Related papers: The van Kampen obstruction and its relatives

The vanishing of Van Kampen's obstruction is known to be necessary and sufficient for embeddability of a simplicial n-complex into $R^{2n}$ for $n\neq 2$, and it was recently shown to be incomplete for $n=2$. We use algebraic-topological…

We improve the bound on K\"uhnel's problem to determine the smallest $n$ such that the $k$-skeleton of an $n$-simplex $\Delta_n^{(k)}$ does not embed into a compact PL $2k$-manifold $M$ by showing that if $\Delta_n^{(k)}$ embeds into $M$,…

We present a short proof of S. Parsa's theorem that there exists a compact $n$-polyhedron $P$, $n\ge 2$, non-embeddable in $\mathbb R^{2n}$, such that $P*P$ embeds in $\mathbb R^{4n+2}$. This proof can serve as a showcase for the use of…

The fact that the complete graph $K_5$ does not embed in the plane has been generalized in two independent directions. On the one hand, the solution of the classical Heawood problem for graphs on surfaces established that the complete graph…

We relate the embeddability of the simplicial complex $[3]*K$ into $\mathbb{R}^{n+2}$ to that of $K$ into $\mathbb{R}^n$. In brief, the embeddability of $K$ into $\mathbb{R}^n$, in the metastable range $2n\geq 3(d+1)$, is equivalent to the…

We show that an n-dimensional compactum X embeds in R^m, where m>3(n+1)/2, if and only if X x X - \Delta admits an equivariant map to S^{m-1}. In particular, X embeds in R^{2n}, n>3, iff the top power of the (twisted) Euler class of the…

In this survey-research paper, we first introduce the theory of Smith classes of complexes with fixed-point free, periodic maps on them. These classes, when defined for the deleted product of a simplicial complex $K$, are the same as the…

Let $K$ be a nontrivial knot. For each $n\in \mathbb{N}$, we prove that the rank of its $n$th iterated Whitehead doubled knot group $\pi_1(S^3 \setminus \operatorname{WD}^n(K))$ is bounded below by $n+1$. As an application, we show that…

We introduce the notion of a flat extension of a connection $\theta$ on a principal bundle. Roughly speaking, $\theta$ admits a flat extension if it arises as the pull-back of a component of a Maurer-Cartan form. For trivial bundles over…

The intent of this article is to study some special $n$-dimensional continua lying in products of $n$ curves. (The paper is an improved version of a portion of \cite{K-K-S}.) We show that if $X$ is a locally connected, so-called, quasi…

The van Kampen-Flores theorem states that the $n$-skeleton of a $(2n+2)$-simplex does not embed into $\mathbb{R}^{2n}$. We give two proofs for its generalization to a continuous map from a skeleton of a certain regular CW complex (e.g. a…

We find further evidence for the conjecture relating large N Chern-Simons theory on S^3 with topological string on the resolved conifold geometry by showing that the Wilson loop observable of a simple knot on S^3 (for any representation)…

Finite-order invariants of knots in arbitrary 3-manifolds (including non-orientable ones) are constructed and studied by methods of the topology of discriminant sets. Obstructions to the integrability of admissible weight systems to…

Following Ghomi and Tabachnikov we study topological obstructions to totally skew embeddings of a smooth manifold M in Euclidean spaces. This problem is naturally related to the question of estimating the geometric dimension of the stable…

We generalize the notion of graph minors to all (finite) simplicial complexes. For every two simplicial complexes H and K and every nonnegative integer m, we prove that if H is a minor of K then the non vanishing of Van Kampen's obstruction…

We show that a realization of a closed connected PL-manifold of dimension n-1 in Euclidean n-space (n>2) is the boundary of a convex polyhedron if and only if the interior of each (n-3)-face has a point, which has a neighborhood lying on…

Let $X$ be a submanifold of dimension $d\geq 2$ of the complex projective space $\mathbb P^n$. We prove results of the following type. i) If $X$ is irregular and $n=2d$ then the normal bundle $N_{X|\mathbb P^n}$ is indecomposable. ii) If…

Given a finite CW complex $K$, we use a version of the Goodwillie-Weiss tower to formulate an obstruction theory for embedding $K$ into a Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^d$. For $2$-dimensional complexes in $\mathbb{R}^4$, a geometric analogue…

One proves that there exists an obstruction to an open simply connected $n$-manifold of dimension $n\geq 5$ being geometrically simply connected. In particular there exist uncountably many simply connected $n$-manifolds which are not…

We observe that many of the 2-complexes constructed by Freedman-Krushkal-Teichner in their paper on the incompleteness of the van Kampen embedding obstruction can actually be PL immersed in $\mathbb{R}^4$ in such a way that the images of…