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In mathematics, in particular in algebraic topology, differential geometry and algebraic geometry, the Chern classes are characteristic classes associated with complex vector bundles.

Chern classes were introduced by Shiing-Shen Chern (1946).

7 Chern Classes in Algebraic Geometry
- 7.1 Axiomatic Description
- 7.2 Abstract Computations Using Formal Properties
  - 7.2.1 Direct Sums of Line Bundles
  - 7.2.2 Duals of Line Bundles
- 7.3 Tangent Bundle of Projective Space
- 7.4 Normal Sequence
  - 7.4.1 Quintic Threefold
- 7.5 Cotangent Sequence

8 Proximate notions
- 8.1 The Chern character
- 8.2 Chern numbers
- 8.3 The Chern class in generalized cohomology theories
- 8.4 The Chern class in algebraic geometry
- 8.5 Chern classes of manifolds with structure
- 8.6 Chern classes on arithmetic schemes and Diophantine equations

9 See also

10 Notes

11 References

12 External links

Geometric approach

Basic idea and motivation

Chern classes are characteristic classes. They are topological invariants associated with vector bundles on a smooth manifold. The question of whether two ostensibly different vector bundles are the same can be quite hard to answer. The Chern classes provide a simple test: if the Chern classes of a pair of vector bundles do not agree, then the vector bundles are different. The converse, however, is not true.

In topology, differential geometry, and algebraic geometry, it is often important to count how many linearly independent sections a vector bundle has. The Chern classes offer some information about this through, for instance, the Riemann–Roch theorem and the Atiyah–Singer index theorem.

Chern classes are also feasible to calculate in practice. In differential geometry (and some types of algebraic geometry), the Chern classes can be expressed as polynomials in the coefficients of the curvature form.

Construction of Chern classes

There are various ways of approaching the subject, each of which focuses on a slightly different flavor of Chern class.

The original approach to Chern classes was via algebraic topology: the Chern classes arise via homotopy theory which provides a mapping associated with V to a classifying space (an infinite Grassmannian in this case). For any vector bundle V over a manifold M, there exists a mapping f from M to the classifying space such that the bundle V is equal to the pullback, by f, of a universal bundle over the classifying space, and the Chern classes of V can therefore be defined as the pullback of the Chern classes of the universal bundle; these universal Chern classes in turn can be explicitly written down in terms of Schubert cycles.

It can be shown that for any two maps f, g from M to the classifying space whose pullbacks are the same bundle V, the maps must be homotopic. Therefore, the pullback by either f or g of any universal Chern class to a cohomology class of M must be the same class. This shows that the Chern classes of V are well-defined.

Chern's approach used differential geometry, via the curvature approach described predominantly in this article. He showed that the earlier definition was in fact equivalent to his. The resulting theory is known as the Chern–Weil theory.

There is also an approach of Alexander Grothendieck showing that axiomatically one need only define the line bundle case.

Chern classes arise naturally in algebraic geometry. The generalized Chern classes in algebraic geometry can be defined for vector bundles (or more precisely, locally free sheaves) over any nonsingular variety. Algebro-geometric Chern classes do not require the underlying field to have any special properties. In particular, the vector bundles need not necessarily be complex.

Regardless of the particular paradigm, the intuitive meaning of the Chern class concerns 'required zeroes' of a section of a vector bundle: for example the theorem saying one can't comb a hairy ball flat (hairy ball theorem). Although that is strictly speaking a question about a real vector bundle (the "hairs" on a ball are actually copies of the real line), there are generalizations in which the hairs are complex (see the example of the complex hairy ball theorem below), or for 1-dimensional projective spaces over many other fields.

See Chern–Simons for more discussion.

The Chern class of line bundles

(Let X be a topological space having the homotopy type of a CW complex.)

An important special case occurs when V is a line bundle. Then the only nontrivial Chern class is the first Chern class, which is an element of the second cohomology group of X. As it is the top Chern class, it equals the Euler class of the bundle.

