The theory of characteristic classes provides a meeting ground for the various disciplines of differential topology, differential and algebraic geometry, cohomo

Characteristic classes are central to the modern study of the topology and geometry of manifolds. They were first introduced in topology, where, for instance, t

The notion of a fibre bundle first arose out of questions posed in the 1930s on the topology and geometry of manifolds. By the year 1950 the defini tion of fibr

This book examines the differential geometry of manifolds, loop spaces, line bundles and groupoids, and the relations of this geometry to mathematical physics.