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Lectures
Seminar information archive ～04/19｜Next seminar｜Future seminars 04/20～
2018/06/22
16:00-17:00 Room #128 (Graduate School of Math. Sci. Bldg.)
Michael Harrison (Lehigh University)
Fibrations of R^3 by oriented lines
Michael Harrison (Lehigh University)
Fibrations of R^3 by oriented lines
[ Abstract ]
Is it possible to cover 3-dimensional space by a collection of lines, such that no two lines intersect and no two lines are parallel? More precisely, does there exist a fibration of R^3 by pairwise skew lines? We give some examples and provide a complete topological classification of such objects, by exhibiting a deformation retract from the space of skew fibrations of R^3 to its subspace of Hopf fibrations. As a corollary of the proof we obtain Gluck and Warner's classification of great circle fibrations of S^3. We continue with some recent results regarding contact structures on R^3 which are naturally induced by skew fibrations. Finally, we discuss fibrations of R^3 which may contain parallel fibers, and discuss when such objects induce contact structures.
Is it possible to cover 3-dimensional space by a collection of lines, such that no two lines intersect and no two lines are parallel? More precisely, does there exist a fibration of R^3 by pairwise skew lines? We give some examples and provide a complete topological classification of such objects, by exhibiting a deformation retract from the space of skew fibrations of R^3 to its subspace of Hopf fibrations. As a corollary of the proof we obtain Gluck and Warner's classification of great circle fibrations of S^3. We continue with some recent results regarding contact structures on R^3 which are naturally induced by skew fibrations. Finally, we discuss fibrations of R^3 which may contain parallel fibers, and discuss when such objects induce contact structures.