The first Chern class turns out to be a complete invariant with which to classify complex line bundles, topologically speaking. That is, there is a bijection between the isomorphism classes of line bundles over X and the elements of H²(X;Z), which associates to a line bundle its first Chern class. Moreover, this bijection is a group homomorphism (thus an isomorphism):

c_1(Lotimes L')=c_1(L)+c_1(L')

;

the tensor product of complex line bundles corresponds to the addition in the second cohomology group.^[1]^[2]

In algebraic geometry, this classification of (isomorphism classes of) complex line bundles by the first Chern class is a crude approximation to the classification of (isomorphism classes of) holomorphic line bundles by linear equivalence classes of divisors.

For complex vector bundles of dimension greater than one, the Chern classes are not a complete invariant.

Constructions

Via the Chern–Weil theory

Given a complex hermitian vector bundle V of complex rank n over a smooth manifold M, a representative of each Chern class (also called a Chern form) c_k(V) of V are given as the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of the curvature form Ω of V.

det left(frac itOmega2pi +Iright) = sum_k c_k(V) t^k

The determinant is over the ring of n × n matrices whose entries are polynomials in t with coefficients in the commutative algebra of even complex differential forms on M. The curvature form Ω of V is defined as

Omega=domega+tfrac12[omega,omega]

with ω the connection form and d the exterior derivative, or via the same expression in which ω is a gauge form for the gauge group of V. The scalar t is used here only as an indeterminate to generate the sum from the determinant, and I denotes the n × n identity matrix.

To say that the expression given is a representative of the Chern class indicates that 'class' here means up to addition of an exact differential form. That is, Chern classes are cohomology classes in the sense of de Rham cohomology. It can be shown that the cohomology classes of the Chern forms do not depend on the choice of connection in V.

Using the matrix identity $displaystyle mathrm tr (ln(X))=ln(det(X))$ and the Maclaurin series for $displaystyle ln(X+I)$ , this expression for the Chern form expands as

sum_k c_k(V) t^k = left[ I

Via an Euler class

One can define a Chern class in terms of an Euler class. This is the approach in the book by Milnor and Stasheff, and emphasizes the role of an orientation of a vector bundle.

The basic observation is that a complex vector bundle comes with a canonical orientation, ultimately because $GL_n(mathbb C )$ is connected. Hence, one simply defines the top Chern class of the bundle to be its Euler class (the Euler class of the underlying real vector bundle) and handles lower Chern classes in an inductive fashion.

The precise construction is as follows. The idea is to do base change to get a bundle of one-less rank. Let π: E →B be a complex vector bundle over a paracompact space B. Thinking B is embedded into E as zero section, let $B'=E-B$ and define the new vector bundle:

E'to B'

such that each fiber is the quotient of a fiber F of E by the line spanned by a nonzero vector v in F (a point of B' is specified by a fiber F of E and a nonzero vector on F.)^[3] Then E' has rank one less than that of E. From the Gysin sequence for the fiber bundle $pi |_B':B'to B$ :

cdots to operatorname H^k(B;mathbb Z)overset pi to operatorname H^k(B';mathbb Z)to cdots ,

we see that $pi |_B'^*$ is an isomorphism for k < 2n − 1. Let

c_k(E)=begincasespi ^-1c_k(E'),&k<n\e(E_mathbb R),&k=n\0,&k>n.\endcases

It then takes some work to check the axioms of Chern classes are satisfied for this definition.

Examples

The complex tangent bundle of the Riemann sphere

Let CP¹ be the Riemann sphere: 1-dimensional complex projective space. Suppose that z is a holomorphic local coordinate for the Riemann sphere. Let V = TCP¹ be the bundle of complex tangent vectors having the form a∂/∂z at each point, where a is a complex number. We prove the complex version of the hairy ball theorem: V has no section which is everywhere nonzero.

For this, we need the following fact: the first Chern class of a trivial bundle is zero, i.e.,

c_1(mathbf Cmathbf P^1times mathbf C)=0.

This is evinced by the fact that a trivial bundle always admits a flat connection.

So, we shall show that

c_1(V) not= 0.

Consider the Kähler metric

h = fracdzdbarzz.

One readily shows that the curvature 2-form is given by

Omega=frac2dzwedge dbarzz.

Furthermore, by the definition of the first Chern class

c_1= left[fraci2pi mathrmtr Omegaright] .

We must show that this cohomology class is non-zero. It suffices to compute its integral over the Riemann sphere:

displaystyle int c_1=frac ipi int frac dzwedge dbar zz=2

after switching to polar coordinates. By Stokes' theorem, an exact form would integrate to 0, so the cohomology class is nonzero.

