Homeomorphism group
In
Properties and examples
There is a natural
This is a group action since for all ,
where denotes the group action, and the identity element of (which is the identity function on ) sends points to themselves. If this action is
Topology
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As with other sets of maps between topological spaces, the homeomorphism group can be given a topology, such as the compact-open topology. In the case of regular, locally compact spaces the group multiplication is then continuous.
If the space is compact and Hausdorff, the inversion is continuous as well and becomes a topological group. If is Hausdorff, locally compact and locally connected this holds as well.[1] However there are locally compact separable metric spaces for which the inversion map is not continuous and therefore not a topological group.[1]
Mapping class group
In geometric topology especially, one considers the quotient group obtained by quotienting out by isotopy, called the mapping class group:
The MCG can also be interpreted as the 0th homotopy group, . This yields the
In some applications, particularly surfaces, the homeomorphism group is studied via this short exact sequence, and by first studying the mapping class group and group of isotopically trivial homeomorphisms, and then (at times) the extension.
See also
References
- ^ MR 2186833
- "homeomorphism group", Encyclopedia of Mathematics, EMS Press, 2001 [1994]