'(O) —^(1). It will be said to be at a point y% of T if ^,<0>/| JT'(O) | - > i . Two closed regular curves on M are /ree/y regularly homotopic if they are homotopic and the homotopy g,: I—*M can be chosen so that for each v£I, f, is a regular closed curve. Regular homotopy (free regular homotopy) is an equivalence relation and a class (free class) of regular curves on M will mean an equivalence class with respect to this relation. M. Morse has investigated the behavior of locally simple sensed closed curves (or L-S-curves) under Z.-5-deformations. For definitions and discus sion see [7; 8; 9 ] . In these articles he classified L-S-curves on closed 2-manifolds and E* into equivalence classes under L-S deformations. He has noted the similarity between this study and the classification of closed regular curves with free regular homotopies playing the role of L-S-deformations. The results of this section are parallel to Morse's. From the definition of regular homotopy it follows that if M is a manifold two curves of T(M) are regularly homotopic if and only if they lie in the same arcwise connected component of I \ i.e., in the same element of r,(T). Using this fact Theorem A is the case » « 0 of the following: THEOREM 7.1. If M is a manifold, there exists an isomorphism q from x.(T(Af)) to Xn+iiTiM)).
77
506
STEPHEN SMALE
{Much
Proof. Let ft: T%(T(M))~*T%(Q{T)) be the isomorphism of Theorem C, and s:xn{Q(T))—»wvn(r) be the Hurewicz isomorphism [16, p. 210]. The composition of these two maps q~s$t gives the isomorphism demanded by the theorem. The rest of this section will be devoted to special cases of Theo rem A. THEOREM 7.2. Let the dimension of a manifold M be greater than 2 and * • £ T(M). Then two regular closed curves on M atxt are regularly homotopic if and only if they are homotopic withfixedend points.
As we shall see, this theorem is far from true for 2-manifolds. Proof of 7.2. The "only i f part is immediate from the definition of regular homotopy. Consider the exact homotopy sequence of T. Then
r,(5-1) -► ri(r) -^» ndo -
T.(S-»)
is exact. Since xi(S»-1) =r«(5""1) =0 for n>2, x l# : TI(T) »xi(Jlf). With this, Theorem A yields that Xi^:x»(r)«Ti(if). Moreover, from the definitions of xi and q we can consider r\fi to be just the map induced by sending a curve into itself. Then 7.2 follows immediately from the definitions of r»(T) and Regular curve classes on some 2-manifolds will now be investigated. (a) The plane. The following definition is due to Whitney [17]: If / is a regular closed curve in E*, its rotation number y(j) is the total angle which T «/'(0 turns as t traverses I. The function
/*(0 = »v"(0/IV(0l is a map of I into the unit circle. y(f) is 2x times the degree of this map. THEOREM 7.3 (WHITNEY-GRAUSTEIN). TWO regular closed curves on the plane are freely regularly homotopic if and only if they have the same rotation number.
Proof. Because a translation of a regular closed curve in the plane is a free regular homotopy and preserves its rotation number it is sufficient to consider curves of r(E*). Consider the isomorphisms
where rt is the projection of T-E*XSl onto 5». Let / b e the element of T represented by eMt in complex coordinates such that the base point x% of T is the vector 2x» whose base point is the complex number 1. If h^X, h will be the element of x0(T) containing h. Then rtfiQ) will be a generator of
78
1958]
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
507
Ti(Sl) say e. If g is any element of I \ T*fg(f) will be of the form me. From the definition of rotation number it follows that tn is the rotation number of g. Since rtfi is an isomorphism onto, this proves 7.3. For the case of L-5-curves in the plane see [7]. (b) The 2-sphere S*. It is known that Ti(T(S*)) is cyclic of order 2; for example see [13 ]. Hence, by Theorem A we can put regular closed curves of S* at a point xt into two classes under regular homotopy equivalence. For the case of -L-S-curves on 5 1 , see [8]. (c) The torus T*. From the exact homotopy sequence of the tangent bun dle T(T>), it can be deduced that xi(r(r»)) is Z+Z+Z (Z is the infinite cyc lic group). Then similar remarks to those of (b) apply. (d) The protective plane P*. It can be proved that r^TiP1)) is cycle of order four. Hence, there are four classes of regular closed curves at a point *c on P'. For the case of L-S-curves see [9]. REMARK. By taking T as a fiber over a different point of T one can obtain results similar to those of Sections 6 and 7 for nonclosed curves. 8. Regular curves perpendicular to a submanifold. Let N be a regularly imbedded submanifold of a manifold M and let T be the unit tangent mani fold of M. Let V be the normal bundle of N with respect to M; that is, V is the subspace of T which consists of all vectors which have their base points in N and are normal to N. Let Xo be a point of V and Q be the loop space of T at x%. Denote by Or the subspace of EH{T) which consists of the paths ending in V. Let IV be the subspace of E(M) of curves whose final tangent is in V; i.e., IV—T- l ( V) where r is the map of Theorem B. Let T restricted to IV be still denoted by x. Then we have: THEOREM
8.1. The triple (IV,
T,
V) has the CHP.
Proof. This theorem is an easy consequence of Theorem B. In fact, let the homotopy h,:P—*V be given with h~:P—*Tif covering h». Theorem B yields a covering homotopy A,: P—*E. But since h~, covers A, we have that J , ( £ ) € I V for all vEI and p£P and so h\: P-*TH. This proves 8.1. Similarly, (£V, P, V) has the CHP. Let $ be the map 4 of $6 restricted to IV. Then TH
>Qr
I', I' V
► V
commutes so £ induces a homomorphism of the exact sequence of IV into that of Or. We have
79
508
STEPHEN SMALE
(Much
» Ti(r) - ♦ Tk(TK) -* T*(V) - » • ' •
Iff
if*
H/
> *»(Q) — T*(QT) - » r * ( 7 ) -► • • •
By Theorem C, $t is an isomorphism onto and, of course, If is the identity isomorphism. From this and the "Five" Lemma [2, p. 16], it follows that ft is also an isomorphism onto. We have proved: THEOREM 8.2. The map $: I\—►Or defined above is a weak homotopy equiva lence. Hence, by Theorem 6A it induces an isomorphism between the singular homology groups of IV and Sly.
9. Integral curves of * 1-form. Let T\M) be the unit tangent bundle of a 2-manifold M and T : T(M)—*M the projection. If dr is the differential of x and vE.Mm, the tangent space of M at m, then dr^ (v) spans a two dimen sional subspace containing the vertical. Hence there exists a 1-form utr*0 on T(M) annihilating this distribution of planes. I f / i s a regular curve on M then $(f) (see the Introduction and Section 6) is an integral curve of w0. One might hope to get a characterization of regular curves this way. Unfortu nately, however, w0 admits integral curves which are not the images under of regular curves. A curve lying in a single fiber of T(M) is such an example. Thus it is not sufficient for the study of regular curves on a 2-manifold M to study integral curves of ut on T(M). However, there is still the question as to what can be said about integral curves of a». This section was written as an attempt to answer this question. Throughout the rest of §9 we will assume that M is a given manifold of dimension three. It seems very likely that the theory here generalizes to manifolds of higher dimension. However, because the treatment of 3-manifolds is so much simpler, we confine ourselves to this case. A kind of curve essentially the same as the "stuckweise glatt" curves of [12] is considered here. A curve/on M is called a parametrized piecewise regu lar curve if there exist real numbers *,- for *'«■(), 1, • • • • , * with /o-0, 4 ~ 1 , and *<<*<+i such that for each i
80
1958)
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
509
Let jo be afixedpoint of M, and let« be a 1-form on M such that aAda^O on M. Denote by £» the space of all piecewise regular curves on M which start at go and are integral curves of w. Let Em be a metric space under the metric dU, g) - max {i(J{t), t{t))
\tei)
where i is any fixed metric on M. Define a map p: Em-*M by £(*) =£(1). Let £ -1 (j») be denoted by ft«. THEOREM
9.1. T*« triple (£., p, M) has the CHP.
Roughly speaking, Theorem 9.1 is proved as follows. First, by a classical theorem, there are local coordinates (x, y, s) about a point of M such that in them a assumes an especially simple form. Here the fact that u A i . i ' O is used. By Proposition 1.3 we reduce the proof, in a sense, to this local situa tion. Then the local coordinates thus obtained are used to write down ex plicitly the desired covering homotopy equations. We break the definition of the covering homotopy curves into four parts according to values of the parameter t. In general, this curve will turn out to have a comer at f «= 1/4, J-1/2, and <-3/4. The first part of the constructed curve is merely a reparametrization of the given covering curve. Then the construction is such that at t —1/2, the s coordinate of the covering homotopy has moved to a position over the s-coordinate of the given homotopy. At f—3/4 the as-coordinate has undergone a similar motion, and finally, at t — 1, the ^-coordinate of the covering homotopy projects into the y-coordinate of the given homotopy in M. Proof of 9.1. Let qGM. Take a coordinate neighborhood U of q with coordinates (*, y, s). In U we can write w-Pdx+Qdy+Rd* where P, Q, and R are differentiate functions of x, y and s. Then u A
AdyAdn
in U where
P-**-Q*,
V-P.-R.,
R'-Q.-
Py.
Hence PP'+QQ'+RR'i*0 in U since n»Adwf*Q. Then by a classical result of the theory of differential equations (see for example [3, p. 58]) there exist differentiate functions u, v and w of x, y, and % defined in a neighborhood of q such that w-du+vdv>. Furthermore Ow*oAdw—duAdvAdw so that w, v and w form a coordinate system in a neighborhood say V of q. By 1.3 it is sufficient to prove the CHP for the triple (£ -I ( JOi p, V). For convenience we will change the coordinates u, v, and w into x, y, and s respectively. So now x, y, and s are coordinates of V such that w = dx+ydz. Let h,:P—*V be a given homotopy with k:P—*p~x{V) covering ht. We will construct a covering homotopy it,: P—»£-,(V). To describe these maps
81
510
STEPHEN SMALE
[Much
in the coordinate system (*, y, «) we use the following notation: UP) = MP), y*{p), s.(p)), Up)®
- (*.(»(<), MP)(t), i.O)(0).
Then: for 0£< £1/4 let fhipW) = Kp)(4t) for 1/4 £ / £1/2 let 5=5(0 = 4<-l and let *.(*)(*) = *•(» - [*0) ~ *»(P)]y(P)s, J.WW = v(P), for 1/2 £< £ 3 / 4 let 5 = 5(0 = 4 / - 2 . Then let *.(>) - «•(#) ~ *(*)[«.<#) - *.(#)], *.(*)« = (365* - 455* - 205* + 30*«H*(f) - *,(?)] + 601 *.(» - t,(p) |1"y.(#)(5» - 5) + *.(/),
I.WW = «.(#)• In order to be sure that these equations define a satisfactory covering homotopy it must be checked that (1) k,(J>) is a curve in Em (for each p and v), (2) £,(/>) is a homotopy of k(p) or £,,(£) = *(£), and (3) kv(p) covers AK(/>) or*.(rt(l)-A.(p). We will check (1) first. It is easy to note that *,(£)(0) - g 0 . Also, A.(£)(i) is clearly continuous and piecewise regular between the values f = 0, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1. It is necessary to check that £,(/>)(/) is well-defined at t = 1/4,1/2, and 3/4 since at each of these values Ju(P)(t) is defined in two different ways. By substituting these values of t into the appropriate equations it can be seen that where the definitions overlap they agree. To complete the proof of (1) it needs to be shown that £,(£)(*) satisfies « - 0 or, in other words, it
at
82
1958]
REGULAR CURVES ON RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLDS
511
identically for all v, p, and t. This is trivial for t£ 1/4. For 1 / 4 £ t£ 1 to prove that this differential equation is satisfied it is sufficient to make three com putations, one for l / 4 ^ * £ l / 2 , one for l / 2 £ * £ 3 / 4 and one for 3 / 4 ^ / g l . These are not difficult and will be left for the reader. To show (2) we set v = 0, getting
0|(g
1/4,
*o(#)(0 - x,(p), MP)(Q = y»(P) 2o(»(0 - «.(#)•
l / 4 S « i 1,
This is a parametrized piecewise regular curve whose associated distin guished curve is exactly the given curve i(p)(t). It is trivially checked that (3) holds, q.e.d. The space Em is contractible to a point. The deformation accomplishing this is D: EUXI-*E* denned by D(f, v) -/(»<)• Define a map t: E*-+EU(M) (see §6) by letting *'(/) be the distinguished representative of / . Then t is continuous by the argument used to show that 0 from the origin of E*. Then any integral curve of uo starting at q0 stays on the surface of the 2-sphere xi+y*+z***dt. Clearly, the conclu sions of Theorems 9.1 and D fail in this case. Actually, Theorem 9.1 is false for any 1-form which is completely integrable at a certain point qt&E*. For then short curves at qo must lie on a surface of E* and the covering homotopy property cannot possibly hold. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. S. Chern, Differentiable manifolds. Notes at University of Chicago, 1955. 2. S. Eilenberg and N. Steenrod, Foundations of algebraic topology, Princeton, 1952. 3. A. R. Fonyth, A treatise on differential equations, London, 1951. 4. S. Hu, Homotopy theory, Note* at Tulane, 1950. 5. W. Hurewicz, On the concept of afiberspate, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. vol. 55 (1955) pp. 956-961. 6. I. M. James and J. H. C. Whitehead, Note on fiber spaces, Proc. London Math. Soc. vol. 4 (1954) pp. 129-137. 7. M. Morse, Topolopcal methods in the theory of functions of complex variables, Princeton, 1947. 8. , L-S-homotopy dosses of locally simple curves, Annales de la Societe Polonaise de Mathematique vol. 21 (1948) pp. 236-256.