This proves that TCP¹ is not a trivial vector bundle.

Complex projective space

There is an exact sequence of sheaves/bundles:^[4]

0to mathcal O_mathbb Cmathbf P^nto mathcal O_mathbb Cmathbf P^n(1)^oplus (n+1)to Tmathbb Cmathbf P^nto 0

where $mathcal O_mathbb Cmathbf P^n$ is the structure sheaf (i.e., the trivial line bundle), $mathcal O_mathbb Cmathbf P^n(1)$ is Serre's twisting sheaf (i.e., the hyperplane bundle) and the last nonzero term is the tangent sheaf/bundle.

There are two ways to get the above sequence:

^[5] Let z₀, … z_n be the coordinates of $mathbbC^n+1$ , $pi :mathbb C^n+1-0to mathbb Cmathbf P^n$ and $U=mathbb Cmathbf P^n-z_0=0$ . Then we have:
$pi ^*d(z_i/z_0)=z_0dz_i-z_idz_0 over z_0^2,,igeq 1.$
In other words, the cotangent sheaf $Omega _mathbb Cmathbf P^n|_U$ , which is a free $mathcal O_U$ -module with the basis $d(z_i/z_0)$ , fits into the exact sequence

$textstyle quad 0to Omega _mathbb Cmathbf P^n|_Uoverset dz_imapsto e_ito oplus _1^n+1mathcal O(-1)|_Uoverset e_imapsto z_ito mathcal O_Uto 0,,igeq 0,$

where $e_i$ are the basis of the middle term. The same sequence is clearly then exact on the whole projective space and the dual of it is the aforementioned sequence.

Let L be a line in $mathbbC^n+1$ that passes through the origin. It is an elementary geometry to see that the complex tangent space to $mathbb Cmathbf P^n$ at the point L is naturally the set of linear maps from L to its complement. Thus, the tangent bundle $Tmathbb Cmathbf P^n$ can be identified with the hom bundle
$operatorname Hom(mathcal O(-1),eta )$

where η is the vector bundle such that $mathcal O(-1)oplus eta =mathcal O^oplus (n+1)$ . It follows:

$Tmathbb Cmathbf P^noplus mathcal O=operatorname Hom(mathcal O(-1),eta )oplus operatorname Hom(mathcal O(-1),mathcal O(-1))=mathcal O(1)^oplus (n+1)$ .

By the additivity of total Chern class c = 1 + c₁ + c₂ + … (i.e., the Whitney sum formula),

c(mathbb Cmathbf P^n)overset mathrm def=c(Tmathbb Cmathbf P^n)=c(mathcal O_mathbb Cmathbf P^n(1))^n+1=(1+a)^n+1

,

where a is the canonical generator of the cohomology group $H^2(mathbb Cmathbf P^n,mathbb Z)$ ; i.e., the negative of the first Chern class of the tautological line bundle $mathcal O_mathbb Cmathbf P^n(-1)$ (note: $c_1(E^*)=-c_1(E)$ when E^* is the dual of E.)

In particular, for any k ≥ 0,

c_k(mathbb Cmathbf P^n)=binom n+1ka^k.

Chern polynomial

A Chern polynomial is a convenient way to handle Chern classes and related notions systematically. By definition, for a complex vector bundle E, the Chern polynomial c_t of E is given by:

c_t(E)=1+c_1(E)t+cdots +c_n(E)t^n.

This is not a new invariant: the formal variable t simply keeps track of the degree of c_k(E).^[6] In particular, $c_t(E)$ is completely determined by the total Chern class of E: $c(E)=1+c_1(E)+cdots +c_n(E)$ and conversely.

The Whitney sum formula, one of the axioms of Chern classes (see below), says that c_t is additive in the sense:

c_t(Eoplus E')=c_t(E)c_t(E').

