The homotopy type of the cobordism category
Algebraic Topology
2010-09-23 v3
Abstract
The embedded cobordism category under study in this paper generalizes the category of conformal surfaces, introduced by G. Segal in order to formalize the concept of field theories. Our main result identifies the homotopy type of the classifying space of the embedded d-dimensional cobordism category for all d. For d=2, our results lead to a new proof of the generalized Mumford conjecture, somewhat different in spirit from the original one.
Cite
@article{arxiv.math/0605249,
title = {The homotopy type of the cobordism category},
author = {Soren Galatius and Ib Madsen and Ulrike Tillmann and Michael Weiss},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0605249},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
40 pages. v2 has improved notation, added explanations, and minor mistakes fixed. v3 has minor corrections and improvements. Final submitted version