Topics in differential topology (Q2483742)

This book is a systematic and comprehensive account of the theory of differential manifolds. The author also presents some further discoveries in the field of manifolds -- mainly the works of S. Smale for which he has awarded the Fields Medal. The topics covered include: (1) Thom transversality (2) Morse theory (3) Theory of handle presentation (4) h-cobordism theorem and the generalized Poincaré conjecture (5) Gromov's theory of homotopy principle of certain partial differential relations. The last item (Chapter 11 of the book -- Homotopy classification of regular sections) contains material which has not yet appeared in systematic form in any text book, and begins with the work of Smale and Hirsch on immersions and ends with the powerful general framework of Gromov. The author presents Gromov's theory for non-closed manifolds due to Haefliger and Poénaru and gives a proof developed from the early results of Smale and Hirsch through the works of Thom, Hirsch and Palais, Philips, Feit etc. This approach uses the theory of handle presentation. The chapter concludes with an extension of Gromov's theory for closed manifolds and applications. The first ten chapters of this book are preparatory to this final chapter. The book may be divided into three parts: Chapters 1 to 4 are on basics of differential manifolds, problems of approximations leading to Whitney's embedding theorem, tangent spaces, vector fields and flows, exterior algebra, Riemannian manifolds, geodesics, exponential map -- with the Hopf-Rinow theorem. The second part consists of Chapters 5 to 8 -- advanced topics of Topology, Differential or Algebraic Topology and Global Analysis -- Thom's transversality theorem, Whitney's immersion and embedding theorems. Finally, the third part -- the remainder of the book -- is for researchers in the field of Differential Topology. The book offers the necessary background to train the students in the use of some fundamental tools of differential topology and also is an orientation course for advanced-level research students and for independent study.