Cell complex: Difference between revisions

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* Any space which can be given a cell complex structure, is a [[homotopy-CW-space]]; in other words, it has the homotopy type of a [[CW-complex]]. Moreover, the number of cells of each dimension in the associated CW-complex is the same.
* Any space which can be given a cell complex structure, is a [[homotopy-CW-space]]; in other words, it has the homotopy type of a [[CW-complex]]. Moreover, the number of cells of each dimension in the associated CW-complex is the same.
* A product of cell complexes is a cell complex. More generally, given any fiber bundle with cell complex structures on the base and the fiber, we can combine those to give a cell complex structure to the total space. This is ''not'' possible for [[CW-complex]] structures since the order of attaching cells gets changed drastically.

Revision as of 19:35, 24 December 2007

Definition

A cell complex is a topological space along with a cell structure, which is given as follows. We start off with the empty set, and at each stage, we attach a n-cell (for arbitrary n) using an attaching map from Sn1 to the space constructed so far. The dimensions of the cells could be in any order, and the sequence of attachments could be transfinite.

A special case is a CW-complex where the cells are attached in increasing order of dimension.

Facts

  • Any space which can be given a cell complex structure, is a homotopy-CW-space; in other words, it has the homotopy type of a CW-complex. Moreover, the number of cells of each dimension in the associated CW-complex is the same.
  • A product of cell complexes is a cell complex. More generally, given any fiber bundle with cell complex structures on the base and the fiber, we can combine those to give a cell complex structure to the total space. This is not possible for CW-complex structures since the order of attaching cells gets changed drastically.