3. Topological K-Theory Shortly After Grothendieck Introduced K0(X)
3. Topological K-theory Shortly after Grothendieck introduced K0(X) for an algebraic variety X, M. Atiyah and F. Hirzebrch introduced the analogous theory for topological spaces ∗ [2] based on topological vector bundles. We consider this theory Ktop(−) for two reasons: first, the theory developed by Atiyah and Hirzebruch has been a model for 40 years of effort in algebraic K-theory, effort that has recently produced significant advances; second, topological K-theory of the underlying analytic space of a com- plex variety X, Xan, provides a much more computable theory to which algebraic K-theory maps. A (complex) topological vector bundle of rank r, p : E → T , on a space T is a continuous map with fibers each given the structure of a complex vector space of dimension r such that there is an open covering {Ui ⊂ T } with the property that r ∼ there exist homeomorphisms φi : C ×Ui → E|Ui over Ui which are C-linear on each fiber. One readily verifies that such a topological vector bundle p : E → T , on T of rank r determines and is determined by patching data: a collection of continuous, fiber-wise linear homemorphisms for each i, j −1 r r φj ◦ φi = θi,j : C × (Ui ∩ Uj) ' (E|Ui )Uj = (E|Uj )Ui ' C × (Ui ∩ Uj). This in turn is equivalent to a 1-cocycle 1 {θi,j ∈ Mapscont(Ui,j, GL(r, C))} ∈ Z (T, GL(r, C)). Indeed, two such 1-cocycles determine isomorphic topological vector bundles if and only if they differ by a co-boundary. Thus, the topological vector bundles on T of rank r are “classified” by H1(T, GL(r, C)).
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