Genus (mathematics)
Encyclopedia
In mathematics
, genus (plural genera) has a few different, but closely related, meanings:
surface
is an integer
representing the maximum number of cuttings along non-intersecting closed simple curve
s without rendering the resultant manifold
disconnected. It is equal to the number of handles on it. Alternatively, it can be defined in terms of the Euler characteristic
χ, via the relationship χ = 2 − 2g for closed surfaces, where g is the genus. For surfaces with b boundary components, the equation reads χ = 2 − 2g − b.
For instance:
An explicit construction of surfaces of genus g is given in the article on the fundamental polygon
.
In simpler terms, the value of an orientable surface's genus is equal to the number of "holes" it has.
genus, demigenus, or Euler genus of a connected, non-orientable closed surface
is a positive integer
representing the number of cross-cap
s attached to a sphere
. Alternatively, it can be defined for a closed surface in terms of the Euler characteristic
χ, via the relationship χ = 2 − k, where k is the non-orientable genus.
For instance:
K is defined as the minimal genus of all Seifert surface
s for K. A Seifert surface of a knot is however a manifold with boundary the boundary being the knot, i.e.
homeomorphic to the unit circle. The genus of such a surface is defined to be the genus of the two-manifold, which is obtained by gluing the unit disk along the boundary.
is an integer representing the maximum number of cuttings along embedded disks
without rendering the resultant manifold disconnected. It is equal to the number of handles on it.
For instance:
is the minimal integer n such that the graph can be drawn without crossing itself on a sphere with n handles (i.e. an oriented surface of genus n). Thus, a planar graph
has genus 0, because it can be drawn on a sphere without self-crossing.
The non-orientable genus of a graph
is the minimal integer n such that the graph can be drawn without crossing itself on a sphere with n cross-caps (i.e. a non-orientable surface of (non-orientable) genus n). (This number is also called the Euler genus and the demigenus.)
In topological graph theory
there are several definitions of the genus of a group
. Arthur T. White introduced the following concept. The genus of a group
is the minimum genus of a (connected, undirected) Cayley graph
for
.
The graph genus problem is NP-complete
.
X: the arithmetic genus
and the geometric genus
. When X is an algebraic curve
with field of definition the complex number
s, and if X has no singular points
, then both of these definitions agree and coincide with the topological definition applied to the Riemann surface
of X (its manifold
of complex points). The definition of elliptic curve
from algebraic geometry is connected non-singular projective curve of genus 1 with a given rational point on it.
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, genus (plural genera) has a few different, but closely related, meanings:
Orientable surface
The genus of a connected, orientableOrientability
In mathematics, orientability is a property of surfaces in Euclidean space measuring whether or not it is possible to make a consistent choice of surface normal vector at every point. A choice of surface normal allows one to use the right-hand rule to define a "clockwise" direction of loops in the...
surface
Surface
In mathematics, specifically in topology, a surface is a two-dimensional topological manifold. The most familiar examples are those that arise as the boundaries of solid objects in ordinary three-dimensional Euclidean space R3 — for example, the surface of a ball...
is an integer
Integer
The integers are formed by the natural numbers together with the negatives of the non-zero natural numbers .They are known as Positive and Negative Integers respectively...
representing the maximum number of cuttings along non-intersecting closed simple curve
Curve
In mathematics, a curve is, generally speaking, an object similar to a line but which is not required to be straight...
s without rendering the resultant manifold
Manifold
In mathematics , a manifold is a topological space that on a small enough scale resembles the Euclidean space of a specific dimension, called the dimension of the manifold....
disconnected. It is equal to the number of handles on it. Alternatively, it can be defined in terms of the Euler characteristic
Euler characteristic
In mathematics, and more specifically in algebraic topology and polyhedral combinatorics, the Euler characteristic is a topological invariant, a number that describes a topological space's shape or structure regardless of the way it is bent...
χ, via the relationship χ = 2 − 2g for closed surfaces, where g is the genus. For surfaces with b boundary components, the equation reads χ = 2 − 2g − b.
For instance:
- The sphereSphereA sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
S2 and a discDisk (mathematics)In geometry, a disk is the region in a plane bounded by a circle.A disk is said to be closed or open according to whether or not it contains the circle that constitutes its boundary...
both have genus zero.
- A torusTorusIn geometry, a torus is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle...
has genus one, as does the surface of a coffee mug with a handle. This is the source of the joke that "a topologist is someone who can't tell their donut apart from their coffee mug."
An explicit construction of surfaces of genus g is given in the article on the fundamental polygon
Fundamental polygon
In mathematics, each closed surface in the sense of geometric topology can be constructed from an even-sided oriented polygon, called a fundamental polygon, by pairwise identification of its edges....