83
512
STEPHEN SMALE
9. , L'S-komotopy classes on the iopologic&l image of a protective plant, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. vol. 55 (1949) pp. 981-1003. 10. H. Samelson, Groups and spaces of loops, Comment. Math. Helv. vol. 29 (1954) pp. 278-287. 11. J.-P. Serre, Homologie singuliere des espacesfibres,Ann. of Math. vol. 54 (1951) pp. 425-505. 12. Seifert and Threlfall, Variationsrechnung in Grossen, New York, 1948. 13. N. Steenrod, The topology offiberbundles, Princeton, 1951. 14. G. W. Whitehead, Homotopy theory, Notes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1954. 15. , On the homolcsy suspension, Ann. of Math. vol. 62 (1955) pp. 254-268. 16. , On the Freudenthal theorems, Ann. of Math. vol. 57 (1953) pp. 209-228. 17. H. Whitney, On regular closed curves in the plane, Compositio Math. vol. 4 (1937) pp. 276-284. UNIVERSITY or CHICAGO, CHICAGO, I I I . UNIVERSITY or MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR, MICH.
84 AlflfAUi OF MATHEMATICS
Vol. 68. No. 3. November. 1958 Printtd in Japan
ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS IN EUCLIDEAN SPACE BY R. LASHOF AND S. SHALE
(Received June 20,1957)
By an immersion f: Af * -*■ E**' of a k dimensional manifold in k + I dimensional euclidean space, we mean a differentiate map (for conveni ence all manifolds and differentiate maps will be assumed C~), of M = M* into E*** which is regular; i.e., the induced map on the tangent space at each point of Af is one-one. We will assume Af is oriented and con nected. We let BT be the tangent sphere bundle of the closed manifold Af, and B, be the normal sphere bundle of Af induced by the immersion / . We let Wt (resp. W,) be the integral Stiefel-Whitney characteristic classes of Br (resp. B-,) of dimension 4. / induces a map of B, into the unit sphere S**'~l in E**1 by translating the unit normal vectors to M in E"*1 to the origin. This map is called the normal map (Chern [3]), and since dim By = k + I — 1, we can define the normal degree of / as the degree of this map. Similarly, we can define a map by translating unit tangent vectors to the origin, and if / : Af* -*■ E1" and hence dim BT = 2k — 1, we can define a trangential degree. In Section 1 we Btudy the relations between the Gysin homology se quence of the Whitney sum of two sphere bundles and Gysin sequences of the components. In Section 2, we apply this result to the Whitney sum of BT and B., to show that: (a) If/: Af* -*• E1* is an immersion of a closed manifold with orienta tion Me Ht(Mk) then the trangential degree of / is Wt-M (i.e., the Kronecker index 1 is an immersion of a closed manifold with orientation Af then the normal degree of / is —Wk'M. Further, if / : Af -> Af' is an immersion of Af in any connected oriented manifold Af', not necessarily closed, of dimension k + I, I > 1, then the concept of normal degree may be generalized to be an integer mod W't+t • Af'. Here WUi is the Stiefel-Whitney clasB of the tangent bundle of Af', Af' represents the basic class if Af' is closed, and if Af' is not closed Wl+, • Af' is defined to be zero. Then we obtain (b') The normal degree of an immersion / : Af *-► Af'**', I > 1, is - Wt • Af mod (W'k+l • Af'). Since - Wk • Af = Euler characteristic of Af, (a) is the known result that the normal degree is the Euler characteristic (Chern [3]). 562
85 ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
563
In Section 3 we show that for completely regular immersions (see Sec tion 3 for definition), / : Mk -*■ f , k even, the tangential degree is twice the algebraic intersection number of Whitney [13]. Using results of Whitney, this enables us to prove : Let Mk be a closed oriented manifold of dim k, k even. For any immer sion f: Af * -*■ E**, Wt • M is even ; and for every even integer n there exists an immersion f: Mk -*■ Ek such that Wk • M = n. As a corollary we obtain a theorem of Milnor [8] that there exists an immersion of real projective 3-space P' in El. In Section 4 and 5 we study the tangential map t: M* -*■ G(k, I) where G(k, I) is the Grassmann manifold of oriented A-planes in Ek*i, associated to the immersion / : Af* -*■ E*>1 by assigning to each point of Mk the tangent plane at that point translated to the origin. If I > k, then it is well known that t* : H*(G(k, I)) -* H*(M) is determined by the charac teristic classes of M. For the case Z ^ k, we get the following results : 1. L e t / a n d g be immersions of Mk in Ek*1 with I > 1 if k is odd, and with the same normal Stief el-Whitney class W, with integer coefficients. Then the induced tangential map «* : H*(G(k, I)) ->• H*(Af) of / and g are the same. Furthermore, if I is odd o r / i s an imbedding the condition that the classes Wt are the same is unnecessary. This theorem iB true if coefficients are the integers, Z, or the rationals. 2. If Af* may be imbedded in E"*1 or immersed in E***, where k is of the form 4(2r - 1), then in H*(Mk) we have Pt = Wk mod 2. (For k = 4, this is essentially a theorem of Pontrjagin.) The same result holds, say, if Mk may be immersed in £** with a (k — 3)-normal frame. In general we give a complete review of the results on the character istic classes of Af * obtainable from the cohomology of G(k, I) and the fact that Af * may be immersed or imbedded in ^* +l . We obtain a number of known results, for example, a result of Kervaire (Theorem 5.5). Unless we say otherwise, the coefficient group for homology and coho mology will be the integers. All the Stiefel-Whitney classes in the first four sections will have integral coefficients. All manifolds will be con nected and oriented. 1. Gysin sequence of a Whitney sum Let (B„ St, M), pt: Bt ->• Af, i = 1, 2, be two sphere bundles, <S4 a sphere of dim dt — 1, with structure group Rt, the rotation group on the euclidean space Et of dim dt. We consider ft, x R^dR, where R is the
86
R. LASHOF AND S. SMALE
664
rotation group on the euclidean space E of dim dj + d,. The Whitney gum {B, S, M), dim S = d, + d, — 1 of the two bundles iB the sphere bundle with group R defined by taking as coordinate functions the direct sum of the coordinate function of the two given bundles, considered as having values in R, Then we have natural fibre preserving inclusions/»: Bt-*B, i = 1, 2. ft may be defined by considering the associated vector bundles with fibres Et and E respectively, then / , is induced by the natural in clusion Et-* Ei + Et = E of the fibres, restricted to the unit sphere. This gives a global map since by the definition of Whitney sum, the co ordinate functions of the sum bundle act on each factor of the fibre separately in the fashion given by the component bundles. THEOREM 1.1. / , induces a map of the Gysin cohomology sequence of (B, S,M) into that of (Blt St, M):
► HT-*i-\M)
► HUM)
> Hr(B)
► Hr-'t(M)
► H'(M)
► Hr(Bt)
> H'^-'i-'tM) ► H'+'-'i (M)
> ►
where I is the identity, and letting Wt be the Stiefel-Whitney close of Bit St, M) of dim d„ Gf(z) = (-l)dt*««U TT„ G?(x) =
xl)W1.
REMARK. Wt, i = 1, 2, are integral Stiefel-Whitney classes, but we may use any coefficient group for the terms in the Gysin sequences, then the cup product is under the natural pairing of the integers with the group. In particular, we may use real numbers mod 1 and topologize our coho mology groups. Then under Pontrjagin duality we get a map of the homology sequence of Bt into that of B, both with integer coefficients ; and cup product goes over into cap product with the class Wt under du ality. In proving this theorem we use a number of results from Thorn's thesis [11]. Following Thorn we let A be the mapping cylinder of B -*■ M and let A' = A — B, then we have the maps
j : Hr(M)-*-Hr(A) fi : Hr(A') -► Hr(A)
87 ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
666
(A, B) induceB (where we have again used / , for all maps defined by / « : B<^B) H'-'i-'iM) Hr(M) Hr*l-'*-**(M)
L»
j
r
r
► H (A')
► H (A)
|/r T
L»
\f?
► H (A[)
► Hr*\A')
» H (B)
[/?
►
\/r
r
»H'(i4,)
!#>*
r
r
>H (B,)
>H +\A[)
pi
j»,*
T
r l
►
ff-'i(Af) H (M) R * -*i{M) This gives a map of the Gysin sequence of (B, S, M) into that of (£„ St M); it is only necessary to identify the maps. Since H'(A)-£>H'(AJ HT{M) commutes, jilf*j
► Hr(M)
— I: Hr(M) -*■ Hr(M).
It remains to identify the map
l
Gr =
?,*(») =
U(eH't(A't),
we have: f*(x)=j*(x)\jU,
W=
j~W,
W the Stiefel-Whitney class of dim d^ + d, in (B, S, M) and similarly for (Bt, Sif M). Now f?
f?U =
(-lY*jl(WJ\jUl,
/,V*(x) = ( - D V y ^ u i ^ ^ u ^ = ( - D ' ^ ^ u TFJU tf. and Gf(») = ( - l ) 4 ' ' « U l f J . REMARK 1. The proof for G,* is identical except for order of terms in the cup product in (1.2) (and hence the difference in sign) and will not be repeated. REMARK 2. If we use compact coefficient groups for the cohomology groups of the Gysin sequences, U and Ut are taken with integer coeffi-
_
566
R. LASHOF AND S. SMALE
cients and the cup products j^x) Uf*U are under the natural pairing of the integers with the compact coefficient groups. In (1.2) on the other hand, everything is with integer coefficients. It remains to prove (1.2): Let li: H'*\Alt BO x H»'*(A„ Bt) - ff •♦•♦«.-<(A1> Bx x (A,, B,)) be the natural pairing. Note that H'((A„ BJ x (A„ B,)) = Hr(A, x A,, A, x Bt\jB, x A,) = Hr(A[ x A,) . Let U be the class f*(w) in H'I^AI x A|) of the sphere bundle (At x 5 , u 5 , x AJ-+M x Afcorresponding to the generator w € H"(MxM) where w = ^(w, to,), th.: #*'(Af) H^M) -* H'I+IM x Af). Then Thom [11] shows that /i(I/, Ut) = U. But the Whitney sum bundle A' -* M is induced by the diagonal map d: Af-*■ M x Af; i.e., A'
-^-» A[ x
A;
1, 1
M
►M x M
commutes, where d' iB the induced map, and hence d'*U = U. Consider the sequence of maps (A1( B,) - ^ (A„ B,) x A, -?U (A„ BJ x M - ^ (A1( £ t ) x (A,, £,) where », is induced by the inclusion of Af in A, (identity on first factor) p, is induced by the projection of A, on Af (identity on first factor) d, is induced by the diagonal map A1-*A1 x Aj Then this sequence of maps is the same as the following : (Au BJ -A» (A, B) -2L (A1( B>) x (A„ £,) since they are both fibre preserving and correspond to the diagonal map Af -+ Af x Af in the base, it is sufficient to check them on each fibre. Let Sx be a fibre in B2 over x € Af and Yj the mapping cylinder of S, -»• x, then both fibre mapB are induced by : Y , — » Y, xx—► Y, x y , . Hence dfpntrtUi C7.) = fTd'*U = ffU . To compute the left hand expression, we compute on each component of the above products separately, and we have by " abuse of notation ": if(Ut ® Ut) = Ut ®j;%Ut = U1®Wt, since £■'&: H(A,, Bt) -> .ff(Af) is the same as that given by the inclusions
89
567
ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
M-* A,-* (A,, Bt). Further P?(Ut®Wt) = Ul®jl(WJ) d?(U1®j1{Wt)) = U1Uj1{W1) i.e., this last map actually is m(A, Hence
Bt) ® H'tA)
> H'ISU:,
* A) x A,) *-2-» H'i^(Au
Bt)
fTU = Ux\jJx(WA = (-lrWWJvU*
q.e.d.
2. Application* to immersed manifolds APPLICATION TO NORMAL DEGREE.1 Let Af be a compact oriented ndimensional manifold a n d / : M-* M' be an immersion of M in an oriented manifold of dim n + N, N ^ 2. Let S v be the normal bundle of M in Af' and BT be the tangent bundle of M; then dim B-, = n + N — 1 and dim BT = 2n — I. The m a p / induces a map/ v : B^-*T, where T is the tangent bundle of AT. Then/,.: fl,**.,^,) -»• iJ„ + *- I (r). Now consider the Gysin sequence of T. Note that the right square is commutative. H.UM') ^
S HJLM')
► H^.AT) #»+jr-i(-Bv)
> H...-M) ► Hn+s-i(M)
► .
Since Hn+*-i(M) is zero, the image/v.(i?>) of the basic class B* of Hn+*-i(B») is contained in the kernel of flm*ir_,(r) -»• //,+,_1(Af') and hence in the image of #o(Af'). Let Wu+N - Af' be the value of W'„+ll on the basic class Af' of Hn+S(M').* The image of H^M') is isomorphic to the integers mod (W'%+g • AT); if Af' is compact W'H+N-M' =— O*,, wbere I2*» is the Euler characteristic of Af'. Hence the immersion defines a normal degree mod {W'n+„ • Af'). We use the homology version of Theorem 1.1 (see re mark following theorem) to compute this degree. Consider 0 0
1 #„♦,.,(£>)
1 ► #„♦*-!(£, ® 5>)
H. (Af) ^ 5 HIM)
► Hn.„.x(T)
*HJ,M')
0 1
The definition of normal degree given below is due to S.S. Chern who suggested the pro blem solved here. » If Mis not closed let Wn*s • M' = 0.
