Geometric Topology: Localization, Periodicity and Galois Symmetry

The seminal 'MIT notes' of Dennis Sullivan were issued in June 1970 and were widely circulated at the time. The notes had a - jor in?uence on the development of both algebraic and geometric topology, pioneering the localization and completion of spaces in homotopy theory, including p-local, pro?nite and rational homotopy theory, le- ing to the solution of the Adams conjecture on the relationship between vector bundles and spherical ?brations, the formulation of the 'Sullivan conjecture' on the contractibility of the space of maps from the classifying space of a ?nite group to a ?nite dimensional CW complex, theactionoftheGalois groupoverQofthealgebraicclosureQof Q on smooth manifold structures in pro?nite homotopy theory, the K-theory orientation ofPL manifolds and bundles. Some of this material has been already published by Sullivan him- 1 self: in an article in the Proceedings of the 1970 Nice ICM, and in the 1974 Annals of Mathematics papers Genetics of homotopy theory and the Adams conjecture and The transversality character- 2 istic class and linking cycles in surgery theory . Many of the ideas originating in the notes have been the starting point of subsequent 1 reprinted at the end of this volume 2 joint with John Morgan vii viii 3 developments . However, the text itself retains a unique ?avour of its time, and of the range of Sullivan's ideas.