Now, if $displaystyle E=L_1oplus cdots oplus L_n$ is a direct sum of (complex) line bundles, then it follows from the sum formula that:

c_t(E)=(1+a_1(E)t)cdots (1+a_n(E)t)

where $a_i(E)=c_1(L_i)$ are the first Chern classes. The roots $a_i(E)$ , called the Chern roots of E, determine the coefficients of the polynomial: i.e.,

displaystyle c_k(E)=sigma _k(a_1(E),ldots ,a_n(E))

where σ_k are elementary symmetric polynomials. In other words, thinking of a_i as formal variables, c_k "are" σ_k. A basic fact on symmetric polynomials is that any symmetric polynomial in, say, t_i's is a polynomial in elementary symmetric polynomials in t_i's. Either by splitting principle or by ring theory, any Chern polynomial $c_t(E)$ factorizes into linear factors after enlarging the cohomology ring; E need not be a direct sum of line bundles in the preceding discussion. The conclusion is

"One can evaluate any symmetric polynomial f at a complex vector bundle E by writing f as a polynomial in σ_k and then replacing σ_k by c_k(E)."

Example: We have polynomials s_k

displaystyle t_1^k+cdots +t_n^k=s_k(sigma _1(t_1,ldots ,t_n),ldots ,sigma _k(t_1,ldots ,t_n))

with $s_1=sigma _1,s_2=sigma _1^2-2sigma _2$ and so on (cf. Newton's identities). The sum

displaystyle operatorname ch (E)=e^a_1(E)+cdots +e^a_n(E)=sum s_k(c_1(E),ldots ,c_n(E))/k!

is called the Chern character of E, whose first few terms are: (we drop E from writing.)

displaystyle operatorname ch (E)=operatorname rk +c_1+frac 12(c_1^2-2c_2)+frac 16(c_1^3-3c_1c_2+3c_3)+cdots .

Example: The Todd class of E is given by:

displaystyle beginalignedoperatorname td (E)&=prod _1^na_i over 1-e^-a_i=1+1 over 2c_1+1 over 12(c_1^2+c_2)+cdots .endaligned

Remark: The observation that a Chern class is essentially an elementary symmetric polynomial can be used to "define" Chern classes. Let G_n be the infinite Grassmannian of n-dimensional complex vector spaces. It is a classifying space in the sense that, given a complex vector bundle E of rank n over X, there is a continuous map

f_E:Xto G_n

unique up to homotopy. Borel's theorem says the cohomology ring of G_n is exactly the ring of symmetric polynomials, which are polynomials in elementary symmetric polynomials σ_k; so, the pullback of f_E reads:

displaystyle f_E^*:mathbb Z [sigma _1,ldots ,sigma _n]to H^*(X,mathbb Z ).

One then puts:

c_k(E)=f_E^*(sigma _k).

Remark: Any characteristic class is a polynomial in Chern classes, for the reason as follows. Let $operatorname Vect_n^mathbb C$ be the contravariant functor that, to a CW complex X, assigns the set of isomorphism classes of complex vector bundles of rank n over X and, to a map, its pullback. By definition, a characteristic class is a natural transformation from $operatorname Vect_n^mathbb C=[-,G_n]$ to the cohomology functor $H^*(-,mathbb Z).$ Characteristic classes form a ring because of the ring structure of cohomology ring. Yoneda's lemma says this ring of characteristic classes is exactly the cohomology ring of G_n:

displaystyle operatorname Nat ([-,G_n],H^*(-,mathbb Z ))=H^*(G_n,mathbb Z )=mathbb Z [sigma _1,ldots ,sigma _n].

Properties of Chern classes

Given a complex vector bundle E over a topological space X, the Chern classes of E are a sequence of elements of the cohomology of X. The k-th Chern class of E, which is usually denoted c_k(E), is an element of

H^2k(X;Z),

the cohomology of X with integer coefficients. One can also define the total Chern class

c(E)=c_0(E)+c_1(E)+c_2(E)+cdots .

Since the values are in integral cohomology groups, rather than cohomology with real coefficients, these Chern classes are slightly more refined than those in the Riemannian example.^{[clarification needed]}

Classical axiomatic definition

The Chern classes satisfy the following four axioms:

Axiom 1. $c_0(E)=1$ for all E.

Axiom 2. Naturality: If $f : Y to X$ is continuous and f*E is the vector bundle pullback of E, then $c_k(f^*E)=f^*c_k(E)$ .