.
In simpler terms, the value of an orientable surface's genus is equal to the number of "holes" it has.
Non-orientable surfaces
The non-orientableOrientability
In mathematics, orientability is a property of surfaces in Euclidean space measuring whether or not it is possible to make a consistent choice of surface normal vector at every point. A choice of surface normal allows one to use the right-hand rule to define a "clockwise" direction of loops in the...
genus, demigenus, or Euler genus of a connected, non-orientable closed surface
Surface
In mathematics, specifically in topology, a surface is a two-dimensional topological manifold. The most familiar examples are those that arise as the boundaries of solid objects in ordinary three-dimensional Euclidean space R3 — for example, the surface of a ball...
is a positive integer
Integer
The integers are formed by the natural numbers together with the negatives of the non-zero natural numbers .They are known as Positive and Negative Integers respectively...
representing the number of cross-cap
Cross-cap
In mathematics, a cross-cap is a two-dimensional surface that is a model of a Möbius strip with a single self intersection. This self intersection precludes the cross-cap from being topologically equivalent to a Möbius strip...
s attached to a sphere
Sphere
A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
. Alternatively, it can be defined for a closed surface in terms of the Euler characteristic
Euler characteristic
In mathematics, and more specifically in algebraic topology and polyhedral combinatorics, the Euler characteristic is a topological invariant, a number that describes a topological space's shape or structure regardless of the way it is bent...
χ, via the relationship χ = 2 − k, where k is the non-orientable genus.
For instance:
- A projective planeProjective planeIn mathematics, a projective plane is a geometric structure that extends the concept of a plane. In the ordinary Euclidean plane, two lines typically intersect in a single point, but there are some pairs of lines that do not intersect...
has non-orientable genus one. - A Klein bottleKlein bottleIn mathematics, the Klein bottle is a non-orientable surface, informally, a surface in which notions of left and right cannot be consistently defined. Other related non-orientable objects include the Möbius strip and the real projective plane. Whereas a Möbius strip is a surface with boundary, a...
has non-orientable genus two.
Knot
The genus of a knotKnot (mathematics)
In mathematics, a knot is an embedding of a circle in 3-dimensional Euclidean space, R3, considered up to continuous deformations . A crucial difference between the standard mathematical and conventional notions of a knot is that mathematical knots are closed—there are no ends to tie or untie on a...
K is defined as the minimal genus of all Seifert surface
Seifert surface
In mathematics, a Seifert surface is a surface whose boundary is a given knot or link.Such surfaces can be used to study the properties of the associated knot or link. For example, many knot invariants are most easily calculated using a Seifert surface...
s for K. A Seifert surface of a knot is however a manifold with boundary the boundary being the knot, i.e.
homeomorphic to the unit circle. The genus of such a surface is defined to be the genus of the two-manifold, which is obtained by gluing the unit disk along the boundary.
Handlebody
The genus of a 3-dimensional handlebodyHandlebody
In the mathematical field of geometric topology, a handlebody is a decomposition of a manifold into standard pieces. Handlebodies play an important role in Morse theory, cobordism theory and the surgery theory of high-dimensional manifolds...
is an integer representing the maximum number of cuttings along embedded disks
Disk (mathematics)
In geometry, a disk is the region in a plane bounded by a circle.A disk is said to be closed or open according to whether or not it contains the circle that constitutes its boundary...
without rendering the resultant manifold disconnected. It is equal to the number of handles on it.
For instance:
- A ballBall (mathematics)In mathematics, a ball is the space inside a sphere. It may be a closed ball or an open ball ....
has genus zero. - A solid torus
has genus one.
Graph theory
The genus of a graphGraph (mathematics)
In mathematics, a graph is an abstract representation of a set of objects where some pairs of the objects are connected by links. The interconnected objects are represented by mathematical abstractions called vertices, and the links that connect some pairs of vertices are called edges...
is the minimal integer n such that the graph can be drawn without crossing itself on a sphere with n handles (i.e. an oriented surface of genus n). Thus, a planar graph
Planar graph
In graph theory, a planar graph is a graph that can be embedded in the plane, i.e., it can be drawn on the plane in such a way that its edges intersect only at their endpoints...
has genus 0, because it can be drawn on a sphere without self-crossing.
The non-orientable genus of a graph
Graph (mathematics)
In mathematics, a graph is an abstract representation of a set of objects where some pairs of the objects are connected by links. The interconnected objects are represented by mathematical abstractions called vertices, and the links that connect some pairs of vertices are called edges...
is the minimal integer n such that the graph can be drawn without crossing itself on a sphere with n cross-caps (i.e. a non-orientable surface of (non-orientable) genus n). (This number is also called the Euler genus and the demigenus.)
