No label defined (Q3983199)

This article gives an introduction to M. Gromov's work comparing topological and geometric notions of volume. The simplicial volume of a compact, orientable manifold \(V\) (\(\| V\|\)) is defined to be the norm of its fundamental class, where \(| \sum_ i r_ i\sigma_ i|=\sum_ i| r_ i|\) in singular homology. One can then prove theorems of the following kind: I (Thurston): For each Riemannian manifold \(V^ n\), compact or complete with finite volume, and such that the sectional curvature satisfies \(- k\leq K\leq -1\), \(\text{vol}(V)\leq(\text{const}_ n)\| V\|\). II (Milnor-Sullivan-Smillie): Let \(Z\) be a flat vector bundle of rank \(n\) over \(V^ n\), then \(2^ n| e(Z)|\leq\| V\|\), where \(e(Z)=\) Euler number of \(Z\). The device used to pass from topology to geometry in (I) is the ``geometric simplex'', whose volume can be majorized in each dimension (Appendix) and used to define (\(\text{const}_ n\)).