Axiom 3. Whitney sum formula: If $Fto X$ is another complex vector bundle, then the Chern classes of the direct sum $Eoplus F$ are given by

c(Eoplus F)=c(E)smile c(F);

that is,

c_k(Eoplus F)=sum _i=0^kc_i(E)smile c_k-i(F).

Axiom 4. Normalization: The total Chern class of the tautological line bundle over CP^k is 1−H, where H is Poincaré-dual to the hyperplane $mathbfCP^k - 1 subseteq mathbfCP^k$ .

Alexander Grothendieck axiomatic approach

Alternatively, Alexander Grothendieck (1958) replaced these with a slightly smaller set of axioms:

Naturality: (Same as above)

Additivity: If $0to E'to Eto E''to 0$ is an exact sequence of vector bundles, then $c(E)=c(E')smile c(E'')$ .

Normalization: If E is a line bundle, then $c(E)=1+e(E_mathbf R)$ where $e(E_mathbf R)$ is the Euler class of the underlying real vector bundle.

He shows using the Leray–Hirsch theorem that the total Chern class of an arbitrary finite rank complex vector bundle can be defined in terms of the first Chern class of a tautologically-defined line bundle.

Namely, introducing the projectivization P(E) of the rank n complex vector bundle E → B as the fiber bundle on B whose fiber at any point $bin B$ is the projective space of the fiber E_b. The total space of this bundle P(E) is equipped with its tautological complex line bundle, that we denote $tau$ , and the first Chern class

c_1(tau)=: -a

restricts on each fiber P(E_b) to minus the (Poincaré-dual) class of the hyperplane, that spans the cohomology of the fiber, in view of the cohomology of complex projective spaces.

The classes

1, a, a^2, ldots , a^n-1in H^*(mathbfP(E))

therefore form a family of ambient cohomology classes restricting to a basis of the cohomology of the fiber. The Leray–Hirsch theorem then states that
any class in H*(P(E)) can be written uniquely as a linear combination of the 1, a, a², ..., aⁿ⁻¹ with classes on the base as coefficients.

In particular, one may define the Chern classes of E in the sense of Grothendieck, denoted $displaystyle c_1(E),ldots c_n(E)$ by expanding this way the class $-a^n$ , with the relation:

displaystyle -a^n=c_1(E)cdot a^n-1+cdots +c_n-1(E)cdot a+c_n(E).

One then may check that this alternative definition coincides with whatever other definition one may favor, or use the previous axiomatic characterization.

The top Chern class

In fact, these properties uniquely characterize the Chern classes. They imply, among other things:

If n is the complex rank of V, then $c_k(V) = 0$ for all k > n. Thus the total Chern class terminates.

The top Chern class of V (meaning $c_n(V)$ , where n is the rank of V) is always equal to the Euler class of the underlying real vector bundle.

Chern Classes in Algebraic Geometry

Axiomatic Description

There is another construction of Chern classes which take values in the algebrogeometric analogue of the cohomology ring, the Chow ring. It can be shown that there is a unique theory of Chern classes such that if you are given an algebraic vector bundle $E to X$ over a quasi-projective variety there are a sequence of classes $displaystyle c_i(E)in A^i(X)$ such that

$c_0(E)=1$

For an invertible sheaf $mathcal O_X(D)$ (so that $D$ is a Cartier divisor), $displaystyle c_1(mathcal O_X(D))=[D]$

Given an exact sequence of vector bundles $displaystyle 0to E'to Eto E''to 0$ the Whitney sum formula holds: $displaystyle c(E)=c(E')c(E'')$

$c_i(E) = 0$ for $displaystyle i>textrank(E)$

The map $displaystyle Emapsto c(E)$ extends to a ring morphism $displaystyle c:K_0(X)to A^bullet (X)$

Abstract Computations Using Formal Properties

Direct Sums of Line Bundles

Using these relations we can make numerous computations for vector bundles. First, notice that if we have line bundles $displaystyle mathcal L,mathcal L'$ we can form a short exact sequence of vector bundles

displaystyle 0to mathcal Lto mathcal Loplus mathcal L'to mathcal L'to 0

Using properties $1$ and $2$ we have that

displaystyle beginalignedc(mathcal Loplus mathcal L')&=c(mathcal L)c(mathcal L')\&=(1+c_1(mathcal L))(1+c_1(mathcal L'))\&=1+c_1(mathcal L)+c_1(mathcal L')+c_1(mathcal L)c_1(mathcal L')endaligned

