João Faria Martins — Page 2

arXiv2006

On 2-Dimensional Homotopy Invariants of Complements of Knotted Surfaces

We prove that if $M$ is a CW-complex and $*$ is a 0-cell of $M$, then the crossed module $Π_2(M,M^1,*)$ does not depend on the cellular decomposition of $M$ up to free products with $Π_2(D^2,S^1,*)$, where $M^1$ is the 1-skeleton of $M$. From this it follows that if $G$ is a finite crossed module and $M$ is finite, then the number of crossed module morphisms $Π_2(M,M^1,*) \to G$ (which is finite) can be re-scaled to a homotopy invariant $I_G(M)$ (i. e. not dependent on the cellular decomposition of $M$). We describe an algorithm to calculate $π_2(M,M^{(1)},*)$ as a crossed module over $π_1(M^{(1)},*)$, in the case when $M$ is the complement of a knotted surface in $S^4$ and $M^{(1)}$ is the 1-handlebody of a handle decomposition of $M$, which, in particular, gives a method to calculate the algebraic 2-type of $M$. In addition, we prove that the invariant $I_G$ yields a non-trivial invariant of knotted surfaces.

math.GT↗

arXiv2006

On the Homotopy Type and the Fundamental Crossed Complex of the Skeletal Filtration of a CW-Complex

We prove that if $M$ is a CW-complex, then the homotopy type of the skeletal filtration of $M$ does not depend on the cell decomposition of $M$ up to wedge products with $n$-disks $D^n$, when the later are given their natural CW-decomposition with unique cells of order 0, $(n-1)$ and $n$; a result resembling J.H.C. Whitehead's work on simple homotopy types. From the Colimit Theorem for the Fundamental Crossed Complex of a CW-complex (due to R. Brown and P.J. Higgins), follows an algebraic analogue for the fundamental crossed complex $Π(M)$ of the skeletal filtration of $M$, which thus depends only on the homotopy type of $M$ (as a space) up to free product with crossed complexes of the type $Π(D^n), n \in N$. This expands an old result (due to J.H.C. Whitehead) asserting that the homotopy type of $Π(M)$ depends only on the homotopy type of $M$. We use these results to define a homotopy invariant $I_A$ of CW-complexes for any finite crossed complex $A$. We interpret it in terms of the weak homotopy type of the function space $TOP((M,*),(|A|,*))$, where $|A|$ is the classifying space of the crossed complex $A$.

math.GT↗