K-Monographs in Mathematics – serie

The Hauptvermutung is the conjecture that any two triangulations of a poly­ hedron are combinatorially equivalent. The conjecture was formulated at the turn of the century, and until its resolution was a central problem of topology. Initially, it was verified for low-dimensional polyhedra, and it might have been expected that furt her development of high-dimensional topology would lead to a verification in all dimensions. However, in 1961 Milnor constructed high-dimensional polyhedra with combinatorially inequivalent triangulations, disproving the Hauptvermutung in general. These polyhedra were not manifolds, leaving open the Hauptvermu­ tung for manifolds. The development of surgery theory led to the disproof of the high-dimensional manifold Hauptvermutung in the late 1960's. Unfortunately, the published record of the manifold Hauptvermutung has been incomplete, as was forcefully pointed out by Novikov in his lecture at the Browder 60th birthday conference held at Princeton in March 1994. This volume brings together the original 1967 papers of Casson and Sulli­ van, and the 1968/1972 'Princeton notes on the Hauptvermutung' of Armstrong, Rourke and Cooke, making this work physically accessible. These papers include several other results which have become part of the folklore but of which proofs have never been published. My own contribution is intended to serve as an intro­ duction to the Hauptvermutung, and also to give an account of some more recent developments in the area. In preparing the original papers for publication, only minimal changes of punctuation etc.

In Commutative Algebra certain /-adic filtrations of Noetherian rings, i.e. the so-called Zariski rings, are at the basis of singularity theory. Apart from that it is mainly in the context of Homological Algebra that filtered rings and the associated graded rings are being studied not in the least because of the importance of double complexes and their spectral sequences. Where non-commutative algebra is concerned, applications of the theory of filtrations were mainly restricted to the study of enveloping algebras of Lie algebras and, more extensively even, to the study of rings of differential operators. It is clear that the operation of completion at a filtration has an algebraic genotype but a topological fenotype and it is exactly the symbiosis of Algebra and Topology that works so well in the commutative case, e.g. ideles and adeles in number theory or the theory of local fields, Puisseux series etc, .... . In Non­ commutative algebra the bridge between Algebra and Analysis is much more narrow and it seems that many analytic techniques of the non-commutative kind are still to be developed. Nevertheless there is the magnificent example of the analytic theory of rings of differential operators and 1J-modules a la Kashiwara-Shapira.

Much progress has been made during the last decade on the subjects of non­ commutative valuation rings, and of semi-hereditary and Priifer orders in a simple Artinian ring which are considered, in a sense, as global theories of non-commu­ tative valuation rings. So it is worth to present a survey of the subjects in a self-contained way, which is the purpose of this book. Historically non-commutative valuation rings of division rings were first treat­ ed systematically in Schilling's Book [Sc], which are nowadays called invariant valuation rings, though invariant valuation rings can be traced back to Hasse's work in [Has]. Since then, various attempts have been made to study the ideal theory of orders in finite dimensional algebras over fields and to describe the Brauer groups of fields by usage of "valuations", "places", "preplaces", "value functions" and "pseudoplaces". In 1984, N. 1. Dubrovin defined non-commutative valuation rings of simple Artinian rings with notion of places in the category of simple Artinian rings and obtained significant results on non-commutative valuation rings (named Dubrovin valuation rings after him) which signify that these rings may be the correct def­ inition of valuation rings of simple Artinian rings. Dubrovin valuation rings of central simple algebras over fields are, however, not necessarily to be integral over their centers.

