Characteristic classes of very singular spaces
by
Steven Ferry
SUNY Center at Binghamton

We will use the methods of controlled topology to define characteristic classes for a wide variety of homology manifolds.

In particular, our methods will apply to homology manifolds which are not locally simply connected, such as those encountered as spaces at infinity of Davis-Januskiewicz manifolds. This construction leads to a relatively straightforward description of Quinn's resolution obstruction for homology manifolds. It is therefore potentially useful in settling the old question of whether every Poincaré duality group is the fundamental group of an aspherical manifold.

Date received: April 17, 1998

Copyright © 1998 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Mathematical Conference Abstracts. Document # cabb-26.