H,,+k-'(BT) were realizable from immersions we would know which normal classes are realizable. However, we are able to obtain information on this only in the case e = k (see Section 3). 3. The intersection number of an immersion Unless otherwise stated, all manifolds in this section will be even di mensional, closed and oriented. In the first part of this section we recall some of the theory of Whitney [13] related to the intersection number If. An immersion f:Mk-* Eik of a A;-dim manifold M = M", has a regular self-intersection at /(p,) = /(p,) if the tangent plane of f(M) at /(p,) and /(p,) have only the point /(pO = /(p,) in common. If / has only regular self-intersections and no triple points then / is completely regular. Consider M imbedded in Eik*x and let B, be the unit tangent bundle of the manifold M in En*\ Then a manifold with boundary, ^~, is defined as follows. S~ is the disjoint union of Br and all pairs (p, q) e Mx M with p =£ q. If qn -* p in M in the direction of a unit vector u at p then we let
92
570
R. LASHOF AND S. SMALE
(p, Q*)-*(Pf «)• This defines the topology on ^~, and denning the differen t i a t e structure in the obvious fashion makes S~ into a manifold with boundary Br. Still considering Af in £ u + 1 let \q — p\ be the distance from p to q in E***1. Returning to the immersion / above and considering E* to be oriented with origin 0, we define a map F: ^~-* E" as follows : F.
P*Q
\Q-P\
F(p, u) =
(p,
u)eBr,
where
vt)} will be independent at 0 ; and the orientation determined by A will not depend on whether we write the vectors at p or the vectors at q first, since k is even. The self-intersection f(p) =f(q) is positive or negative according to whether A determines the positive or negative orientation of En. The intersection number lf is the algebraic number of self-intersections. 3.1. Iff: Af * -»• Eu is a completely regular immersion of a closed oriented manifold, k even, then the tangential degree off is twice ls. l PROOF. Let S"~ be the sphere of unit vectors of E* at the origin, 1 then S"" is the boundary of the unit disc D of £™. Let e = max {\F(x) \x € ^ ~ } and e' = min {\F(x)\xeBT}. Since Br and ^"are compact, e and e' are well defined positive real numbers. Let h: E* -» E** be map which sends vectors v in the ring e' ^ |v| ^ e into S" - 1 radially by their direction, and stretches the rest of E"c in an obvious fashion such that h is a homeomorphism on the complement of this ring and is contin uous on all of E». Thus hF: (^", BT)-+(D, S""1). It is clear that hF cut down to BT is just the tangential map defined in Section 2, and the degree of this map is the tangential degree of / . THEOREM
Let &~ be the space obtained from &~ by identifying Br to a point 6 in J7~, and D by identifying S""1 to a point * in D. Then hF induces a map 0 : (^~, b) -*■ (D, 8). Consider the commutative diagram :
93 ON THE IMMERSION OP MANIFOLDS
\(hF),
571
«,
#»(£>, S " " )
>Htk(D,x)
The horizontal homomorphisms, being induced by relative homeomorphisms, are isomorphisms onto. All the groups in the diagram are infinite cyclic. Further, using the exact sequences of the pairs we obtain the commutative diagram #«(jn
>Hlk{J',p)
9*
i'l
Hik(D) >H3k(D,s) where again the horizontal maps are isomorphisms. Finally we have the following commutative diagram: 1UJT,BT)
>H,UBr)
H«(D,S"->) ►fl^-1(S»-1) where again the horizontal maps are isomorphisms and the group are all infinite cyclic. From these diagrams it follows that the tangential degree is the same as the degree of 0* : Hik(^) -*■ Htk(D). Since the map F is a homeomorphism on the components of F~\ V) for a sufficiently small neighborhood V of O, kF and hence 6 is a homeomor phism on the components of 0-\V). According to the Hopf theory (e.g., Whitney [12]) the degree of 0 is the sum of the degrees of dj Vp, where the V„ p = 1, • • •, r, are the oriented components of d~\V). By the definition of F we get one component for each pair (p, q) such that F(P,Q)=Q i.e.,/(p) = /(«)• But this differs from the definition of the in tersection number, I„ only in the fact that (p, q) and (q, p), / ( p ) - f(q), give two distinct components (both with the same orientation) and hence a given self-intersection is counted twice in the degree of 9; i.e., we have : tangential degree of / = degree of 0 = 21 f. From Theorems 3.1 and 2.2 we get :4 COROLLARY 3.2. Jf f: Mk -*■ Eu is a completely regular immersion of a closed oriented manifold, k even, and Wk e H"(M) is the normal charac teristic class of dim k of the immersion f, then Wk-M
=
2If.
Further, from the result of Whitney [13, Theorem 3] on the existence of 6
This result is essentially due to Whitney (see note at end of bibliography).
94
R. LASHOF AND S. SMALE
572
completely regular immersions with given /,, and from the fact that Wk= 0 (mod 2) (Chern, [2, Theorem 2, p. 94]) we have : THEOREM 3.3. Let M* be a closed oriented manifold of dim k, k even. For any immersion f: Mk -*■ Eu, W* • Af is even ; and for every even in teger n there exists an immersion f: M* -*■ Eu such that Wt • M = n. 3.4. (Milnor [8]). There exists an immersion of real protective Z-space P' in E*. l PROOF. By Theorem 3.3, there is an immersion / : S'-+E with Wt - M = 2. By the bundle classification theory (Steenrod [9, Sections 26.2, 35.11]) there is only one bundle space over S* whose characteristic class is 2, and that is P1. Consider a small tubular neighborhood (a tubu lar neighborhood may be defined in the case of an immersion as it usual ly is for an imbedding, e.g., Thom [10]) about/(S 1 ) in E*. The boundary (for an immersion the boundary of a tubular neighborhood will have selfintersections of course) of this tube is an immersion of f". THEOREM
4. On the homology of Grawman manifolds Let G(k, I) be the Grassman manifold of orientedfe-planesin Ek*1. For n > m, the inclusion Em*k -*■ E"*k induces a map i : G(k, m) -+• G(k, n). One may take the limit of these spaces in a certain sense to obtain the classifying space G(k, oo) for the rotation group RK for all manifolds. There are natural maps i : G(k, n)-+G(k, oo) for all n. As UBual Wt de notes the Stiefel-Whitney class of Hl(G(k, oo)), l^k and I odd, or I = k. We shall use the same symbol to denote i*Wl in H'(G(k, n)) when there is no ambiguity. Let V»+Ii, be the Stiefel manifold of Z-frames in E*+l and p: V*+u -> G{1, k) send a l-trame into the Z-plane which is spanned by it. We will prove the following: THEOREM
0
4.1. For k even and i^k > H(( V,„.t) -^
Ht(G(l, k)) -X Ht(G (I, k + 1)) — - 0
is exact. For i = k and k even, the image of p+ is generated by the Schubert cycle (e.g., see [2]) * = (0 k)* - (0 k)~. The cycle 1 and i^k,im: H((G(l, k)) -*■ Ht(G(l, k + l))isan isomorphism onto. For cohomology we have THEOREM
4.2. IfiiLk,k
odd or even
95 ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
573
H\Vkthl) JLH\G(l, k)) «-£- H\G(l, fc + D)« 0 i is exact. If kis odd and Z>1 or i 2 or k = 0 mod 4 and l>4. If 1 = 1 or 1 = 2, Wk+l = 0. Ifl = 3orl = 4andk = 0 mod 4, FF»+i = 0 when k = 4(2r — 1), r any positive integer; otherwise Wttl =t 0. To prove these theorems we introduce certain auxiliary spaces and maps as follows. The rotation group Rn of £* may be thought of as the space of n-frames of £*. Let V* = RnlRr, n > r ;> 2 where Rr is con sidered as acting on the first r-vectors of an n-frame. Then V* is the Stiefel manifold of in - r) frames in E*, V»,,_r. Wherever mapB in the rest of this section are not mentioned explicitly, they refer to the maps defined in these paragraphs. For 2 ^ 8 ^ n — r, let R, acting on the last 8 vectors of a frame define an action of R, on V*. We denote the quotient space RnIRr x R, = V'/R, by V",. If r + 8 = n, V",, may be considered as the GrasBman manifold of oriented 8-planes in b?, G{s, r), and F? -► V?t, the map which Bends an 8-frame into the 8-plane spanned by it. In this way F? is a principal bundle over F " , with groups R,. We define inclusions V* -*■ V'*1 and F?,, -*■ V?*,1 by adding a fixed orthogonal vector to the (r + l) a t place. From the definitions one can check that the following diagram commutes.
V*
I
V" ' r,»
► F?+1
I
» VH+l ' r.t
A map from F?,, to F?+1>, is defined by sending the (r + l) s t vector together with the first r-plane into the (r + l)-plane which they deter mine. In this way F?,, becomes an r-sphere bundle over F?+J>,. Similarly, a map from Fj? t to F?>t+1 is defined by sending the (» — * ) * vector together with the last 8-space into the (s + l)-plane which they span. Then F?,, is an r-sphere bundle over F? +lt , and (for r + s < n) the following diagram commutes
96
574
R. LASHOF AND S. SMALE ' r.«
* ' r,i+l
J
1
»+l Vn+1 V r,» ' " r,»+l 1 1 LEMMA 4.4. Tfo map* V? -*■ V** and V?,, -*• V** induce isomomorphisms in homology through dimension rfor any s. Thus by the naturality of the universal coefficient theorem the induced homomorphisms in cohomology are isomorphisms for the same dimension. PROOF. First observe that Ht(Vt)-* Ht(V*t,) is an isomorphism for i «jyyl) is an isomorphism and by the naturality of the Hurewicz Theorem HT{V*) -*■ Hr(Vrl) is also. Now consider the sequence of Bphere bundles : k
V r
* ' r,i
*
' " r.J
*
II
' T
*
*
v
r.l
^T*
v
r.i*i
' ' "
^* y r.l+l
' ' ''
II
* y r,\
*
v
r,i
1
* * r,t
Corresponding to the /-dimensional Bphere bundles in the above diagram, we have the Gysin sequences,
- HU VXli) - H,( V-V) - HAVtf.d - jyt_I_1(V-tVI) By induction asBume (we have proved the case I = 0)
HUV7?)
HAVldamy*?) »= 0,-,r HA V?.,+0 « «J(Vtf.d j = 0, ■ • •, i - 1 . then by the 5-lemma, #<( V£,+J) ss fli(V"*ii) and the lemma follows. Theorem 4.1 for i < k follows immediately from the Gysin sequence of VJ*,'*1 over VJt'.Y' and the preceding lemma. To prove the theorem for » = k, write down a portion of this sequence. Z Z II
H.«(VS:J.V) — 7
_,
II
I-
HjLvm?) - u H,(
z
The map r is induced by the projection of VI*1*1 into VJt!*1 which takes
97 ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
575
the I + 1 frame into the I frame consisting of the last I- vectors of the I + 1 frame. Then the middle square of the previous diagram commutes. For all k, q* iB onto. We consider now only k even. From exactness y' must be an isomorphism onto and certainly r is also. This implies that the image of y is the image of p*. The image of ^ is zero since p is de fined by cap product with an order two class. Hence y and p* are 1 - 1 , We have proved that in the following diagram the bottom horizontal sequence is exact.
Hk(V^)-^-*Hk(V^)
1 , 1 . The vertical maps are isomorphisms onto by 4.4. This proves the first sentence of Theorem 4.1 where we have let i^ = qj+. We will now compute the kernel of i+ : Hk(G(l, k)) -* H„(G{1, k + 1)). Let Ck(G{m, n)) be the group of Schubert fc-chains (e.g., see Chem [2]) of G(m, n), Zk{G{m, n)), the Schubert A;-cycles, etc. It follows from the definition of the Schubert cells that Ck{G{l, k)) = Ck(G(l, k + 1)) (under identification of map induced by inclusion), and that Ct*i(G(l, k + 1)) contains exactly the linear combinations of the cells (0 k + 1)+ and (0 k + 1)" in addition to the cells of C*+I(G(J, k)). Now let zt belong to both Z(G(l, k)) and Bk(G(l, k + 1)). Then z, = 8e»„ where c l+I e Ck+1(G(l, k ■{■ 1)). From the above observations we can write c*+i = <£« + m(0 * + 1)* + n(0 k + 1)" where c£+16 Ck+1(G{1, k)). Hence z* - &£♦! = m#(0 k + 1)* + n0(O k + 1)By the boundary formulas for Schubert chains (e.g., Chern [2]) one ob tains keven: *» - 9c'*+i = # * . * = (0 k)+ - (0 k)-, N^m-n k odd: zk - dcl.i = N'(0 k)+ + N'(0 *)", N' = -m-n. Thus for k even, 4> generates the kernel of i0. Furthermore if k is odd, I > 1 and ,,.,„. r 1
^-
a(r) = + 1 if r = l o r 2 m o d 4 a{r) = - 1 if r = l o r 3 m o d 4
it may be checked that dc = (0 *)♦ + (0 odd, I > 1, the kernel of «# is zero in Hk(G(l, k)).
k + 1)". Thus for k
98
R. LASHOF S. SMALE
576
To finish the proof of 4.1 consider the Gyein sequences in cohomology, A; even, 0
1
> mvttl*1)
► H'iVl****)
!P*
1
► H'^Vill*1)
I
o —> H\VH\?)-* Jf •( vjy«) —► Hxrxi?) — HM{vn\?) Here 12 s ift+I(FJt!*«') is the order two characteristic class of the Skbundle VJ*,ut over Vlilf. If XI = 0 it follows that p* is onto (see the previous discussion for homology) or in homology if g is a generator of Hk(Vkk*'+1) then p*(g) is a generator of Hk(Vty) mod torsion. If 12 ^ 0, V+id) is twice a generator of Hk(Vi\l) mod torsion. To identify O, consider the following diagram where n is larger than max (2k + 3,1). *.l
* ' I,*
1' . 1° " k*l,t
*
r
»,»+!