By induction, we have

displaystyle c(bigoplus _i=1^nmathcal L_i)=c(mathcal L_1)cdots c(mathcal L_n)

Duals of Line Bundles

Since line bundles on a smooth projective variety $X$ are determined by a divisor class $[D]$ and the dual line bundle is determined by the negative divisor class $displaystyle -[D]$ , we have that

displaystyle c_1(mathcal L)=-c_1(mathcal L^*)

Tangent Bundle of Projective Space

This can be applied to the Euler sequence for projective space

displaystyle 0to mathcal O_mathbb P ^nto mathcal O_mathbb P ^n(1)^oplus (n+1)to mathcal T_mathbb P ^nto 0

to compute

displaystyle beginalignedc(mathcal O_mathbb P ^n)c(mathcal T_mathbb P ^n)&=c(mathcal O_mathbb P ^n(1)^oplus (n+1))\c(mathcal T_mathbb P ^n)&=(1+H)^n+1\&=n+1 choose 01+n+1 choose 1H+cdots +n+1 choose nH^nendaligned

where $H$ is the class of a degree one hyperplane. Also, notice that $displaystyle H^n+1=0$ in the chow ring of $mathbb P ^n$ .

Normal Sequence

Computing the characteristic classes for projective space forms the basis for many characteristic class computations since for any smooth projective subvariety $displaystyle Xsubset mathbb P ^n$ there is the short exact sequence

displaystyle 0to mathcal T_Xto mathcal T_mathbb P ^n

Quintic Threefold

For example, consider the quintic threefold in $displaystyle mathbb P ^4$ . Then the normal bundle is given by $displaystyle mathcal O_X(5)$ and we have the short exact sequence

displaystyle 0to mathcal T_Xto mathcal T_mathbb P ^4

Let $h$ denote the hyperplane class in $displaystyle A^bullet (X)$ . Then the Whitney sum formula gives us that

displaystyle beginalignedc(mathcal T_X)c(mathcal O_X(5))&=(1+h)^5\&=1+5h+10h^2+10h^3endaligned

Since the Chow ring of a hypersurface is difficult to compute, we will consider this sequence as a sequence of coherent sheaves in $displaystyle mathbb P ^4$ . This gives us that

displaystyle c(mathcal T_X)=frac 1+5h+10h^2+10h^31+5h

Notice that the formal power series

displaystyle beginalignedfrac 11+5h&=1-5h+25h^2-125h^3+cdots \&=1-5h+25h^2-125h^3endaligned

Using this we can find that

displaystyle beginalignedc(mathcal T_X)&=(1+5h+10h^2+10h^3)(1-5h+25h^2-125h^3)\&=1+10h^2-40h^3endaligned

Using the Gauss-Bonnet theorem we can integrate the class $displaystyle c_3(mathcal T_X)$ to compute the euler characteristic. Traditionally this is called the Euler class. This is

displaystyle int _[X]c_3(mathcal T_X)=int _[X]-40h^3=-200

since the class of $h^3$ can be represented by five points (by Bézout's theorem. The Euler characteristic can then be used to compute the Betti numbers for the cohomology of $X$ by using the definition of the Euler characteristic and using the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem.

Cotangent Sequence

Another useful computation is of the cotangent bundle for projective space. We can dualize the Euler seqeuence to get

displaystyle 0to Omega _mathbb P ^nto mathcal O_mathbb P ^n(-1)^oplus n+1to mathcal O_mathbb P ^nto 0

Using the Whitney sum formula we find that

displaystyle beginalignedc(Omega _mathbb P ^n)&=c(mathcal O_mathbb P ^n^oplus (n+1))c(mathcal O_mathbb P ^n)\&=(1-H)^n+1\&=1-n+1 choose 1H+n+1 choose 2H^2+cdots +n+1 choose n(-1)^nH^nendaligned

Proximate notions

The Chern character

Chern classes can be used to construct a homomorphism of rings from the topological K-theory of a space to (the completion of) its rational cohomology. For a line bundle L, the Chern character ch is defined by

displaystyle operatorname ch (L)=exp(c_1(L)):=sum _m=0^infty frac c_1(L)^mm!.

