Convex integration theory. Solutions to the \(h\)-principle in geometry and topology (Q611049)

Let \(p:X\to V\) be a smooth bundle and \(X^{(r)}\) the associated space of \(r\)-jets. For some subset \(\mathcal R\) in the space \(X^{(r)}\), a continuous mapping \(\rho:\mathcal R\to X^{(r)}\) satisfies the \(h\)-principle if each section of \(\rho\) is homotopic through sections to a holonomic section \(\alpha\), i.e., one for which there is a \(C^r\)-section \(f\) of \(p\) such that \(\rho\alpha\) is the \(r\)-jet of \(f\). The bulk of the book is devoted to an exposition of the basic results in convex integration theory along with their proofs, including several passes at the \(h\)-principle in various contexts, beginning with the 1-jet case which provides the reader with a good introduction to the theory as well as an important application. The last two chapters give applications to the theory of PDEs and the connection between convex integration theory and Filippov's relaxation theorem of optimal control theory. Other applications are in symplectic topology or deal with divergence free vector fields in 3-manifolds, isometric immersions, totally real embeddings, and classical immersion-theoretic topics such as immersions, submersions and \(k\)-mersions. The book is a reprint of the 1998 original (see Zbl 0997.57500).