Rigidity of the mod 2 families Seiberg–Witten invariants and topology of families of spin 4-manifolds

We show a rigidity theorem for the Seiberg–Witten invariants mod 2 for families of spin 4-manifolds. A mechanism of this rigidity theorem also gives a family version of 10/8-type inequality. As an application, we prove the existence of non-smoothable topological families of 4-manifolds whose fiber, base space, and total space are smoothable as manifolds. These non-smoothable topological families provide new examples of $4$ -manifolds $M$ for which the inclusion maps $\operatorname {Diff}(M) \hookrightarrow \operatorname {Homeo}(M)$ are not weak homotopy equivalences. We shall also give a new series of non-smoothable topological actions on some spin $4$ -manifolds.

Smooth approximations and their applications to homotopy types

Let $M, N$ the be smooth manifolds, $\mathcal{C}^{r}(M,N)$ the space of ${C}^{r}$ maps endowed with the corresponding weak Whitney topology, and $\mathcal{B} \subset \mathcal{C}^{r}(M,N)$ an open subset.It is proved that for $0<r<s\leq\infty$ the inclusion $\mathcal{B} \cap \mathcal{C}^{s}(M,N) \subset \mathcal{B}$ is a weak homotopy equivalence.It is also established a parametrized variant of such a result.In particular, it is shown that for a compact manifold $M$, the inclusion of the space of $\mathcal{C}^{s}$ isotopies $\eta:[0,1]\times M \to M$ fixed near $\{0,1\}\times M$ into the space of loops $\Omega(\mathcal{D}^{r}(M), \mathrm{id}_{M})$ of the group of $\mathcal{C}^{r}$ diffeomorphisms of $M$ at $\mathrm{id}_{M}$ is a weak homotopy equivalence.

Cohomology of Homotopy Colimits of Simplicial Sets and Small Categories

This paper deals with well-known weak homotopy equivalences that relate homotopy colimits of small categories and simplicial sets. We show that these weak homotopy equivalences have stronger cohomology-preserving properties than for local coefficients.

Another approach to the Kan–Quillen model structure

By careful analysis of the embedding of a simplicial set into its image under Kan’s $$\mathop {\mathop {\mathsf {Ex}}^\infty }$$Ex∞ functor we obtain a new and combinatorial proof that it is a weak homotopy equivalence. Moreover, we obtain a presentation of it as a strong anodyne extension. From this description we can quickly deduce some basic facts about $$\mathop {\mathop {\mathsf {Ex}}^\infty }$$Ex∞ and hence provide a new construction of the Kan–Quillen model structure on simplicial sets, one which avoids the use of topological spaces or minimal fibrations.

Spaces which Invert Weak Homotopy Equivalences

It is well known that if X is a CW-complex, then for every weak homotopy equivalence f : A → B, the map f* : [X, A] → [X, B] induced in homotopy classes is a bijection. In fact, up to homotopy equivalence, only CW-complexes have that property. Now, for which spaces X is f* : [B, X] → [A, X] a bijection for every weak equivalence f? This question was considered by J. Strom and T. Goodwillie. In this note we prove that a non-empty space inverts weak equivalences if and only if it is contractible.