' ' ».*
r
1"' ' ' »,*+l
Here a is the homeomorphism which takes an Z-plane [»»♦„ • • •, e*+i+J into the orthogonal A: + 1 plane [e^ • • •, e»+J such that e„ • • •, ek+1, e*+n • • • i «*+i+i has the given orientation of E**1*1. Then /? can be defined so as to make the diagram commute. The maps y and rf are compositions of maps 7?,V+t -»• VJ.i'*' -► V?+i.V which were defined previously. It can be checked that this diagram commutes and furthermore that VZ*t*i over VZ+*£ is the associated S* bundle of Vl+'+l over Vl\k£. This implies that if Wk+1 is the Stiefel-Whitney class of i?*+I(G(fc+l, n)), then f2; ■ ■d*JWM. Since a* is an isomorphism we have 12 = 0 if and only if TP»+1 in H**l(G{k + 1, J)) is zero. This finishes the proof of Theorem 4.1. The proof of 4.2 follows from arguments dual to those used in proving 4.1. We merely add that since Wk = (0 k)* - (0 k)~ has the value of 2 on , it has the value 1 on a homology generator, hence the last statement of 4.2. The proof of 4.3 proceeds as follows. Since A;+l is odd, W»+1 is defined with integer coefficients and is of order two. Generally if H *(X) has only order two torsion an element of H*(X) is zero if and only if its rational and Z, reduction are zero. Since H*(G(m, n)) has only order 2 torsion, alj m,n', TT*+, is zero if and only if its Z, reduction is zero. Thus for the proof of 4.3 we use coefficients Z, for all Stiefel-Whitney classes. A
99 ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
677
formula of Chern [2] takes the following form," W, W, 0 Wt W, WB 0 • • • Wt.> = Ws Wt W,W, 0 W„ W^ Wk+1Wk
W0 Wl
In G(k + 1, /)), FT, = 0 for i > I and W1 0 ; there are no relations between the other Wt 'a. This determinant is symmetric with respect to the 45° axis. Hence all non-symmetric terms appear twice and drop out. Now suppose k=4n+2 and Z>2. It is clearly sufficient to show Wktl^0 in G(k + 1, 3) for this case. But from the above determinant one notes that the symmetric term WJLWf^Q, hence Tr»*,*0, in H**\G(k+l, 3)). On the other hand, if A; = 4n and I > 4 it is sufficient to show that Wk+l + 0 inG(fc + 1, 5). There the symmetric term WAWtf*-* * 0 hence in this case Wk+1 =£ 0. For I — 2, Wk+l is a polynomial in W„ but k is even so W»+, =- 0. The last sentence of the theorem also follows from the properties of the above determinant but it involves a long computational argument that does not seem worthwhile here. 5. The tangential map of an immersion Let / be an immersion of an orientable manifold M* = M in Eh*\ T h e n / defines a tangential map t: M-* G(k, I) by translating a tangent plane at a point of/(Af) to the origin of E**'. The purpose of this section is to investigate the induced homomorphism in cohomology. If I > k, then it is well known that t* : H*(G(k, l))-+H*(M), the characteristic homomorphism, is determined by the characteristic classes of M. There fore we confine ourselves to the case I ^ k. 5.1. Let / : Mk-+E**1 be an immersion of an orientable manifold M — M* with k even and vrith I and k such that Wkti = 0 in H"*\G{k + 1,1)) (see 4.3). Case I. If 1 = 1, one can choose a generator Sk of Hk(G{k, 1)) = Z so that Wt = 2 A*. THEOREM
1
See also: S. S. Chern, On the multiplication in the characteristic ring of a sphere bundle, Ann. of Math., 49 (1948), 362-372.
100
578
R. LASHOF AND S. SMALE
Case II. If I = 2, one can choose a A* such that A, and (W,)*'1 generate H"(G{kt 2)) = Z + Z, Wk = 2 A t + (fT,)*" and tf A; = 0 mod 4, P t = (W t ) kl \ Case III. If l = S,k = 4(2* - 1), Hk(G(k, 3)) mod torwon i* generated by a cocycle At and P», and Wk = 2\k + Pt mod torsion. Case IV. ]fl = 4,k = 4(2" - 1), Hk(G(k, 4)) mod torsion w generated by a cocycle A t , and all possible cup products of Wt and Pt with total degree k. Wk = WiGiWi, P,) + Pk + 2Ak mod torsion, where GiWt, Pt) is a polynomial. Let a : G{k, I) -*■ G(l, k) be the homeomorphism defined in § 4 and a* : H*(G(l, k), G)^>H*(G(k, I), G) the induced isomorphism where G = Zt or Z. Then if Wt and P, are Stiefel-Whitney or Pontrjagin classes of G{1, k), Wt = a* Wi and P, = a*Pt are the dual classes of G(k, I).* From 5,1., we obtain : Case I yields Hopf's theorem on the curvatura integra of an immersion of an even dimensional manifold. Case II is essentially a generalization of the Chern-Spanier result [4] on immersions of 2-manifolds in E*. Case IV yieldB: COROLLARY 5.2. Suppose a closed orientable manifold M" may be imbed ded in Ek** (or immersed in Ek*') where k is the form 4(2r — 1). Then in Hk(Mk), we have Pk = Wk mod 2. For k = 4 this is essentially a theorem of Pontrjagin (see [2J). Corol lary 5.2 follows from Case IV, since Hk(M") = Z has no torsion and Wt = 0 in Mk, and thus Wk = Pk + 2A» or Wk = Pk mod 2. Theorem 5.1 is proved as follows. We first prove Case II. The cohomology ring H*(G(2, <»)) is generated by Ws, so (W,)kl* is a generator of Hk(G(2, oo)). Applying 4.1 and 4.2, since the cycle * = (1 1)* (1 1)- is a free generator of Ht(G(2, k)), (W,)k» and a cocycle Ai with value 1 on * generate Hk(G{2, k)). Therefore the corresponding classes Ai' = a*A', and {Wt)kl* = a*(Wf generate H*(G(k, 2)). kl1 Let Wk = m\k + n(WJ . From 4.1 and 4.2 it follows that (Wt)kl% must have the value 0 on a** = 4> = (1 1)+ — (1 1)". Then since Wk has the value 2 on 4> and Ai' has the value 1 on <J>,TOmust be equal to 2. From the Whitney duality theorem one obtains Wk = * Our a: G{k, t) -* G(l, k) corresponds to Wu's d". Wu shows that a*Wj = Wl mod 2 and a*(P«) = (-1)'P« with rational coefficients. In general for any class Z, (.a*?Z= ±Z with rational coefficients and (o*)*Z= Zrood2. Hence (o*)»Z= ±Z with integer coef ficients. In our work the sign does not matter.
101 ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
CTft
679
{Wtfnzno&2, so n must be odd. Let A t = A^' + (l/2)(w - 1)( W - Then Wt = 2A, + (W,)'11. Since (WJ*1* has the value 0 on * , A, will have the value 1. We will now Bhow that (JP,)*" = Pk in Hk(G(k, 2)) if k = 0 mod 4. Since P, = 0 in Hk(G(k, 2)), i > 4 (e.g., [2]) by the duality Pontrjagin classes mod torsion (e.g., [6]) we can write P» = ( P > " . But P4 = W\ or P« = PPJ, hence P» = (J7,)*". This prove Case II of 5.2. Case I is proved the same way. To prove Case IV, note by the previous arguments that Hk(G(k, 4)) mod torsion is generated by cup products of W, and Pt with total degree k and a cocyle Ai which has value 1 on = (1 1)* — (1 1)'. Then 4 Wt = WtGiWt, P4) 4- (P»)" + 2At mod torsion exactly as in Case II, where GiWt, Pt) is a polynomial in Wt and P4. By the duality theorem for Pon trjagin classes mod torsion, P» = (WtYF(W\, P4) -r »i(P4)*'*mod torsion (since (Wf = P„). By pulling Pt into H*(G(k, 2)) we see that Pt = ul(Pi)tli = ^t1(^r,)*', so «, = 1. Therefore we obtain Wt = 2A» + P* + WtG(Wt, Pt) mod torsion proving Case IV. Case III is immediate from the preceding. This proves 5.1. In the following theorem integer coefficients are meant. 5.3. Let f and g be immersions of M * in E**' with l> lifk is odd, and with the same normal Stiefel-Whitney class W,. Then the in duced homomorphisms of the tangential maps t* : H*(G(k, I)) -*■ H*{M) of f and g are same. The exceptional case referred to in Theorem 5.3, k odd and I = 1, has been studied by Milnor [8]. We will not consider it here. THEOREM
5.4. Let f and g be immersions of Mk in Ek+l with I > 1 if k is odd, and suppose that f and g are imbeddings or that I is odd. Then the conclusion of 5.3 holds (i.e., without any assumption on W,). That the corollary follows from the theorem may be seen as follows. First, if I is odd then Wt = S*W,.l where 8* is the Bockstein operator and Wi-i does not depend on the immersion, hence Wt also does not depend on the immersion. On the other hand, if / is an imbedding W, — 0 (e.g., see Chern-Spanier [4]). REMARK. All the results obtained in this section for immersions of M* in E"*1 can be generalized to the case where M* is immersed in E**'*' with a field of normal p-frames. Here the induced map is from M* to COROLLARY
102
580
R. LASHOF AND 8. SMALE
VI*,'*' (see Section 4). By 4.4, H'iViX1*') is naturally isomorphic to H'(G(k, D) for» £ k. We now prove 5.3. We need the following well known lemma. 5.5. Let X be a space such that H*{X; Z) has only order 2 tor sion. The torsion subgroup of H*(X; Z) is 8*(H*-\X; ZJ) where 8* is the Bockstein operator. PROOF. Let u e C*'\X) be an integral cochain which is a cycle mod 2, i.e., 9u = 2c where c e C(X). Then since 88u = 0 = 2dc, 8c = 0, and c is a cycle representing an order 2 cohomology class. Conversely, let c be any chain representing an order 2 cohomology class. Then 2c = 8u for some u e Ck~\X). But then u is a cycle mod 2. We consider for the proof of 5.3 the following diagram : LEMMA
(°)
H'(G(k, l);G)^--
L
Hr(G(k, ~ ) ; G)
mG(l, k) i G)S-H'(G{1,
«,) ; G)
Here »* and »'* are induced by the inclusions » and i'. 5.6. JfG — Z%, then i* is onto for r < k. PROOF. For r < k, by 4.2, i'* is an isomorphism onto (this is also a well known fact). Thus, cup products of W, mod 2, j = 1, • • •, J, generate Hr(G(l, k); ZO for r < k. Then cup products of a*W, = W, generate Hr(G(k, I): Z^. By the Chern cup product formula (see the end of Sec tion 4) these W} can be written as polynomials in the classes W, of G(k, I). Since H*(G(k, oo); Zt) is generated by such classes, this proves 5.6. r LEMMA 5.7. For r < k, H (G(k, I); Z) mod torsion is generated by the image ofi* and the class Wt = a*W, where W, is the Jth Stiefel-Whitney class of G(l, k). The proof is Bimilar to 5.6 and uses the diagram (D). For r < k, Hr(G(l, k); Z) mod torsion is generated by JF, and Pontrjagin classes P}. Then one uses the theorem that a*P} = Ps mod torsion can be expressed as polynomials in the Pontrjagin classes P} mod torsion of G(k, oo) (see [6, Bemerkung p. 68]). Then since H*(G(k, oo); Z)mod torsion is gen erated by these Pontrjagin classes and Wt, this proves 5.7. LEMMA
5.8. For r
103 ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
681
8i*dk„ where h'} e HT~\G{k, I); Zt) and k, e Hr"l(G(&, «>); £,)• Hence h, is in the image of i* for each j . On the other hand, from 5.7 it follows that the g} are generated by Wx and the image of i*, proving 5.8. Until this point in the proof of 5.3 we have not significantly used our previous results. For the proof of 5.3 we have only to consider the case r = k. If A; is odd and I > 1, by 4.2 and using the diagram (D), the same argu ments as above go through to yield 5.3 for this case. We now suppose k is even. Since M" is oriented we can assume H"(M) = Z (otherwise H\M) = 0 and there is nothing to prove). From 5.1 one obtains immediately 5.9. If k is even and Wk+1 in H^Gik + 1,1)) is zero, then H*(G(k, I)) mod torsion is generated by the image of i* and W,. Then in this case we have 5.3. Lastly we prove 5.3 when k is even and Wk+l ^ 0. Since H*{M) = Z, we ignore toreion. By 4.2 we obtain that H"{G{k, I), Z)moA torsion is generated by Wk = a* Wk, Wt = a*W, and P, = a*P,. Then by the rea soning of Lemma 5.7 we obtain 5.3. Lastly, we prove a theorem of Kervaire [7]. Let M* = M be a closed oriented manifold, k even, and let f: M-*- E**1 be an immersion with a cross-section in the bundle of normal l-frames. Then f induces a map
5.10. There is a generator v of Hk(Vl+kl) = Z such that
Hk(G(k,l))-^Hk(G(l,k)) where t and a are the tangential map and dual homeomorphism respec tively, both defined earlier. Choose v by Theorem 4.1 so that P*(v) can be represented by (0 k)+ - (0 k)~. Let ?*(M) = nv and let W be the Stiefel-Whitney class in H*(G(k, I)). Then W'lccMnv)] On the other hand
- IP W « P „ ( J f ) ] = W%(M) = t*W'(M) .