In topological graph theory
Topological graph theory
In mathematics topological graph theory is a branch of graph theory. It studies the embedding of graphs in surfaces, spatial embeddings of graphs, and graphs as topological spaces. It also studies immersions of graphs....
there are several definitions of the genus of a group
Group (mathematics)
In mathematics, a group is an algebraic structure consisting of a set together with an operation that combines any two of its elements to form a third element. To qualify as a group, the set and the operation must satisfy a few conditions called group axioms, namely closure, associativity, identity...
. Arthur T. White introduced the following concept. The genus of a group
is the minimum genus of a (connected, undirected) Cayley graphCayley graph
In mathematics, a Cayley graph, also known as a Cayley colour graph, Cayley diagram, group diagram, or colour group is a graph that encodes the abstract structure of a group. Its definition is suggested by Cayley's theorem and uses a specified, usually finite, set of generators for the group...
for
.The graph genus problem is NP-complete
NP-complete
In computational complexity theory, the complexity class NP-complete is a class of decision problems. A decision problem L is NP-complete if it is in the set of NP problems so that any given solution to the decision problem can be verified in polynomial time, and also in the set of NP-hard...
.
Algebraic geometry
There are two related definitions of genus of any projective algebraic schemeScheme (mathematics)
In mathematics, a scheme is an important concept connecting the fields of algebraic geometry, commutative algebra and number theory. Schemes were introduced by Alexander Grothendieck so as to broaden the notion of algebraic variety; some consider schemes to be the basic object of study of modern...
X: the arithmetic genus
Arithmetic genus
In mathematics, the arithmetic genus of an algebraic variety is one of some possible generalizations of the genus of an algebraic curve or Riemann surface.The arithmetic genus of a projective complex manifold...
and the geometric genus
Geometric genus
In algebraic geometry, the geometric genus is a basic birational invariant pg of algebraic varieties and complex manifolds.-Definition:...
. When X is an algebraic curve
Algebraic curve
In algebraic geometry, an algebraic curve is an algebraic variety of dimension one. The theory of these curves in general was quite fully developed in the nineteenth century, after many particular examples had been considered, starting with circles and other conic sections.- Plane algebraic curves...
with field of definition the complex number
Complex number
A complex number is a number consisting of a real part and an imaginary part. Complex numbers extend the idea of the one-dimensional number line to the two-dimensional complex plane by using the number line for the real part and adding a vertical axis to plot the imaginary part...
s, and if X has no singular points
Tangent space
In mathematics, the tangent space of a manifold facilitates the generalization of vectors from affine spaces to general manifolds, since in the latter case one cannot simply subtract two points to obtain a vector pointing from one to the other....
, then both of these definitions agree and coincide with the topological definition applied to the Riemann surface
Riemann surface
In mathematics, particularly in complex analysis, a Riemann surface, first studied by and named after Bernhard Riemann, is a one-dimensional complex manifold. Riemann surfaces can be thought of as "deformed versions" of the complex plane: locally near every point they look like patches of the...
of X (its manifold
Manifold
In mathematics , a manifold is a topological space that on a small enough scale resembles the Euclidean space of a specific dimension, called the dimension of the manifold....
of complex points). The definition of elliptic curve
Elliptic curve
In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point O. An elliptic curve is in fact an abelian variety — that is, it has a multiplication defined algebraically with respect to which it is a group — and O serves as the identity...
from algebraic geometry is connected non-singular projective curve of genus 1 with a given rational point on it.
See also
- Cayley graphCayley graphIn mathematics, a Cayley graph, also known as a Cayley colour graph, Cayley diagram, group diagram, or colour group is a graph that encodes the abstract structure of a group. Its definition is suggested by Cayley's theorem and uses a specified, usually finite, set of generators for the group...
- GroupGroup (mathematics)In mathematics, a group is an algebraic structure consisting of a set together with an operation that combines any two of its elements to form a third element. To qualify as a group, the set and the operation must satisfy a few conditions called group axioms, namely closure, associativity, identity...
- Geometric genusGeometric genusIn algebraic geometry, the geometric genus is a basic birational invariant pg of algebraic varieties and complex manifolds.-Definition:...
- Arithmetic genusArithmetic genusIn mathematics, the arithmetic genus of an algebraic variety is one of some possible generalizations of the genus of an algebraic curve or Riemann surface.The arithmetic genus of a projective complex manifold...
- Genus of a multiplicative sequenceGenus of a multiplicative sequenceIn mathematics, the genus of a multiplicative sequence is a ring homomorphism, from the cobordism ring of smooth oriented compact manifolds to another ring, usually the ring of rational numbers.-Definition:...