Math 529: Lecture Notes and Videos on Computational Topology

Copyright: I (Bala Krishnamoorthy) hold the copyright for all lecture scribes/notes, documents, and other materials including videos posted on these course web pages. These materials might not be used for commercial purposes without my consent.

Scribes from all lectures so far (as single big file)

Lec Date Topic(s) Scribe Video
1 Jan 13 syllabus, connected spaces, applications: patient trajectories, interface features in chemistry, discrete connectivity Scb1 Vid1
2 Jan 15 topology, open sets, interior, closure, and boundary; functions, homeomorphism, open disc \(\approx \mathbb{R}^2\), circle \(\not\approx\) annulus Scb2 Vid2
3 Jan 20 \(\mathbb{S}^2 \approx \mathbb{R}^2 \cup \{\infty\}\), stereographic projection, 2-manifold (with boundary), non/orientable manifolds, 0-, 1-manifolds Scb3 Vid3
4 Jan 22 finite subcover, compact, Hausdorff, completely separable, \(d\)-manifold, embedding, \(\mathbb{T}^2, \mathbb{R}P^2, \mathbb{K}^2\), connected sum Scb4 Vid4
5 Jan 27 classification of 2-manifolds, \(\mathbb{R}P^2 \, \# \, \mathbb{R}P^2 \approx \mathbb{K}^2\), simplex, face, simplicial complex, dimension, underlying space Scb5 Vid5
6 Jan 29 abstract simplicial complex (ASC), geometric realization of \(d\)-complex in \(\mathbb{R}^{2d+1}\), triangulation, ASCs of surfaces Scb6 Vid6
7 Feb  3 topological invariant, Euler characteristic, \(\chi(\mathbb{M}_1 \# \mathbb{M}_2)\)\(=\)\(\chi(\mathbb{M}_1)+\chi(\mathbb{M}_2)-2\), \(\chi+\)orientability: complete invariant Scb7 Vid7
8 Feb  5 genus, cross cap, using \(\chi(g\mathbb{R}P^2)\)\(=\)\(2-g\), orientation of a simplex, comparing orientations, orientable manifold Scb8 Vid8
9 Feb 10 propagating orientation, (barycentric) subdivision, star St\(\,v\), closed star Cl St\(\,v\), link Lk\(\,v\) of vertex \(v\), St\(\,\sigma\) of \(\sigma\)\(\in\)\(K\) Scb9 Vid9
10 Feb 12 St \(X\) of \(X \subset K\), Lk\(\,X\) example, poset representation of \(K\), principal simplices, homotopy, deformation retraction Scb10 Vid10
11 Feb 17 nerve (Nrv), Nrv is ASC, nerve theorem, Čech and Vietoris-Rips (VR) complexes, VR Lemma: \({\rm VR}(r)\)\(\subseteq\)\({\rm Čech}(\sqrt{2}r)\) Scb11 Vid11
12 Feb 19 proof of VR lemma, Voronoi diagram, Delaunay complex, general position, delaunay+voronoi in Matlab, filtration Scb12 Vid12
13 Feb 24 alpha complex, \(\rm{Alpha}(r) \subseteq \rm{Del}, \rm{Čech}(r)\), weighted alpha complex, empty sphere property, weak/strong witness Scb13 Vid13
14 Feb 26 strict witness complex, \(W_{\infty}(L,S) \subseteq \mbox{Del}_L\), lazy witness complex, groups, subgroups, cosets, homomorphisms Scb14 Vid14
15 Mar  3 \(p\)-chains and group \(C_p(K)\), elementary chains, boundary \(\partial_p: C_p \to C_{p-1}\), examples over \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) and \(\mathbb{Z}\), \(p\)-cycle Scb15 Vid15
16 Mar  5 \(p\)-boundary, 0-chain is a 0-cycle, fundamental lemma of homology: \(\partial \partial \mathbf{d} = 0\), \(p\)-homology group: \(H_p = Z_p/B_p\) Scb16 Vid16
17 Mar 10 rank\(H_p\)\(=\)\(\beta_p\): \(p\)-th Betti number, \(H_p\) of torus & \(p\)-ball, Euler-Poincaré theorem \(\chi = \sum_p (-1)^p \beta_p\), boundary matrix Scb17 Vid17
18 Mar 12 E(R/C)Os, Smith normal form, SNF\((\begin{bmatrix} \partial_p \end{bmatrix}) = U_{p-1} \begin{bmatrix} \partial_p \end{bmatrix} V_p \), SNF\((\begin{bmatrix} \partial_p \end{bmatrix})\) gives \(z_p, b_{p-1}\), bases for \(Z_p, B_{p-1}\), example Scb18 Vid18
19 Mar 24 SNF algorithm over \(\mathbb{Z}_2\), reduced homology, augmentation map, \(\tilde{\beta}_0 = \beta_0-1\), relative homology group \(H_p(K,K_0)\) Scb19 Vid19
20 Mar 26 persistent homology, creator/destroyer simplices, persistence of feature, incremental algorithm for \(\beta_k\)'s of \(K \subset \mathbb{S}^3\) Scb20 Vid20
21 Mar 31 incremental aglo example, UNION-FIND for cnctd cpnts, persistence algo, canonical cycle, youngest +ve simplex Scb21 Vid21
22 Apr   2 persistence example, index-persistence diagram, count triangles for \(\beta_k^{\ell,p}\), set \(T[i]=j\) for pair \((\sigma^i, \sigma^j)\), collision Scb22 Vid22
23 Apr   7 persistence diagram, fundamental lemma of persistent homology, radius/sublevel persistence, matrix reduction algo Scb23 Vid23
24 Apr   9 video: lowest ones independent of reduction, pairing lemma, persistence diagram, mapper, cover, refined pullback Scb24 Vid24
25 Apr 14 video: mapper algo, filter/distance fns, resolution, gain, Reeb graph, Morse theory, map of coverings, examples Scb25 Vid25
26 Apr 16 video: homology over \(\mathbb{Z}\), optimal homologous cycle problem (OHCP), \(H_1\) of Möbius (\(M\)), \(\mathbb{R}P^2, \mathbb{K}^2\), \(H_1(M,\) edge) Scb26 Vid26
27 Apr 21 video: torsion, \(|x_i|\)\(\to\)\(x_i^+ - x_i^-\), OHCP as integer program, linear programming (LP) intro, total unimodularity (TU) Scb27 Vid27
28 Apr 23 video: ops preserving TU, \(A\) of OHCP TU\(\Leftrightarrow\)\(\begin{bmatrix} \partial \end{bmatrix}\) TU, orientable manifold\(\Rightarrow\)\(\begin{bmatrix} \partial \end{bmatrix}\) TU, \([\partial_2]\) TU iff \(K\) has no Möbius strip Scb28 Vid28
29 Apr 28 video: \([\partial(K)]\) TU iff \(K\) has no relative torsion, \(H_1(k\)-fold dunce hat\() \simeq \mathbb{Z}_k\), NTU Neutralized complex, optimal basis Scb29 Vid29
30 Apr 30 video: currents, flat norm (FN), FN distance better than Hausdorff, Frechet, multiscale simplicial flat norm (MSFN) Scb30 Vid30


Last modified: Mon Apr 27 22:05:28 PDT 2026