104
582
R. LASHOF AND S. SMALE
W'[a+P+(nv)] = nWkamP+(v) = na*W*P*(v) = nW*[(0 A;)* - (0 k)~] = 2n . Thus n = X2,/2 and the theorem is proved. REMARK 1. By similar techniques one may prove Theorem 5.3 for coefficients modulo 2. We do not include a complete proof, but simply remark that it is well known that the cohomology ring of the Grassmann manifold G{k, I) of non-oriented A-planes in k + I space is generated by the classes Wu ••-, WK modulo 2 (see [2]). Since the manifold G{k, I) of oriented planes double covers G{k, I), one may use the Gysin sequences modulo 2 of this zero sphere bundle to obtain that H\G{k, I), Z,) is onto, %-g.k, if and only if W»+l=£0 in H*(G(k+l, I), Zt). It then follows that H*(G(k, I), Z,) is generated by Wt, • • •, Wk for dimensions ^ k ex cept for the special cases already considered for integral coefficients. We thus obtain 5.3 for coefficients modulo 2. 2. We have shown that the only invariant able to distinguish immersions of Mk in E**1 obtainable from the homomorphism t*: H*(G(k,l))^H*(M*)\B TV",, except for k odd and 1=1. Furthermore by duality Wt is determined mod 2 by the Stiefel-Whitney classes of M. We have the problem, given a class r of H\M*), when is there an immersion of M* in E*+l with W' - r? If I - k, Theorem 3.3 says this is possible for all cohomology classes of H\M) not excluded by duality. REMARK
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. A. BOREL, Selected topics in the homology theory of fibre bundles, University of Chicago, 1954. (mimeographed notes). 2. S. S. CHERN, Topics in differential geometry, Princeton, 1951. (mimeographed notes). 3. , " La geom6trie des son-variet^s d'un gspace euclidien a plusieurs dimensions " in L'Enseignement Mathlmatique, March 1955, pp. 26-46. 4. , and E. SPANIER, A theorem, on orientable surfaces in four-dimensional space, Comm. Math. Helv., 25 (1951), 205-209. 5. S. ElLENBERG and N. STEENROD, Foundations of algebraic topology, Princeton Uni versity Press, 1952. 6. P. HIRZEBRUCH, Neue topologische Methoden in der algebraischen Geomctrie, Sprin ger, Berlin, 1956. 7. M. KERVAIRB, Gowrbure integrate generalise et homotopie, Math. Ann., 131 (1956), 219-252. 8. J. MlLNOR, On the immersion of n-manifolds in (n+l)-spaee, Comm. Math. Helv., 30 (1956) 275-284. 9. N. STEENROD, Topology of fiber bundles, Princeton University Press, 1951. 10. R. THOM, Qvelques proprHUs global** des varUUs diff&rentiables, Comm. Math. Helv., 28 (1954), 17-86.
105 ON THE IMMERSION OF MANIFOLDS
583
11. R. THOM, Espaces fibres en spheres et earres de Steenrod, Annales de L'Ecole Normale Superieure, vol. LXIX fasc. 2 (1952) pp. 109-181. 12. H. WHITNEY, lite maps of an neomplex into an n-sphere, Duke Math. J. 3 (1937), 51-55. 13. , The self-intersections of a smooth it-manifold in 2n-space, Ann. of Math., 45 (1944), 220-246. 14. WENTSUN WU, Sur les caracteYistiques des structures fibrees spheriques, Act. Sci, Indus. No. 1183. Paris (1952). For more general results on self-intersections see: H. WHITNEY, On the topology of differentiable manifolds, in Lectures in topology, Wilder and Ayres, Michigan, 1941. R. K. LASHOF and S. SHALE, Self-intersections of immersed manifolds, J. Math, and Mech., to appear January 1959.
106
Self-intersections of Immersed Manifolds R. K. LASHOF & S. SMALE Communicated by E.
SPANIER
Introduction. An immersion / : Af* —> Xk*' of one C manifold into a second is called n-normal if for each n-tuple of distinct points x, , • • • , x. of Af with /(xi) = • • • = /(a*,) the images MZi of the tangent spaces MIt under the differ ential of / have the minimum possible intersection in X„ , y = /(x.)- Explicitly, it is required that dim f*Y_, Mx( = k — (n — l)r. We will prove that any immersion of a closed manifold can be C. approximated (any 5) by an n-normal immersion. If /: Af —> X is n-normal and (/)": (Af)" -* {X)" is the n-fold product map of /, then the restriction F of (/)" to the subspace of distinct n-tuples of the n-fold product space (Af)" is (-regular in the sense of THOM [7] on the diagonal A of (X)\ Then F -1 (A) = 2 . is a manifold of dimension fc — (n — l)r which we call the n-self-intersection manifold of /. The reason for this terminology is as follows. Let ir, : (Af)" —► Af be the projection onto the first factor. Then ir, restricted to 2 . is an immersion ir, : 2„ —> Af and ir, (2„) is the set of points of Af which are mapped n (or more) to one by /. That is, Ti(2,) = {x c Af; 3 *a , ••• , xn c Af, distinct, and /(x) = /(x<)}. If Af is closed then 2 , is closed; if Af and X are orientable then so is 2 , . Assume now that Af, and hence also 2„ , is closed. Denote the image of the orientation of 2 . under T M : Hk-iM-1)T(En) —* Hk-ln-l)T(M) by 2 t (use coefficients from Zt if 2 B is non-orientable, otherwise use integer coefficients). We are able to compute this class as follows: Consider the composition Ht(M) A Hk(X) ± Hr(X) A HT{M) where X is Poincare" duality (using cohomology with compact supports if X is not closed). Let Af denote the orientation of Af and r = /*X/t(Af). If Af is nonorientable then T is defined with coefficients from Z7 . Let W' eZT(Af) denote the r th Stiefel-Whitney class of the normal bundle of Af in X. I t is an integral class unless this normal bundle is non-orientable or r = 1, in which cases it is defined with coefficients from Zt . We will prove 143 Journal of Mathematics and Mechanic*, Vol. 8, No. 1 (19S9).
107
144
It. K. LASHOF & g. SMA.LR
Theorem Ix If f: Mk —* Xk*r is an n^normal immersion of a dosed, connected manifold M, then (FO
X2* = ±(r - Try".
Here X is Poincare" duality and the product on the right is the cup product. The formula is meant with integer coefficients unless r = 1- or M or X is nonorientable in which cases coefficients are taken mod 2. (The sign on the right will be (_i)*<—»)<*+'> for o u r choice of orientation of 2m .) WHITNEY in [10, p. 131] has given an early formulation of equation (F„) in the orientable case when n = 2 and X is closed. In place of our r he has the symbol {AT, M) which he defines geometrically. In place of 2 2 , WHITNEY writes D(M), "the distant intersection of M with itself". He speaks of D(M) as a submanifold of M; however, D(M) may only be an immersed manifold in general. In case Xk*T is Euclidean space Ek*T, it is an immediate consequence of its definition that T = 0, and we get, from Theorem I: If Xk+T = E"*r, then (I*\) becomes (FO
X2t = ±(WT"-
In particular, the set iri(22) is the set of all points of M which are not mapped 1-1 by /, and we have (FJ)
X2*2 =
±W\
(For the case of (F2') where r = k, see also [4] and [11].) Since (Wr)2 = P'r, r even, is the normal Pontrjagin class of the immersion (see [12]), we have (FO
X2? = ± P J r ,
r even.
In the case r = $A;, 2 S consists of isolated points, i.e. triple points, and F2* t Hk(M) is determined by duality theorems from the Pontrjagin classes of M [A]. Thus Corollary A. The number of triple points of an immersion f: Mk —> Eik of a closed manifold oriented with proper sign is independent of the immersion. (The sign of the triple points is determined as in 1.2. I t is easy to obtain from this a geometric rule for attaching a + or — sign to an isolated triple point depending on how the pieces of M come together.) This behavior of triple points contrasts with the number of double points of an immersion of Mk in Eik, see [4] or [11]. The following example shows that the preceding theorems have some content. M. HIBSCH [2] has proved that the real projective 6-space P* can be immersed in E7. From the Whitney duality theorem and equation (F£) follows Corollary B. For every 7-normal immersion f of P* in E7, there exists y t E7 such that f~l(y) has at least 7 points. If /: Mk —* Xk*r is 2-normal and at most 2 to 1 {e.g., if r > Jfc and / is 3-normal), then 2 S is imbedded in M. The immersion / restricted to Ti(2a) = 2, C M is a double covering. Let 2 , be the image space /(2»). We will prove
108 SELF-INTERSECTIONS OF IMMERSED MANIFOLDS
145
Theorem II. If /: Mk - * Xk*' is Znormcd and at most 2 to 1, then 2» is a non-orientable manifold when r is odd and an orientable manifold when r is even. In most cases it is very difficult to prove imbedding theorems from immersion theorems. However, from Theorem II it is very easy to prove the special theorem Theorem III. If k is even, then near any immersion of Mk in E**'1 C E**, there is an imbedding of M in E**. has proved that every manifold Mk can be immersed in E""1 (for a modern proof see HISSCH [2]). We would like to thank E. SPANIER for several helpful conversations during the preparation of this paper. WHITNEY
1. Normal immersions. If M —* Mk is a manifold of dimension k, Mt will denote the tangent space of M at x. All manifolds considered will be C" with a countable base, but not necessarily closed or connected. The following definition of t-regviar has been used by THOM [7]. If N = 2V* is a submanifold of X = X% and /: M —► X is a C" map, / is said to be ^-regular on N if the composition Mt A JT. ->
XJN,
is onto for all y z N and x t f~\y). If / is ^-regular on N, then Q = f~1(N) is a submanifold of M of the same codimension (n — q) as N. Moreover, / induces a map of a tubular neighborhood of Q onto a tubular neighborhood of N which can be considered as a bundle map of normal vectors over Q into the space of normal vectors over N. (For this purpose one uses a Riemannian metric and constructs the tubular neighborhood from geodesies orthogonal to the submanifold and hence corresponding to normal vectors.) A C" map f: M —*X is an (r, t)-approximation of another C map f:M—*X if, roughly speaking, /' and the first r derivatives of /' are within « of / and the first r derivatives of / respectively. See WHITNEY [9] for a precise definition. WHITNEY calls such a map an (/, rj, M, ^-approximation.) An n-tuple, of C maps, f\ : Af —► X, i = 1,2, • • • , n, is an (r, ^-approximation of a second n-tuple f{ : M —»X, if, for each t, f' is an (r, ^-approximation of f(. The following theorem can be found in THOM [7]. See also WHITNEY [9] for the case of an immersion. Theorem 1.1. Let f: M -* X be a C" map, N a submanifold of X and « > 0. Then there exists an (r, ^-approximation (any r) of f, say /': M —* X, such that f is t-regular cm N and f agrees with f except possibly on f~\V,(N)), where V.(N) is an e neighborhood of N. The basic class of a closed connected orientable manifold M — Mk is a choice of generator of Hk(M). We usually denote this class by M itself. The basic class of a closed connected non-orientable manifold M is the non-zero element of Hk(M, Zi). The basic class of a non-connected closed manifold Mh is the direct sum of the basic classes of the components, if each component is an orientable manifold; otherwise it is the direct sum of the generators of Hk(M, Zt).
109
146
R. K. LASHOF & S. 8MALE
Lemma 12. Let f: M -* X be C" and t-regidar on a manifold N C X, where M, X and N are oriented. Then the orientations of M, X and N determine an orientation of Q = f~\N). Proof. The map f:M ->X induces /,: M, - * X, , q t Q, p = f{q) t N. That / is ^-regular means the quotient map MJQt —* X9/N, is an isomorphism onto. From the orientations of X, and Np we get an orientation of XJN, and hence MJQ, . Then, since M, is oriented, an orientation of Qt is determined. ThiB in turn gives an orientation of Q. (To be precise, take an ordered basis for N, , the order determined by the orientation of N, and extend it to an ordered basis for X compatible with the orientation of X. The image of this basis in XJN9 is an ordered basis which determines the orientation of the factor space. An ordered basis for Q is then chosen so as to give the same result for MJQt .) An orientation of a manifold determines a basic class in a natural fashion. Under the conditions of 1.2 we will always suppose Q is oriented as in this proof, and therefore the basic class of Q is determined. The foEowing theorem is known. Theorem 1.3: Let f: M" —► X' be a proper C map, t-regular on a closed submanifold AT*"* C -X", with M and X connected. Let Q = f (N) and write N* and Q* for the images of the basic classes of N and Q in X and M respectively. Then XQ* = f*\N*. Here integer coefficients are meant in the case that M, X, N and hence Q (by 1.2) are oriented. Otherwise coefficients are to be in Zt. The symbol X always stands for Poincare" duality between singular homology and Cech cohomology with compact supports, in both M and X. Proof. Let V0 and V'Q be tubular neighborhoods of Q and N respectively, and, using a Riemannian metric on M and X, we consider /: V0 —* V'0 to be a bundle map. Consider the following diagram (cohomology with compact supports and singular homology):
Hn_q(Q) < A - * H°(Q) <-l—
H°(H) <e-2-> V q (N)
I , I, I H ^ M ) +-*L+
H*(M) +J—
H*(X) * — * _ ,
H p _ q (X)
110 SELF-INTERSECTIONS OF IMMERSED MANIFOLDS
147
Here <j> and <£' are isomorphisms as in THOM [6], and the other vertical maps are all inclusions. The subscripts on X indicate duality in the different spaces. Various naturality theorems show that each smaller square commutes {e.g. see [1] and [6]). The theorem is proved by commutativity of the large rectangle: Starting from the upper right hand corner, the basic class of N is mapped across the top row onto the basic class of M by 1.2 and the fact that f* takes the sum of the generators of H°(N) onto the sum of the generators H°(Q). These basic classes then map down into N* t H^^X) and Q* t Hm-,(M) respectively. Commuta tivity then implies that f*\xN* = X*Q*. An immersion f: Mk —* Xk*T is a C" map with Jacobian of rank k at every point. A property P of n-tuples of immersions fi:Mi—*X,i = 1, • • • , n, with M closed, will be called generic (after THOM [8]) if both the following conditions hold: (1) Given an n-tuple /< : M< —* X, there exists an « > 0 such that every (2, «)-approxunation of (/<} has property P. (2) Given any n-tuple /<: Af < —♦ X and any e > 0, there exists an (r, «)-approxmation of {/,} by an n-tuple with property P . (That the M( be closed is not necessary, it only simplifies matters.) In the case n = 1, generic describes properties of immersions, and this case will be our main concern. We proceed to describe one such property; the proof that it is generic will be given later (1.5). If /: M —► X is an immersion of one manifold in a second, let Mx denote the image of M,, x t M, under the differential fm of /. Then an immersion /: Mk —* Xk~r is called n-normal if, for any n distinct points x , , • ■ ■ ,x%zM with /(xi) = • • • =
ffa), n
dim C\Mxt = k-{n-
l)r.