More generally, if $displaystyle V=L_1oplus cdots oplus L_n$ is a direct sum of line bundles, with first Chern classes $x_i = c_1(L_i),$ the Chern character is defined additively

displaystyle operatorname ch (V)=e^x_1+cdots +e^x_n:=sum _m=0^infty frac 1m!(x_1^m+cdots +x_n^m).

This can be rewritten as:^[7]

displaystyle operatorname ch (V)=operatorname rk (V)+c_1(V)+frac 12(c_1(V)^2-2c_2(V))+frac 16(c_1(V)^3-3c_1(V)c_2(V)+3c_3(V))+cdots .

This last expression, justified by invoking the splitting principle, is taken as the definition ch(V) for arbitrary vector bundles V.

If a connection is used to define the Chern classes when the base is a manifold (i.e., the Chern–Weil theory), then the explicit form of the Chern character is

hboxch(V)=left[hboxtrleft(exp left(frac iOmega 2pi right)right)right]

where Ω is the curvature of the connection.

The Chern character is useful in part because it facilitates the computation of the Chern class of a tensor product. Specifically, it obeys the following identities:

hboxch(Voplus W)=hboxch(V)+hboxch(W)

hboxch(Votimes W)=hboxch(V)hboxch(W).

As stated above, using the Grothendieck additivity axiom for Chern classes, the first of these identities can be generalized to state that ch is a homomorphism of abelian groups from the K-theory K(X) into the rational cohomology of X. The second identity establishes the fact that this homomorphism also respects products in K(X), and so ch is a homomorphism of rings.

The Chern character is used in the Hirzebruch–Riemann–Roch theorem.

Chern numbers

If we work on an oriented manifold of dimension 2n, then any product of Chern classes of total degree 2n can be paired with the orientation homology class (or "integrated over the manifold") to give an integer, a Chern number of the vector bundle. For example, if the manifold has dimension 6, there are three linearly independent Chern numbers, given by c₁³, c₁c₂, and c₃. In general, if the manifold has dimension 2n, the number of possible independent Chern numbers is the number of partitions of n.

The Chern numbers of the tangent bundle of a complex (or almost complex) manifold are called the Chern numbers of the manifold, and are important invariants.

The Chern class in generalized cohomology theories

There is a generalization of the theory of Chern classes, where ordinary cohomology is replaced with a generalized cohomology theory. The theories for which such generalization is possible are called complex orientable. The formal properties of the Chern classes remain the same, with one crucial difference: the rule which computes the first Chern class of a tensor product of line bundles in terms of first Chern classes of the factors is not (ordinary) addition, but rather a formal group law.

The Chern class in algebraic geometry

In algebraic geometry there is a similar theory of Chern classes of vector bundles. There are several variations depending on what groups the Chern classes lie in:

For complex varieties the Chern classes can take values in ordinary cohomology, as above.

For varieties over general fields, the Chern classes can take values in cohomology theories such as etale cohomology or l-adic cohomology.

For varieties V over general fields the Chern classes can also take values in homomorphisms of Chow groups CH(V): for example, the first Chern class of a line bundle over a variety V is a homomorphism from CH(V) to CH(V) reducing degrees by 1. This corresponds to the fact that the Chow groups are a sort of analog of homology groups, and elements of cohomology groups can be thought of as homomorphisms of homology groups using the cap product.

Chern classes of manifolds with structure

The theory of Chern classes gives rise to cobordism invariants for almost complex manifolds.

If M is an almost complex manifold, then its tangent bundle is a complex vector bundle. The Chern classes of M are thus defined to be the Chern classes of its tangent bundle. If M is also compact and of dimension 2d, then each monomial of total degree 2d in the Chern classes can be paired with the fundamental class of M, giving an integer, a Chern number of M. If M′ is another almost complex manifold of the same dimension, then it is cobordant to M if and only if the Chern numbers of M′ coincide with those of M.

The theory also extends to real symplectic vector bundles, by the intermediation of compatible almost complex structures. In particular, symplectic manifolds have a well-defined Chern class.

Chern classes on arithmetic schemes and Diophantine equations

(See Arakelov geometry)

Notes

^ Tu, Raoul Bott ; Loring W. (1995). Differential forms in algebraic topology (Corr. 3. print. ed.). New York [u.a.]: Springer. p. 267ff. ISBN 3-540-90613-4.

