Constructing minimal homeomorphisms on point-like spaces and a dynamical presentation of the Jiang–Su algebra

The principal aim of the present paper is to give a dynamical presentation of the Jiang–Su algebra. Originally constructed as an inductive limit of prime dimension drop algebras, the Jiang–Su algebra has gone from being a poorly understood oddity to having a prominent positive role in George Elliott’s classification programme for separable, nuclear {\mathrm{C}^{*}} -algebras. Here, we exhibit an étale equivalence relation whose groupoid {\mathrm{C}^{*}} -algebra is isomorphic to the Jiang–Su algebra. The main ingredient is the construction of minimal homeomorphisms on infinite, compact metric spaces, each having the same cohomology as a point. This construction is also of interest in dynamical systems. Any self-map of an infinite, compact space with the same cohomology as a point has Lefschetz number one. Thus, if such a space were also to satisfy some regularity hypothesis (which our examples do not), then the Lefschetz–Hopf Theorem would imply that it does not admit a minimal homeomorphism.

THE EULER NUMBER FROM THE DISTANCE FUNCTION

We present a new method to obtain the Euler number of a domain based on the tangent counts of concentric spheres in ℝ³ (or circles in ℝ², with respect to the center O, that sweeps the domain. This method is derived from the Poincaré-Hopf Theorem, when the index of critical points of the square of the distance function with respect to the origin O are considered.

On Sha's Secondary Chern–Euler Class

For a manifold with boundary, the restriction of Chern's transgression form of the Euler curvature form over the boundary is closed. Its cohomology class is called the secondary Chern– Euler class and was used by Sha to formulate a relative Poincaré–Hopf theorem under the condition that the metric on the manifold is locally product near the boundary. We show that the secondary Chern–Euler form is exact away from the outward and inward unit normal vectors of the boundary by explicitly constructing a transgression form. Using Stokes’ theorem, this evaluates the boundary term in Sha's relative Poincaré–Hopf theorem in terms of more classical indices of the tangential projection of a vector field. This evaluation in particular shows that Sha's relative Poincaré–Hopf theorem is equivalent to the more classical law of vector fields.