Instead of 2-normal we may say simply normal. An immersion is completely normal if it is n-normal for every n. Let (Af)" denote the n-fold Cartesian product of M with itself, A the diagonal of {X)n and R = {fa , ■ • • , x*) t (M)* \ xt = x,- for some distinct t and ;'}. Lemma 1.4. The n-fold product map of an immersion f: M —* X, restricted to (M)n — R, is t-regular on A if and only if f is n-mormal. Proof. Let F: (M)n -R^> (X)" be the restriction of (/)". The map / is n-normal if and only if dim (~\ Mwt = k — (n — l)r for all n-tuples Xi , • • • , x. of distinct points of M with ffa) = • • • = ffa). Let xx , • • • , x. be such an n-tuple with f(Xi) = y. Let V be the set of vectors Y of (M) U) , (x) = fa , • ■ • , x„), with F.Y t A (f , , (y) = (y, y, • •_• , y), and let V = Fm(V). Then dim r\ M„ = k (n — l)r if and only if dim V = k — (n — l)r. Since Fm is an immersion, dim V = dim V. Now F is t-regular on A at fa , • • • , xn) means that nk — dim V = n(k + r) — dim A = (n — l)(k + r) or dim V = k — (n — l)r. Putting these statements together we obtain 1.4.
HI 148
R. K. LASHOF & S. SMALE
If / is n-normal (using 1.4) we define 2 , = F~1(A), where F: (Af)* - 22 -► (X)' is the restriction of the n-fold product map, to be the n-selfintersection manifold of /. It has the following properties: (1) 2„ is a manifold of dimension k — (n — l)r. (2) If x: (Af)" —♦> ikf is projection onto the first factor then x restricted to 2„ is an immersion. Proof. We will show that the differential x^ is 1-1. Let x: (Af)* — R —► M and x': (X)" —► X be projections onto the first factor. Then -K'F — fr. Now F(2«) C A and x^' restricted to A is 1-1. Since F+ is 1-1 this implies x„ is 1-1. (3) x(2„) C M is the set of points of M which are mapped n or more to 1 by /. In particular, x(2 a ) is the set of points at which / is not 1-1. (4) If r > k/n then dim 2n+i < 0, and hence / is at most n to 1. (5) Let p . : 2 , -> 2„_ 1 , p , ( i , , • • • , x„) = (x,, • • • , x._x). Then p . is 2-normal, if / is (n -f l)-normal. Denote by KK the self-intersection manifold of p» (.K, C 2 . X 2„). Then there exists adiffeomorphism an:Kn—> 2»+1 such that ira, = icy, where 7^ is projection onto the first coordinate of 2„ X 2 . followed by x: 2 , —> Af. In particular, if 2 3 is empty then 2 2 is imbedded by x in Af. Proof. The fact that p . is 2-normal is easily checked. To define a. , let [(x, , • • • , x„), {yi , •■■ , y»)] t K% . Then a . [ ( x , , ■■■ ,xn),(Vi
, ••■ , y»)] = (*i , • • • , * . , ! / - ) •
Note that since p.(x, , • • • , x.) = p,(y, , • • • , yn), x< = y4 , i = 1, • • • , n - 1. The details are left to the reader. (6) n-normal is generic for closed Af. (See 1.5 for proof.) (7) 2,, is a closed subset of (Af )*, and hence 2„ is closed if Af is closed. (8) 2 , is orientable if Af and X are orientable. (This follows from 1.2.) An n-tuple of immersions /< : Af J' —* X', i = 1, • • • , n, is called mutually normal if for each n-tuple of points xx , • • • , x„ , such that x< e Af < and /L(Xi) =>
• • • = f„(x„), dim 07-> U* (M.i) = Z.- * « - ( * - ««■ Let /: Af —► X be an immersion and i: N —► X an imbedding of a submanifold in X. Then the following are equivalent: (1) / is i-regular on N. (2) / and i are mutually normal. The proof is very easy and left to the reader. Theorem 1.5. The property n-normal is generic for immersions of closed namir folds. Proof. We first show that n-normal satisfies property 1 of generic. If /' is close to a given n-normal immersion f: M —* X then the n-fold product map of /' will be close to the n-fold product of /, and hence F' will be close to F (the
112 SELF-INTERSECTIONS OF IMMERSED MANIFOLDS
149
restrictions of the n-fold product mapa to (M)* — K). By 1.4, F is ^-regular on A, and it follows (see THOM [7]) that F' will be also, since any map sufficiently close to a f-regular map is again J-regular. Application of 1.4 again yields that /' is n-normal if it is sufficiently close to /. We next prove that 2-normal satisfies property 2 of generic. The proof will then be finished by induction. Let /: M —*■ X be a given immersion of a closed manifold M. For t = 1, • • • , m let Wt , Wi be open sets of M such that / is 1-1 on W,, Wt C W't, and VJ Wt = M. Given t > 0, choose e<, i - 1, • • • , m, such that £ r . i «. < « and «,_ < i d(X - f(WQ, f(Wt)), d being the distance function in X. Let fi :M — Wx —* X be given by Theorem 1.1 where we take «t for i, f(Wi) for N, and f\u-w, for the given map. Then fi = / except on rl(Y.x(J(Wi)); in particular, f[ = / on {x e W[ \ d(f(z), f(Wx)) £ « and d(/(x), * - f{WD) £ e,}. Hence if we define /, = / on \x t Wi | d(/(x), X - f(Wfi) ^ t,} and /i = /[ on the complement of this set, fx will be a C map of M into X. The immersion fx will have the property that f,^, and fx\u-», are mutually normal. For some «£ > (r» ^-approximations of fx will also have this property and will still be 1-1 on Wx . Define / 2 : M —* X in a fashion similar to fx using rain («2 , «£) instead of ei and Wt in place of Wx . Iteration finally yields an immersion fm:M—>X such that fm\wt and fm\U-«( are mutually normal and /„ is 1-1 on W{ , i = 1, • • • , m. It follows that fm is an (r, «)-approximation of / which is 2-normal. Proceeding by induction, let /: M —* X be an (n — l)-normal immersion. It is sufficient to find an (r, ^-approximation of / which is n-normal. For the proof we need the following lemma. Lemma 1.6. Let g: V —> X be an immersion and g': N —► X an imbedding. Then there exists an (r, ^-approximation gi: N —► X of g' such that g and gi are mutually normal and g[ is given by hg' where h: X —*■ X is a diffeomorphism of X equal to the identity outside any prescribed tubular neighborhood of g'(N). Proof. This is essentially in THOM [7]. (Compare the above lemma with 1.1.) In fact, THOM'B result gives a diffeomorphism hx : X —> X which is the identity outside a prescribed tubular neighborhood o£ g'(iV) and such that hxg: V —* X is ^-regular on g'(N). As noted above, this means that hxg and g' are mutually normal. But since h = hx* is a diffeomorphism, g: V —► X and hg' : N —► X are again mutually normal, and again h is the identity outside the prescribed tubular neighborhood of g'{N). Returning to the proof of the theorem, let W{ , W\ be as before and let S,_! be the (n — l)-self-intersection manifold of /. By the above lemma we can find an (r, e^-approximation fx to ft Wl by means of a diffeomorphism h: X —*■ X which is the identity outside of Vi,(/(TTl)) such that fx = A/, r , and fx: 2,_, -♦ X are mutually normal. Now hf = / on {x t W'x \ d(/(x), f(W0) ^ tx and d(/(x), X — f(W[)) > ti}. Hence we can extend fx to M by letting fx «= / on the complement of [x z Wi | d(/(x), f(Wx)) > «,}. Then fx has the following property. Suppose x, , • • • , x„ are distinct points of M such that fx(xx) = • • . = •
113
150
R. E. LASHOF & S. SMALE
fi(xn), and that, for some i, x4 tWx, at most one x{ t W[ since /»is 1-1 on W[. Hence (xx , • • • , £v■, , • • • , x„) t 2._, , since fi(x,) = /(a:,), ; * t. But the mutual normality of fUWl and fx: 2«_I —* X implies that
dim H UM,,) = dim H KM.,) H U(MXI) J-l
i*i
= k-
(n-
2)r + k -
(k +x) = k - (n - l)r.
This property is equivalent to saying that the map Fx , the cut down of the n-fold product map of /, to Wx X (M — Wx)n~l — R, is f-regular on the diagonal A of (X)*. But for sufficiently small 4 > (?, ^-approximations of fx will again have this property and will still be 1-1 on Wx . We now proceed by induction on i, obtaining a map /„ which will have the desired property for any n distinct points since U W< = M and /„ will be 1-1 on each W{ . This completes the proof of the theorem. Theorem 1.7. Mutually normal is generic for n-iwples of immersions of a closed manifold. Proof. Property 2 of generic is satisfied as follows. Let /; : M{ —► X be an n-tuple of immersions where each Mf = M, i = 1, • • • , n. Let M* be the disjoint union of the M( and F: M* —> X be denned by F(z) = fi(x) where n l , - . By Theorem 1.5, there exists an (r, «)-approximation G: M* —* X of F which is n-normal. Let f't : Mi —* X be the restriction of G to M{ . It is immediate that {f[\ is an (r, <)-approximation of {/,} and is mutually normal. Property 1 of generic is proved in a similar fashion. 2. The main theorem. The goal of this section is to prove Theorem I of the introduction. For simplicity, we will assume M and X are connected in the rest of this paper, also that M is closed. If /: Mk —* Xk*T is any continuous map of the manifold M into the manifold X, we denote the image of the basic class M under the composition Hk{M) A Ht(X) -*♦ H'(X) A H\M) -^ H*_,(.li) by y(j); i.e. y(j) t Hk-,(M). If M or X is non-orientable it is defined with coeffi cients Z2 and otherwise with integer coefficients. We denote the dual of the cup product in the manifold M by °; i.e. Mx,yt H^(M), x ° y = X(Xx W \y). Theorem I may then be stated as follows: Theorem 2.1. If f: Mh —* Xk*T is an n-normal immersion of a closed connected manifold M in a connected manifold X, then the n-self intersection class 2* = ±( 7 (/) - XTT)"-1, where WT is the normal Stiefel-Whitney class, X is duality, y(J) is the class defined above, and the product is ° product.
114 SELF-INTERSECTIONS OF IMMERSED MANIFOLDS
151
We start the proof of 2.1 by choosing immersions f: Af —»X, i = 1, • • • , n — 1, (r, ^-approximations of /, by 1.5 and 1.7 (we will choose the e later), such that /, f, ••• , f'1 are mutually normal and each is n-normal. Write f = /. Let V0 be the normal bundle of vectors of magnitude < S. Then Va can be immersed as an (immersed) tubular neighborhood of M in X. Let / 0 : M —* V0 be the zero-cross-section. Further, if j0 : V0 —* X is the above immersion, let /o : M —► V0 , i = 1, • ■ • , n — 1 be the cross-section uniquely defined by the condition Jo/o = /'
(thia is well defined if /' is sufficiently close to /). In order to use a unified notation, we set /; «= /, i = 0, • •• , n — 1, and Vx «= X. Then if we let a = ( « t , • • • , «»_i) where.«, = 0 or 1 we define F. : (Af)" ->M XVm, where Va = Vtl X • • • X V...t by Fa = i X /J, X • • • X f £ , (i: Af -► Af the identity). Further, we define 0, : (Af)" - * M X 7 . b y G . = t X f!, X • • • X £,_. . Now let r „ C i f X 7 , be the image of Af under the composition Af A (Af)»A- Af X F a , where d is the diagonal map. Lemma 22. Fa is t-regular on Ta . Proof. Let i X jm : Af X F„ -► Af X (X)" -1 , j . = ;., X • • • X ;'.._, , j0 : V0 -► X, j , : X -► X the identity. Then if (1) = (1, • • • , 1), r ( 1 ) = (i X ja) Tm and i^d) = (t X ja)Fa . Since t X ja is an immersion, it follows that Fa is ^regular on T. , for all a, if and only if F(U is i-regular on r ( l ) . Now if (x) = (io, • • • , *._,) t (Af)" and Fcx)(x) t r ( 1 ) then /°(x0) - / ! (xi) - • • • - /""'(^-i). Let 7 ( .) be the subspace of (Af)"x) such that V(M) — F^] (r - dim 7 t „ = ftn - (ft - (n - l)r) = (n - l)(ft + r), and dim (Af X (X)"_1)(,) - dim r ( 1 ) = ft + (n - l)(ft + r) - ft = (n - l(ft + r). Thus since Fm is an immersion, it is t-regular on r ( 1 ) . At this point we stop to review some facts concerning the "slant operation" (see [5]). If X and Y are two topological spaces, then, using singular chains and cochains, let z t C"(X X Y), y e Cr(Y); then we define a cochain z/y t C~'(X) by the property z/y(x) = z(x (g)y),
i t C,_r(X).
115
152
R. K. LASHOF & S. SMALE
Then 6(z/y) = &z/y +
(-ly—Wdy;
and hence we get a pairing H'(X X Y) (x) Hr(Y) -+ H'-'(X), w (x) v -► w/v, w z H'(X XY),vz Hr{Y), w/v z F " " ( I ) , which again has the property (A)
w/v(u) = w(u®v),
uz H„.r(X).
