Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination Topics
Topology
2007
General Topology
Topological spaces and continuous functions
- Basis, subbasis, subspace topology, product topology,
metric topology, continuous functions and homeomorphisms, closed sets,
closure and limit points, quotient spaces.
Connectedness and compactness
- Connected and disconnected spaces, path connectedness,
compact spaces, continuous functions on connected and compact spaces,
limit point compactness, sequential compactness, Lebesgue Lemma,
uniform continuity, one-point compactification.
Algebraic Topology
The fundamental group
- Homotopy of paths (retracts and deformation retracts,
homotopy equivalences), the fundamental group
,
covering
spaces and subgroups of
, Van
Kampen's Theorem.
Homology
- Simplicial and singular homology, exact sequences, long
exact sequence of a pair, (X,A), excision theorem, orientation on
manifolds.
Cohomology
- Duality, criteria for (Hk )
* = H k
Applications
- Degree of a map, Euler characteristic, Stoke's Theorem,
Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem, classification of closed surfaces,
orientation of manifolds, Lefschetz Theorem.
References:
- Topology, S. Davis, McGraw-Hill.
- Topology: The First Course, J. Munkres, Prentice
Hall.
- Algebraic Topology: A First Course, M.J. Greenberg, J.R. Harper (Math Lecture Notes)
- Algebraic Topology, A. Hatcher www.math.cornell.edu/~hatcher
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