Just suppose, for a moment, that all rings of integers in algebraic number fields were unique factorization domains, then it would be fairly easy to produce a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, fitting, say, in the margin of this page. Unfortunately however, rings of integers are not that nice in general, so that, for centuries, math­ ematicians had to search for alternative proofs, a quest which culminated finally in Wiles' marvelous results - but this is history. The fact remains that modern algebraic number theory really started off with in­ vestigating the problem which rings of integers actually are unique factorization domains. The best approach to this question is, of course, through the general the­ ory of Dedekind rings, using the full power of their class group, whose vanishing is, by its very definition, equivalent to the unique factorization property. Using the fact that a Dedekind ring is essentially just a one-dimensional global version of discrete valuation rings, one easily verifies that the class group of a Dedekind ring coincides with its Picard group, thus making it into a nice, functorial invariant, which may be studied and calculated through algebraic, geometric and co homological methods. In view of the success of the use of the class group within the framework of Dedekind rings, one may wonder whether it may be applied in other contexts as well. However, for more general rings, even the definition of the class group itself causes problems.

Compactness in topology and finite generation in algebra are nice properties to start with. However, the study of compact spaces leads naturally to non-compact spaces and infinitely generated chain complexes; a classical example is the theory of covering spaces. In handling non-compact spaces we must take into account the infinity behaviour of such spaces. This necessitates modifying the usual topological and algebraic cate­ gories to obtain "proper" categories in which objects are equipped with a "topologized infinity" and in which morphisms are compatible with the topology at infinity. The origins of proper (topological) category theory go back to 1923, when Kere­ kjart6 [VT] established the classification of non-compact surfaces by adding to orien­ tability and genus a new invariant, consisting of a set of "ideal points" at infinity. Later, Freudenthal [ETR] gave a rigorous treatment of the topology of "ideal points" by introducing the space of "ends" of a non-compact space. In spite of its early ap­ pearance, proper category theory was not recognized as a distinct area of topology until the late 1960's with the work of Siebenmann [OFB], [IS], [DES] on non-compact manifolds.

This volume is devoted to the Brauer group of a commutative ring and related invariants. Part I presents a new self-contained exposition of the Brauer group of a commutative ring. Included is a systematic development of the theory of Grothendieck topologies and étale cohomology, and discussion of topics such as Gabber's theorem and the theory of Taylor's big Brauer group of algebras without a unit. Part II presents a systematic development of the Galois theory of Hopf algebras with special emphasis on the group of Galois objects of a cocommutative Hopf algebra. The development of the theory is carried out in such a way that the connection to the theory of the Brauer group in Part I is made clear. Recent developments are considered and examples are included. The Brauer-Long group of a Hopf algebra over a commutative ring is discussed in Part III. This provides a link between the first two parts of the volume and is the first time this topic has been discussed in a monograph. Audience: Researchers whose work involves group theory. The first two parts, in particular, can be recommended for supplementary, graduate course use.

This book provides an overview of some of the most active topics in the theory of transformation groups over the past decades and stresses advances obtained in the last dozen years. The emphasis is on actions of Lie groups on manifolds and CW complexes. Manifolds and actions of Lie groups on them are studied in the linear, semialgebraic, definable, analytic, smooth, and topological categories. Equivalent vector bundles play an important role. The work is divided into fifteen articles and will be of interest to anyone researching or studying transformations groups. The references make it easy to find details and original accounts of the topics surveyed, including tools and theories used in these accounts.

The Hauptvermutung is the conjecture that any two triangulations of a poly­ hedron are combinatorially equivalent. The conjecture was formulated at the turn of the century, and until its resolution was a central problem of topology. Initially, it was verified for low-dimensional polyhedra, and it might have been expected that furt her development of high-dimensional topology would lead to a verification in all dimensions. However, in 1961 Milnor constructed high-dimensional polyhedra with combinatorially inequivalent triangulations, disproving the Hauptvermutung in general. These polyhedra were not manifolds, leaving open the Hauptvermu­ tung for manifolds. The development of surgery theory led to the disproof of the high-dimensional manifold Hauptvermutung in the late 1960's. Unfortunately, the published record of the manifold Hauptvermutung has been incomplete, as was forcefully pointed out by Novikov in his lecture at the Browder 60th birthday conference held at Princeton in March 1994. This volume brings together the original 1967 papers of Casson and Sulli­ van, and the 1968/1972 'Princeton notes on the Hauptvermutung' of Armstrong, Rourke and Cooke, making this work physically accessible. These papers include several other results which have become part of the folklore but of which proofs have never been published. My own contribution is intended to serve as an intro­ duction to the Hauptvermutung, and also to give an account of some more recent developments in the area. In preparing the original papers for publication, only minimal changes of punctuation etc.

