{"id":{"repo_id":"durham","oai_identifier":"oai:etheses.durham.ac.uk:736"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/durham/oai:etheses.durham.ac.uk:736","repository":{"repo_id":"durham","name":"Durham University","base_url":"http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Topological Complexity of Configuration Spaces","abstract":"In this thesis we study the homotopy invariant TC(X); the topological complexity of a space X. This invariant, introduced by Farber in [15], was originally motivated by a problem in Robotics; the motion planning problem. We study relations between the topological complexity of a space and its fundamental group, namely when the fundamental group is ”small”, i.e. either has small order or small cohomological dimension. We also apply the navigation functions technique introduced in [20] to the study of the topological complexity of projective and lens spaces. In particular, we introduce a class of navigation functions on projective and lens spaces. It is known ([25]) that the topological complexity of a real projective space equals one plus its immersion dimension. A similar approach to the immersion dimension of some lens spaces has been suggested in [31]. Finally, we study the topological complexity (and other invariants) of random right-angled Artin groups, i.e. the stochastic behaviour of the topological complexity of Eilenberg-MacLane spaces of type K(G, 1), where G is a right-angled Artin group associated to a random graph.","abstract_html":"In this thesis we study the homotopy invariant TC(X); the topological complexity of a space X. This invariant, introduced by Farber in [15], was originally motivated by a problem in Robotics; the motion planning problem. We study relations between the topological complexity of a space and its fundamental group, namely when the fundamental group is ”small”, i.e. either has small order or small cohomological dimension. We also apply the navigation functions technique introduced in [20] to the study of the topological complexity of projective and lens spaces. In particular, we introduce a class of navigation functions on projective and lens spaces. It is known ([25]) that the topological complexity of a real projective space equals one plus its immersion dimension. A similar approach to the immersion dimension of some lens spaces has been suggested in [31]. Finally, we study the topological complexity (and other invariants) of random right-angled Artin groups, i.e. the stochastic behaviour of the topological complexity of Eilenberg-MacLane spaces of type K(G, 1), where G is a right-angled Artin group associated to a random graph.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Costa, Armindo Emanuel"],"institution":"Durham University","degree_name":"PhD","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010","date_published":"2010","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:11:14Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Costa, Armindo Emanuel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2010"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2010"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Mathematical Sciences, Department of"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Durham University"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://etheses.durham.ac.uk/id/eprint/736/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://etheses.durham.ac.uk/id/eprint/736/1/thesis__ArmindoCosta.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In this thesis we study the homotopy invariant TC(X); the topological complexity of a space X. This invariant, introduced by Farber in [15], was originally motivated by a problem in Robotics; the motion planning problem. We study relations between the topological complexity of a space and its fundamental group, namely when the fundamental group is ”small”, i.e. either has small order or small cohomological dimension. We also apply the navigation functions technique introduced in [20] to the study of the topological complexity of projective and lens spaces. In particular, we introduce a class of navigation functions on projective and lens spaces. It is known ([25]) that the topological complexity of a real projective space equals one plus its immersion dimension. A similar approach to the immersion dimension of some lens spaces has been suggested in [31]. Finally, we study the topological complexity (and other invariants) of random right-angled Artin groups, i.e. the stochastic behaviour of the topological complexity of Eilenberg-MacLane spaces of type K(G, 1), where G is a right-angled Artin group associated to a random graph."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["text"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Topological Complexity of Configuration Spaces"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Costa, Armindo Emanuel"],"dc:date":["2010"],"dc:date.issued":["2010"],"dc:description.abstract":["In this thesis we study the homotopy invariant TC(X); the topological complexity of a space X. This invariant, introduced by Farber in [15], was originally motivated by a problem in Robotics; the motion planning problem. We study relations between the topological complexity of a space and its fundamental group, namely when the fundamental group is ”small”, i.e. either has small order or small cohomological dimension. We also apply the navigation functions technique introduced in [20] to the study of the topological complexity of projective and lens spaces. In particular, we introduce a class of navigation functions on projective and lens spaces. It is known ([25]) that the topological complexity of a real projective space equals one plus its immersion dimension. A similar approach to the immersion dimension of some lens spaces has been suggested in [31]. Finally, we study the topological complexity (and other invariants) of random right-angled Artin groups, i.e. the stochastic behaviour of the topological complexity of Eilenberg-MacLane spaces of type K(G, 1), where G is a right-angled Artin group associated to a random graph."],"dc:format":["text"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://etheses.durham.ac.uk/id/eprint/736/1/thesis__ArmindoCosta.pdf"],"dc:publisher.department":["Mathematical Sciences, Department of"],"dc:publisher.institution":["Durham University"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://etheses.durham.ac.uk/id/eprint/736/"],"dc:title":["Topological Complexity of Configuration Spaces"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:11:14Z"}