Partial umbilics of hypersurfaces and repeated eigenvalue currents

dc.contributor.advisorHarvey, F. Reese
dc.creatorEarles, Christopher Michael
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-04T06:49:13Z
dc.date.available2009-06-04T06:49:13Z
dc.date.issued2003
dc.description.abstractWe present the theory of atomic sections developed by Harvey and Lawson, and we use it to study the repeated eigenvalue currents of symmetric bilinear forms. The main example is the classical theorem of surface theory which equates the total index of the umbilic points to the Euler characteristic of a compact surface in R3 . We derive this from the Harvey-Lawson viewpoint and extend it to surfaces with boundary. To develop analogous results for hypersurfaces in R2n+1 , we first prove a Splitting Principle for the differential characters of an oriented, even rank, real vector bundle and use it to compute the Euler character of the bundle of traceless symmetric bilinear forms. Finally, we show that partial umbilics of even type are boundaries with the single exception of the partial umbilics of type (2,...,2) (with n twos), which represent a multiple of the Euler class.
dc.format.extent143 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS MATH. 2003 EARLES
dc.identifier.citationEarles, Christopher Michael. "Partial umbilics of hypersurfaces and repeated eigenvalue currents." (2003) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/18522">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/18522</a>.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/18522
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectMathematics
dc.titlePartial umbilics of hypersurfaces and repeated eigenvalue currents
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentMathematics
thesis.degree.disciplineNatural Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
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