In Commutative Algebra certain /-adic filtrations of Noetherian rings, i.e. the so-called Zariski rings, are at the basis of singularity theory. Apart from that it is mainly in the context of Homological Algebra that filtered rings and the associated graded rings are being studied not in the least because of the importance of double complexes and their spectral sequences. Where non-commutative algebra is concerned, applications of the theory of filtrations were mainly restricted to the study of enveloping algebras of Lie algebras and, more extensively even, to the study of rings of differential operators. It is clear that the operation of completion at a filtration has an algebraic genotype but a topological fenotype and it is exactly the symbiosis of Algebra and Topology that works so well in the commutative case, e.g. ideles and adeles in number theory or the theory of local fields, Puisseux series etc, .... . In Non­ commutative algebra the bridge between Algebra and Analysis is much more narrow and it seems that many analytic techniques of the non-commutative kind are still to be developed. Nevertheless there is the magnificent example of the analytic theory of rings of differential operators and 1J-modules a la Kashiwara-Shapira.

Much progress has been made during the last decade on the subjects of non­ commutative valuation rings, and of semi-hereditary and Priifer orders in a simple Artinian ring which are considered, in a sense, as global theories of non-commu­ tative valuation rings. So it is worth to present a survey of the subjects in a self-contained way, which is the purpose of this book. Historically non-commutative valuation rings of division rings were first treat­ ed systematically in Schilling's Book [Sc], which are nowadays called invariant valuation rings, though invariant valuation rings can be traced back to Hasse's work in [Has]. Since then, various attempts have been made to study the ideal theory of orders in finite dimensional algebras over fields and to describe the Brauer groups of fields by usage of "valuations", "places", "preplaces", "value functions" and "pseudoplaces". In 1984, N. 1. Dubrovin defined non-commutative valuation rings of simple Artinian rings with notion of places in the category of simple Artinian rings and obtained significant results on non-commutative valuation rings (named Dubrovin valuation rings after him) which signify that these rings may be the correct def­ inition of valuation rings of simple Artinian rings. Dubrovin valuation rings of central simple algebras over fields are, however, not necessarily to be integral over their centers.

This book provides an overview of some of the most active topics in the theory of transformation groups over the past decades and stresses advances obtained in the last dozen years. The emphasis is on actions of Lie groups on manifolds and CW complexes. Manifolds and actions of Lie groups on them are studied in the linear, semialgebraic, definable, analytic, smooth, and topological categories. Equivalent vector bundles play an important role. The work is divided into fifteen articles and will be of interest to anyone researching or studying transformations groups. The references make it easy to find details and original accounts of the topics surveyed, including tools and theories used in these accounts.

Compactness in topology and finite generation in algebra are nice properties to start with. However, the study of compact spaces leads naturally to non-compact spaces and infinitely generated chain complexes; a classical example is the theory of covering spaces. In handling non-compact spaces we must take into account the infinity behaviour of such spaces. This necessitates modifying the usual topological and algebraic cate­ gories to obtain "proper" categories in which objects are equipped with a "topologized infinity" and in which morphisms are compatible with the topology at infinity. The origins of proper (topological) category theory go back to 1923, when Kere­ kjart6 [VT] established the classification of non-compact surfaces by adding to orien­ tability and genus a new invariant, consisting of a set of "ideal points" at infinity. Later, Freudenthal [ETR] gave a rigorous treatment of the topology of "ideal points" by introducing the space of "ends" of a non-compact space. In spite of its early ap­ pearance, proper category theory was not recognized as a distinct area of topology until the late 1960's with the work of Siebenmann [OFB], [IS], [DES] on non-compact manifolds.