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Whitney topology


In mathematics, and especially differential topology, functional analysis and singularity theory, the Whitney topologies are a countably infinite family of topologies defined on the set of smooth mappings between two smooth manifolds. They are named after the American mathematician Hassler Whitney.

Let M and N be two real, smooth manifolds. Furthermore, let C(M,N) denote the space of smooth mappings between M and N. The notation C means that the mappings are infinitely differentiable, i.e. partial derivatives of all orders exist and are continuous.

For some integer k ≥ 0, let Jk(M,N) denote the k-jet space of mappings between M and N. The jet space can be endowed with a smooth structure (i.e. a structure as a C manifold) which make it into a topological space. This topology is used to define a topology on C(M,N).

For a fixed integer k ≥ 0 consider an open subset U ⊂ Jk(M,N), and denote by Sk(U) the following:

The sets Sk(U) form a basis for the Whitney Ck-topology on C(M,N).

For each choice of k ≥ 0, the Whitney Ck-topology gives a topology for C(M,N); in other words the Whitney Ck-topology tells us which subsets of C(M,N) are open sets. Let us denote by Wk the set of open subsets of C(M,N) with respect to the Whitney Ck-topology. Then the Whitney C-topology is defined to be the topology whose basis is given by W, where:


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