Here we use singular homology and cohomology with coefficients in any groups 0, (?, , Gt for X X Y, X, Y respectively; and then w/v will have coefficients in G ® G, and the Kronecker index in (A) will have values in G ® Gi ® G* Lemma 2.3. Let u t H'(X; Z) be an integral cohomology class of a space X. Then u is uniquely determined by its values (Kronecker index) on the homology classes x z HV(X; G), where G runs through Z„ (integers mod n), for all n, as well as Z. This lemma is well known and we leave it to the reader to check. Lemma 2.4. (Naturality Lemma.) Let f: X —* X', g: Y —► 1"' be continuous maps. Then for u z H'(X' X Y'), y z Hr(Y) f*(u/g*y) = [(/ X g)*(u)]/y. This lemma follows immediately from the characterization (A) above and Lemma 2.3. Lemma 2.5. Let X" and Y" be closed connected oriented manifolds and X be Poincare duality inX, Y or X X Y as the context indicates. Let /Y: H"(X X Y) —► H*~m(X) and x t . : Hn+m.v(X X Y) —* Hnt.m.v(X), where wi. is projection onto the first factor and Y z Hm(Y) is the basic class. Then \-(/Y) = Tt.X. Proof. Let u t H'(X \(u/Y)(x) = u/Y(\x)
Note that 1 e H°(Y) and hence the sign here is + 1 . By 2.3 our result follows. We now summarize some known facts (see CARTAN [1]) concerning duality in a paracompact connected manifold X. The coefficients are in an arbitrary abelian group if the manifold is oriented and integers mod 2 if it is non-oriented. Let H*(X) be locally finite singular homology supports in , Hl(X) cohomology with supports in 4>. (a) If 4> = C = all compact subsets of X, then HC,(X) = ordinary singular homology. (b) If ^ = F = all closed subsets of X, then H;(X) = ordinary singular cohomology.
116 SELF-INTERSECTIONS OF IMMERSED MANIFOLDS
153
(More generally, since X is H.L.C., Hl(X) is singular cohomology with supports in*.) If X is n-dimensional, we have Poincare' duality: (c)
K:Hl(X)^Ht-p(X).
The fundamental class X of the manifold is the image by X, of a generator of H?(X), X t H"„(X) (integers or integers mod 2). From the cup -product
we get the cap product (d)
Hl(X) (g) H*t'(X) -+
ld'(X).
Taking ' = F, 0 H F = , and X i H'n(X) we get from (d)
Hl(X)®X-+Ht-,(X). This is precisely ^ [1, p. 88]. Further, the cup and cap products have the following properties: (e) Let u i Hl{X), v t H'r(X), x e H'P.,(X); then (v VJ u){x) — u(v r\ x)
(Kronecker index),
u(uH x) = (uUt>)(z). (f) Then, for u t Hrc{X), v c n
v -\\cu")
Hy(X), =
(-l)pin-p)u'(\rvn-').
Proof. v"-p(\cuv) = o"-'(u' H X) = (u' VJ t>-")(X) = ( - 1 ) ' ° — V " W *■)(*) =
Consequently, if z z H^,(X),
( _ 1 ) " — > M V ~ ' ^ * ) = (-1) ,( "-'V(X^""')
y t H'P(X),
x; 1 !/,^-,) = (-D ,tn - p) Xc l x.-p(j/,). (g) Let im : H%{X) -> H',[X), i*: H;(X) -♦ ff;(X) be the natural maps; then i^Xc = X j , i * ,
i*Xc l = X ^ l i # .
Now let M be a closed connected manifold and /: M —*■ X a continuous map. Then if f% : HZ(X) - * tf \M) and /> : ff;(X) -> H'{M) are the induced maps (with similar definitions for f° and /£),
(n)
/?x* = n,
iji = / ; .
Finally, from (f), (g), (h) we get the following lemma:
117 154
R. K. LASHOF & S. SMALE
Lemma 2.6. Let M and X be connected manifolds, M conpact. Letf,g:M-*X be continuous maps. Let z t H9(M), u> t Hn-,(M), n = dim X. Then (vrith nota tions as in (f), (g), (b) above)
mtVA")
- (-i)'("""<7SXc7X*).
Proof.
n\~cgcAw) = \-cxgcMw) = #(x;7:w)(-i)' ( —' = #(x;V»(- 1 >' ( "* ) = ^(t*Xc7^)(-D,("-" = *(tf»*x;,£w)(-i)'{"-) = ^(<7?Xc7»(-D'(""'). lemma 2.7. T , F ? ( r . ) = 7 . - (-l)* ( "- ,)< ** ,> 7., o . . . o T ,._, wtewy., = 7
F : ' ( r . ) = XF*x(r a ),
or
(10
x.Wr.) = x.xFtxcrj.
Consider F*
^(MXT*)
X
«_*_> H ^ J M ^ X T . , ) J = _ ^ I ) < * « > ( ( H ) » ) -JL-*a^ ( a . 1 ) r (0:) B ) H (n ' l)r («)
"
^(,,l)rW
The above square commutes by Lemma 2.5. Hence
TjXFjxr. = x(F*xr./®r-1 Af).
(2) We will now show (3)
X(F*Xr./
Combining (1'), (2), (3) we will have our lemma. Proof of (3). Let x t H t ._ 1 ) r (M). Then (F*Xr a /
(x) M ® Af ® • • • (x) Af) = FJXG.^-MTx (g) JV/ (x) • - • (g) Af).
By Lemma 2.6 this gives (_l)*<-»«**'>firjXF..(s® Af ® ••• ® Af)(d,Af). Let a = (_i)*«»-»«♦'), Then since / j , is homotopic to /.< = /?< , and again since deg XAf = 0, the above becomes «r(Xx ® /.!X/.,.Af ® • • • ® /* _.X/,._,Jf)(rf#Af) =
7
. , U - U
X7.._.)(Af) = «r(Xr.. W • • - VJ Xy.. J ( x )
=
118 SELF-INTERSECTIONS OF IMMERSED MANIFOLDS
155
This completes the proof. L e t K , = Gl'{Tm). Then R. = l(x0 , • • • , i»_,)e(A0"l/(^) = /(*o) all i; and if «,, = Othen x,-, = ar0}. Now partially order the a's by defining a < a' if X << < 2 e< a n ( * e< ^ «« f ° r each i. Let Q„...0 = iJo-o and Q. = Ra — Ua) all i, a;,-, = x0 tt «,, = 0, a;,., #= Xi if «,, = 1} and the Q„ are closed, disjoint and 2 , = &..., . Since the Q. are closed we can take open neighborhoods T« of the Q„ with Ta r\ Ta- = 0 if a * a'. Let 7 be an open neighborhood of I\...i such that Gv..i(7) C ^ . r a . This can be done since G1...l((M)n - \JTa) is compact and disjoint from r,...!. By our construction of Fx.,.i we can assume that Ft...i and (?»..., agree outside of ^ . . . ( V ) . Let QL = Ta(~\ F;\.,(r,...,). Then Qi is a closed submanifold of (M)\ Further, Qf..., is isotopic to Qj..-i = Sm , since F,..., and (?!...! are ^-regular on IV.., , considered as maps of 7Y..j , at least if Fi...t is sufficiently close to G1...1 . Now let R'„ = F ^ C r J . Then (A)
Q'a = fl'. - U a - < a Q'„. .
Further, we have seen that T ^ represents the class ya . Let sgn (a) = + 1 or — 1 according as a has an even or odd number of zeros. Theorem 2.8. 7r,Q^ represents sgn (a) 2 a ' S a sgn (a')ya- and, in particular, TTIS, represents S a sgn (a)ya . This result follows purely algebraically from relation (A) and the proof is left to the reader. Theorem 2.9. Z*H =
\W\
Proof. Consider the diagram H'CT) 4
1^(7,7) « - £
t B*( M ) <
t U
^
'
0
H°(M) (
H. ( 7 )
*
^(M)
119
156
R. E. LASHOF & S. SMALE
where V is the normal bundle of /: M —►X of vectors with length ^ 5, for some S, and V its boundary. Each of these diagrams commutes according to THOM [6]. The proof of 2.7 is an immediate consequence of this picture. 3. An orientability theorem. We assume throughout this section that /: Mh —► Xk*' is a 2-normal immersion without triple points and M is closed. If, for example, / is 3-normal and r > \k then from Section 1 it follows that 2 , is empty and hence we have the above situation. We will identify Ti(22) with 2 2 since T, is an imbedding (Section 1). Then / restricted to 2 2 , say /, is 2 to 1 and hence a double covering. Let 2 2 = /(2 2 ). Then if N is a component of 2 , , f~\N) can have either one or two components. If f~\N) has two com ponents, then / restricted to these components is a trivial double covering. This is a relatively simple case. We will now consider the second case. Theorem 3.1. Let f: Mh —> Xk*T be a 2-normal immersion without triple points, M closed. Let N = / " ' ( # ) be connected where N is a component of 2a . Then (1) ij r is odd N is non-orientable and (2) ij r is even N is orientable. Before we prove this we note a corollary. Corollary 3.2. If k > 2 is even and f: Mk —► E2k-1 is an immersion, then Mk may be imbedded by a map h into E2k arbitrarily close to f: Mk -> E2k~1 C Eik. Proof of corollary. By Theorem 1.5 we may assume / is 2-normal and without triple points. Then 2 2 is a disjoint union of circles. Since a circle is orientable and r = k — 1 is odd, by 3.1, each component of 2 2 is trivially doubly covered by /. Let 2V\ , AT, be the two circles of /~l(iV) where N is a component of 2 2 . Let g be a C" function which is not zero on 2V\ and zero outside a small tubular neighborhood of Nt . Let h: M —> Ek+r** be defined by having the same values as / on the first k + r coordinates but with last coordinate g. Then h has no intersections near 2V\ or N7, and will be close to / if g is chosen with small enough absolute value. Repeating this process gives the desired imbedding of the corol lary. We now prove 3.1. Let t: M X M —► M X M be defined by t{p, q) = (g, p). Then t(22) = 2 2 . We will write 2 for 2 , . Lemma 3.3. If 2*,,,, is the positive orientation of the tangent space 2 ( , „> , then if r is odd t„(2*,,„) = 27„„) and if r is even ^(2*,,,, ) = 2f,,p) where t+ is the differential of t. If 3.3 has been proved, then we show 3.1 as follows. Let : M X M —► X' where = frt ; then <j>t — 4> and restricted to iV is our double covering. If r is oddthen $**#iV*Pi„ = 0N*,,,) = <£*#(,,,) by the above diagram and 3.3. Hence N is orientable. On the other hand, if r is even ^N*,_t) = <£»AT7f.»> &n^ so N is non-orientable. We now prove 3.3. Let t': X X X -► X X X be denned by t'(x, y) = (y, x). Then (/ X f) ° t = f ° (/ X /).
120 SELF-INTERSECTIONS OF IMMERSED MANIFOLDS
157
Suppose r is odd. Case L k is even. Then t' reverses the orientation o f l X l and t preserves the orientation of M X M. Hence t reverses the orientation of 2. (See Section 1 for the definition of the orientation of 2.) Case IL k is odd. if preserves the orientation of X X X while t reverses the orientation of M X M. Hence t reverses the orientation of 2. Suppose now that r is even. Case I. k is even. Then t preserves the orientation of M X M and tf preserves the orientation of X X X, so t preserves the orientation of 2. Case II. k is odd. Then t reverses the orientation of M X M and f reverses the orientation of X X X; so t preserves the orientation of 2. REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
CARTAJT, K , Stmmaire de iopologie algebrique, E.N.S., Paris, 1950-1951. HIBSCH, M., Thesit, University of Chicago, 1958. HIRZBBBUCH, F., Neue topoiogiaehe methoden in der algebraitche geometry, Berlin, 1956. LASHOF, R. & SMALE, S., Immersions of manifolds in Euclidean space, Ann. of Math., to appear. STEENBOD, N., Homology groups of symmetric groups and reduced power operations, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sri. USA., 39 (1953), 213-223. THOM, R., Espaces fibres en spheres et carrfs de Steenrod, Ann. 3d. Eeol. Norm. Sup., 69 (1952), 109-182. THOK, R., Quelques proprietes globalee des varietea differentiable, Comm. Math. Helv., 28 (1954), 17-86. THOU, R., Leg singularites des applications differentiable, Ann. Inst. Fourier, 6 (1956), 43-87. WHITNKT, H., Differentiable manifolds, Ann. of Math., 37 (1936), 645-680. WHrrNZT, H., On the topology of differentiable manifolds, Lecture* in topology (Ed. WILDER
[11] WHTTNIT, H., The self-intersections of a smooth n-manifold in 2n-space, Ann. of Math., 45 (1944), 220-240. [12] Wo-, W I N TSUN, SW lea caraderitliquta dea atruclureafibreiaapheriquea, Act. Sci. & Ind., No. 1183, Paris. 1952. University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois
121
A CLASSIFICATION OF IMMERSIONS OF THE TWO-SPHERE BY
STEPHEN SMALE
An immersion of one C1 differentiable manifold in another is a regular map (a Cl map whose Jacobian is of maximum rank) of the first into the second. A homotopy of an immersion is called regular if at each stage it is regular and if the induced homotopy of the tangent bundle is continuous. Little is known about the general problem of classification of immersions under regular homotopy. -Whitney [5] has shown that two immersions of a ft-dimensional manifold in an n-dimensional manifold, n^2k+2, are regu larly homotopic if and only if they are homotopic. The Whitney-Graustein Theorem [4] classifies immersions of the circle S 1 in the plane E1. In my thesis [3] this theorem is extended to the case where £* is replaced by any C* manifold Mn, n > l . As far as I know, these are the only known results. In this paper we give a classification of immersions of the 2-sphere S1 in Euclidean n-space £", n > 2 , with respect to regular homotopy. Let 7»,» be the Stiefel manifold of all 2-frames in £ \ If / and g are two immersions of 5* in En, an invariant Q(/, g)£ir»(V».») is denned. THEOREM A. / / / and g are C* immersions of S* in E", they are regularly homotopic if and only if B(/, g) = 0 . Furthermore let Q»ETi(Vn,t) and let a C* immersion f: S1—*E" be given. Then there exists an immersion g: 5*-+£" such that Q(f, g) =»flo- Thus there is a 1-1 correspondence between elements of*\( V»,t) and regular homotopy classes of immersions of S* in En.
