Combinatorial Algebraic Topology

Combinatorial algebraic topology is a fascinating and dynamic field at the crossroads of algebraic topology and discrete mathematics. This volume is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject in book form. The first part of the book constitutes a swift walk through the main tools of algebraic topology, including Stiefel-Whitney characteristic classes, which are needed for the later parts. Readers - graduate students and working mathematicians alike - will probably find particularly useful the second part, which contains an in-depth discussion of the major research techniques of combinatorial algebraic topology. Our presentation of standard topics is quite different from that of existing texts. In addition, several new themes, such as spectral sequences, are included. Although applications are sprinkled throughout the second part, they are principal focus of the third part, which is entirely devoted to developing the topological structure theory for graph homomorphisms. The main benefit for the reader will be the prospect of fairly quickly getting to the forefront of modern research in this active field.

From the reviews:

"This is an introduction to the beautiful world of combinatorial algebraic topology, describing the modern research tools and latest applications in this field. … This could be used as material for a reading seminar on Chromatic numbers and the Kneser Conjecture, structural theory of morphism complexes, characteristic classes and chromatic numbers, applications of spectral sequence to Hom Complexes. … an interesting book with large perspective in studying problems on the borderline between discrete mathematics and algebraic topology." (Corina Mohorianu, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1130 (8), 2008)

“This monograph offers an introduction to combinatorial algebraic topology, an active field connecting algebraic topology with discrete mathematics and computer science. It is intended to be ‘A book to teach from’, providing a self-contained introduction that swiftly guides the reader to the forefront of modern research.” (St. Haller, Monatshefte für Mathematik, Vol. 162 (3), March, 2011)

The author is recipient of Wallenberg Prize of the Swedish Mathematics Society (2003), Gustafsson Prize of the Goran Gustafsson Foundation (2004), and the European Prize in Combinatorics (2005) (see http://www.math.tu-berlin.de/EuroComb05/prize.html for further information). He works at the interface of Discrete Mathematics, Algebraic
Topology, and Theoretical Computer Science. 

He has obtained his doctorate from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm in 1996. After longer stays at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute at Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the University of Washington, Seattle, and Bern University, he has been a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, and an Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich. Currently he holds the Chair of Algebra and Geometry at the University of Bremen, Germany.