^ Proposition 3.10. in Hatcher's Vector Bundles and K-theory

^ Editorial note: Our notation differs from Milnor−Stasheff, but seems more natural.

^ The sequence is sometimes called the Euler sequence.

^ Harshorne, Ch. II. Theorem 8.13.

^ In a ring-theoretic term, there is an isomorphism of graded rings:
$H^2*(M,mathbb Z)to oplus _k^infty eta (H^2*(M,mathbb Z))[t],xmapsto xt^x$

where the left is the cohomology ring of even terms, η is a ring homomorphism that disregards grading and x is homogeneous and has degree |x|.

^ (See also #Chern polynomial.) Observe that when V is a sum of line bundles, the Chern classes of V can be expressed as elementary symmetric polynomials in the $x_i$ , $displaystyle c_i(V)=e_i(x_1,ldots ,x_n).$
In particular, on the one hand
$c(V) := sum_i=0^n c_i(V),$

while on the other hand
$displaystyle c(V)=c(L_1oplus cdots oplus L_n)=prod _i=1^nc(L_i)=prod _i=1^n(1+x_i)=sum _i=0^ne_i(x_1,ldots ,x_n).$

Consequently, Newton's identities may be used to reexpress the power sums in ch(V) above solely in terms of the Chern classes of V, giving the claimed formula.

References

Chern, Shiing-Shen (1946), "Characteristic classes of Hermitian Manifolds", Annals of Mathematics, Second Series, The Annals of Mathematics, Vol. 47, No. 1, 47 (1): 85–121, doi:10.2307/1969037, ISSN 0003-486X, JSTOR 1969037

Grothendieck, Alexander (1958), "La théorie des classes de Chern", Bulletin de la Société Mathématique de France, 86: 137–154, ISSN 0037-9484, MR 0116023

Jost, Jürgen (2005), Riemannian Geometry and Geometric Analysis (4th ed.), Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-540-25907-7 (Provides a very short, introductory review of Chern classes).

May, J. Peter (1999), A Concise Course in Algebraic Topology, University of Chicago Press

Milnor, John Willard; Stasheff, James D. (1974), Characteristic classes, Annals of Mathematics Studies, 76, Princeton University Press; University of Tokyo Press, ISBN 978-0-691-08122-9

Rubei, Elena (2014), Algebraic Geometry, a concise dictionary, Berlin/Boston: Walter De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-031622-3

External links

Vector Bundles & K-Theory – A downloadable book-in-progress by Allen Hatcher. Contains a chapter about characteristic classes.

Dieter Kotschick, Chern numbers of algebraic varieties

[1] Tu, Raoul Bott ; Loring W. (1995). Differential forms in algebraic topology (Corr. 3. print. ed.). New York [u.a.]: Springer. p. 267ff. ISBN 3-540-90613-4.

[2] Proposition 3.10. in Hatcher's Vector Bundles and K-theory

[3] Editorial note: Our notation differs from Milnor−Stasheff, but seems more natural.

[4] The sequence is sometimes called the Euler sequence.

[5] Harshorne, Ch. II. Theorem 8.13.

[6] In a ring-theoretic term, there is an isomorphism of graded rings:
$H^2*(M,mathbb Z)to oplus _k^infty eta (H^2*(M,mathbb Z))[t],xmapsto xt^x$

where the left is the cohomology ring of even terms, η is a ring homomorphism that disregards grading and x is homogeneous and has degree |x|.

[7] (See also #Chern polynomial.) Observe that when V is a sum of line bundles, the Chern classes of V can be expressed as elementary symmetric polynomials in the $x_i$ , $displaystyle c_i(V)=e_i(x_1,ldots ,x_n).$
In particular, on the one hand
$c(V) := sum_i=0^n c_i(V),$

while on the other hand
$displaystyle c(V)=c(L_1oplus cdots oplus L_n)=prod _i=1^nc(L_i)=prod _i=1^n(1+x_i)=sum _i=0^ne_i(x_1,ldots ,x_n).$

Consequently, Newton's identities may be used to reexpress the power sums in ch(V) above solely in terms of the Chern classes of V, giving the claimed formula.

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