Since T»( Vi.t) = 0 , Theorem A implies: THEOREM
B. Any two C1 immersions of S* in E* are regularly homotopic.
That this should be so, is not obvious. For example, it is not trivial to see that a reflection of the unit sphere in £ ' is regularly homotopic to the identity on the unit sphere. Since T»( V^t) = Z, there are an infinite number of regular homotopy classes of S* in E*. In fact we are able to obtain using results of [l ], THEOREM C. Given yQH*(S*), y even, then there is an immersion of S* in £* such that the characteristic class of the normal bundle is y. Furthermore, any two such C* immersions are regularly homotopic. There is no immersion of S* in E* with odd normal class.
In [2] it is proved for say 5* in E* that the normal class of the immersion Presented to the Society, February 23, 1957; received by the editors April 29,1957. 281
122
282
STEPHEN SMALE
[February
is twice the algebraic intersection number of Whitney. Hence two C1 im mersions of 5* in B* (for which the algebraic intersection number is denned) are regularly homotopic if and only if they have the same algebraic inter section number. This answers a special case of a question of Whitney [6, p. 220]. Finally one can immediately obtain from Theorem A that two immersions of S* in EK, n>4, are always regularly homotopic. M. Hirsch, using the theory of this paper, has obtained a regular homo topy classification for closed 2-manifolds in E", n>2. A slight extension of the methods in this paper yields a generalization of Theorem A to the case where £ • is replaced by any C* manifold M*, » > 2 . We state the results as follows. If M is a Cl manifold, Fj(Jlf) denotes the bundle of 2-frames of Af. Let N be a C* manifold of dimension greater than two, let xoEFiOS1) and let y»£.Ft(N). An immersion/: S*-*N is said to be based at y9 if /»(x0) =yo where /*: Fi(S*)—>Ft(N) is induced by /. A regular homotopy is based at yt if every stage of it is. If / and g are two immersions of S* in N based at y«, then an invariant Q(/, g)Gvt(Ft(N), y») is defined. THEOREM D. / / / and g are as above, then they are regularly homotopic, with the homotopy based at yt, if and only if fl(/, g) = 0. Furthermore, let Oo E.*t(Fi(N), y9) and let a C1 immersion /: S*—*N based at yo be given. Then there exists an immersion g: S*-*N based at yt such that fl(/, g) =Ii0. Thus there is a 1-1 correspondence between elements of Tt(Ft(N), yi) and regular homotopy classes of C* immersions of 5* in N based at yo.
The methods used in this paper are extensions of methods of [3]. It is to be hoped that these methods can be used to solve further questions on regular homotopy classes of immersions. §1 is on fiber spaces in the sense of Serre. In §2 a triple (£, p, B) of func tion spaces is defined and shown to have the covering homotopy property (Theorem 2.1). To generalize 2.1 would be a big step in obtaining regular homotopy classification of higher dimensional spheres. In §3 Theorem 2.1 is applied to compute the homotopy groups of the fiber F, of (E, ir, B) (or at least to reduce the computation to a topological problem). Finding the 0th homotopy group of Tc is roughly the solution of the local problem in the theory of 2-dimensional regular homotopy. In §4, using the knowledge of To(I\), the main theorems stated in the Introduction (except Theorem D) are proved. 1. A triple (E, p, B) consists of topological spaces E and B with a map p from E into B (note P is not necessarily onto). A triple has the CHP if it has the covering homotopy property in the sense of Serre. In that case we call (£, p, B) or sometimes just E a fiber space. The following was proved in
[3].
123 1959]
A CLASSIFICATION OF IMMERSIONS OF THE TWO-SPHERE
283
THEOREM 1.1. Suppose the triple (£, p, B) has the CHP locally; that is, for each point x£B, there exists a neighborhood V of x such that (£ - 1 ( V), p, V) has the CHP. Then (£, p, B) has the CHP.
A homomorphism {h, h') from a fiber space (£, p, B) into a fiber space (£', p', B') is a pair of maps h: E—*E' and W: B-+B' such that the following diagram commutes. h £-►£'
B-+B' If B and B' are the same space and h' the identity we will speak of A as a homomorphism. A map / : X—* Y is a weak homotopy equivalence if (1) its restriction to each arcwise connected component of X induces an isomorphism of homotopy groups and (2) it induces a 1-1 correspondence between the arcwise connected components of X and Y. LEMMA 1.2. If (£, p, B) is a fiber space then p(E) consists of a set of arcwise connected components of B.
This follows immediately from the CHP. LEMMA 1.3. Let (h, h') be a homomorphism from a fiber space (£, p, B) to a fiber space (£', p', B') such that h and W are both weak homotopy equivalences. Let XoG-B, yo=h'(x0), F^p-X{xt) and F=p'-l(y
This lemma is an immediate consequence of 1.2, the exact homotopy se quence of a fiber space and the 5-lemma. 2. Let D be the disk in the plane £ ' , D={(x, y)\xi+y1^l] and t) = x , 1 {( > y) I x +y = 1}. However, unless specifying otherwise, we will refer to the points of D with polar coordinates (r, 6) and use 6 as the coordinate for t). The points of Euclidean n-space £* will be considered to be vectors from some fixed origin. A space £ is defined as the set of all regular maps of D into £" (we always assume n>2) which satisfy the following condition. If / £ £ then the first derivatives of / on the boundary of D, D are C1 functions of the boundary variable 0. The topology defined by the following metric is imposed on £ . d(J, g) = max {d'(J{p), g(p)), d'(Mp), g,(p)), d'<Jy{p), gy(p))
\peD}.
Here d' is the ordinary metric on £" and f,(p),fv{p), etc., denote the obvious partial derivatives. In general we will call such a topology on a function space, the C1 uniform topology.
124
284
STEPHEN SMALE
[February
Let 7„,» be the Stiefel manifold of 2-frames (not necessarily orthonormal, but ordered, and independent pairs) in £". Let V= Vn,tXE" be all 2-frames at all points of E". Let q be the projection of a frame onto its base point, q: V—»£", and gi, g», the projections of a frame into its first and second vector respectively. Let B' be the space of maps of Z) into V with the compact open topology. Let B be the subspace of B' satisfying the condition: If /£2J, then (1) a / W - / M i s regular, (2)/'(*)=ftf(0),and (3) / is C\ A map x: E—*B is defined as follows. If / £ £ , (1) *»(/)<*) =/(!.«). (2) »»(/)(»)-/,(1,«), (3)flWr(fW)-/t(l,«). The subscripts r and 0 as here always denote the respective partial de rivatives. From the definitions of the spaces, E and B, it follows that r is well defined and continuous. The purpose of this section is to prove the fol lowing theorem. THEOREM 2.1. The triple (£, T, B) has the CHP. Let g£J3 be given. We choose a neighborhood U of g in B as follows: Let A be the minimum angle in radians between qig(0) and q*g{8) as & ranges over Z). Let Z. be the minimum of the magnitudes of qig(6) and q*g(P) as $ ranges over t>. Choose U such that for A£ U, (1) the angle between g,A(0) and gtf(0) is < J 4 / 1 0 0 , and (2) \qih(0)-q. By the topology of B, U can be chosen as above. By 1.1. it is sufficient for the proof of 2.1 to show that (r-^CO. *". U) has the CHP. Let A.: P-»Z7 be a given homotopy, P a polyhedron, and A: P—►£ a covering of Ao. We will construct a covering homotopy h~w: P—*E. We may assume that P is a cube (see, e.g. [3]). A linear transformation of £", Q*(P)(0) is defined as follows. First, let V,(J>)(6) be the plane defined by qiht(p)le) and 2i*,(p)(0) (if it exists) and a,{p){8) the angle from the first to the second of these vectors. Then Qt(P)(0) is to be the rotation of £* which takes V,(p)(B) through the angle a,(j>)(6) and leaves the orthogonal complement fixed (if V,(p)(d) does not exist then Q!(p)(6) is the identity e). Finally Q,(p)(6) is Q?(p)(6) multiplied by the scalar |»*.(*)(*)|/|**o(*)(*)|. Note that [**•(*)W]G.O)W=ji*.(*)W where (?,(/>) W is to be considered as acting on the right. Also Q*(P)(0) is C1 with respect to 0 and continuous with respect to v and p. LEMMA 2.2. Let n>k>l,G».hbethe Grossman manifold of oriented k-planes in £" and 5"_1 the unit vectors of £". Let a map w: Q—*G».t, be given which is
125 1959]
A CLASSIFICATION OF IMMERSIONS OF THE TWO-SPHERE
285
homotopic to a constant where Q is some polyhedron. Then there is a map u: Q-*Sn~1 suck that for all qG.Q, u(q) is perpendicular to the plane w(g). The proof may be adapted from the proof of 4.1 of [3] substituting y»,t+i for V»,i in the proof. Let u: PXIX Z^S"- 1 be given by 2.2, taking for u»: PX JXZ?-*G»,i the map which sends (p, v, 9) into the plane of £* spanned by qihr{p)(6) and qiht(P)(fi). Because ht(p) is covered by Jt, one can prove that w is homotopic to a constant map. Now choose 5>0 so that if |t»—v'\ £5 then | qk.(p) - qh..(p) | <
AL
iooor
where T = max {u,(p, v, 0)\pGP, vGI, 0G7>}. Choose f0, 0 ^ r 0 < l , such that for p£P, 0£Z) and r£r9,
(i) (2)
I kr(pKr,e) - k\(p)(i,6) | < (A/ioo)| k\(p)(i, e) |, | Ht){r, 9) - ht(p)(l, 6) i < (A/100) 1 J,(f)(1, 9) 1 , and
\jmi±jmrt\ 1 — To
(4)
\h(p)(r,6) -h(p)(l,0)\
< ^
where iV-max {| Q*(P)(e)I I P€p> v^-r> 9^t>\. That r0 can be chosen satis fying (3) follows from the definition of the derivative h\(p)(l, 0). Let ri=-r0+(l—r0)/200 and choose a C* real function on J = [0, l ] , a(r), satisfying a(r)=0 for r^n, a(l) = l, a'(l)=0, |a(r)| £ 1 , and such that \c/(r)\ < 102/100(1 -f„). Let 0(f) be a real O function on I with /3(f) =0 for r^ro, /3(1)=0'(1)=O, |/3(f)| £200 and /3'(f)>100a'(f) for r^r^l. The proofs that functions a(r) and 0(f) exist as above are not difficult and will be omitted. Let JfW = max f 1 «*.(#)(*> - qhtipM I 1 ? € P, 9 G />}. Let where e is the identity transformation. The covering homotopy h\: P—*E is defined as follows for r^5.
h\(p)(r, e) - [*(#)(r, o) - Hp)(i, 8)]Q.(p), t, 0) + *(*)(!, *)• The following derivatives are easily computed.
126
286
STEPHEN SMALE
PT = UpKr,6)
= k{p){r,6)^{p){r,S)
[February
+ [*(*)(',«) ~ * ( » ( ! , * ) ] & r ( » ( M )
+ o ' W l l W W - qh*(P)(0)] + p'(r)M{v)u{p, v, 6), P, - K.,(p){r, 0) = [h,(p)(r, 6) - h,(p)(l, 0)]Q,(p)(r, 0) + [K(p){r,e) - KP)(l,0)]&>(p)(r,6)
+ cc(r)[qth,(p)(e) -
qtht(p)(e))
+ p(r)M(v)u,(p, v, 6) + H,(p)(l, $), Q-(p)(r,e)
- a'(r)[Q.(p)(8) - e],
Q.>(p)(r,8) =
a(r)Q„(p)(0).
Then it can be checked that R,(p) has the following properties. (1) h.(p) is CK (2) h\(p) has derivatives with respect to 0 and r, Cl with respect to 9 on t>. (3) k*{p){r,6)=h{p)(r,6). (4) *.(/>)(l, 0) =qh.(p)(0)(5) M/>)(l,0)=2iA.(/O(0). We will show (6) hw(j>) is regular. To show (6) it is sufficient to show that the derivatives PT and P# are independent. From the various choices made it can be checked that P , is "close" to Kr(p)(h 0)+F(.r)M(v)u(J>, v, 6) while P, is "close" to t»(p)(l, 6). From this statement it follows that P , and P» are independent. From (1), (2) and (6) it follows that h\(p) is really in B, from (3) that k, is a homotopy of It and from (4) and (5) that h~, covers A,. For 5±sp^28 define £, as before using h instead of h. Iteration yields a covering homotopy A", for all v £ J . This proves 2.1. 3. Let r 0 £ V, and let 5 0 be the subspace of B with the further condition that for/£2Jo,/(0) = Xo (see the previous section for notation). Let Ea=r_1(2?o) and let the restriction of T to EQ still be denoted by IT. Then from 2.1 we have the theorem. THEOREM
3.1. The triple (E0,
T,
B 0 ) has the CHP.
Let E' be the space of all maps of pairs (D, po) into (V, x0) with the com pact open topology where pt is the point of D, (r, 6) = (1, 0). Let Bi be the subspace of B' (B' as in §2) with the condition if/£2?o' then / ( 0 ) = r o . A map T ' : E'->Bi is defined by restriction to D, i.e., if / £ £ ' , (TT/)(0) = / ( l , 0). LEMMA 3.2. Tfo