In
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, a closed manifold is a
manifold
In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a n ...
without boundary that is
compact.
In comparison, an open manifold is a manifold without boundary that has only ''non-compact'' components.
Examples
The only
connected one-dimensional example is a
circle.
The
sphere,
torus, and the
Klein bottle
In topology, a branch of mathematics, the Klein bottle () is an example of a non-orientable surface; it is a two-dimensional manifold against which a system for determining a normal vector cannot be consistently defined. Informally, it is a o ...
are all closed two-dimensional manifolds.
A
line
Line most often refers to:
* Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity
* Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system
Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to:
Arts ...
is not closed because it is not compact.
A
closed disk is a compact two-dimensional manifold, but it is not closed because it has a boundary.
Open manifolds
For a connected manifold, "open" is equivalent to "without boundary and non-compact", but for a disconnected manifold, open is stronger. For instance, the disjoint union of a circle and a line is non-compact since a line is non-compact, but this is not an open manifold since the circle (one of its components) is compact.
Abuse of language
Most books generally define a manifold as a space that is, locally,
homeomorphic
In the mathematical field of topology, a homeomorphism, topological isomorphism, or bicontinuous function is a bijective and continuous function between topological spaces that has a continuous inverse function. Homeomorphisms are the isomorphi ...
to
Euclidean space (along with some other technical conditions), thus by this definition a manifold does not include its boundary when it is embedded in a larger space. However, this definition doesn’t cover some basic objects such as a
closed disk, so authors sometimes define a
manifold with boundary and abusively say ''manifold'' without reference to the boundary. But normally, a compact manifold (compact with respect to its underlying topology) can synonymously be used for closed manifold if the usual definition for manifold is used.
The notion of a closed manifold is unrelated to that of a
closed set
In geometry, topology, and related branches of mathematics, a closed set is a set whose complement is an open set. In a topological space, a closed set can be defined as a set which contains all its limit points. In a complete metric space, a cl ...
. A line is a closed subset of the plane, and a manifold, but not a closed manifold.
Use in physics
The notion of a "
closed universe" can refer to the universe being a closed manifold but more likely refers to the universe being a manifold of constant positive
Ricci curvature.
See also
*
References
*
Michael Spivak: ''A Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry.'' Volume 1. 3rd edition with corrections. Publish or Perish, Houston TX 2005, .
{{Manifolds
Differential geometry
Manifolds
Geometric topology