Let $M$ be an oriented smooth manifold and $\operatorname{Homeo}\!(M,\omega )$ the group of measure preserving homeomorphisms of $M$, where $\omega$ is a finite measure induced by a volume form. In this paper, we define volume and Euler classes in bounded cohomology of an infinite dimensional transformation group $\operatorname{Homeo}_0\!(M,\omega )$ and $\operatorname{Homeo}_+\!(M,\omega )$, respectively, and in several cases prove their non-triviality. More precisely, we define:

• • Volume classes in $\operatorname{H}_b^n(\operatorname{Homeo}_0\!(M,\omega ))$, where $M$ is a hyperbolic manifold of dimension $n$.

• • Euler classes in $\operatorname{H}_b^2(\operatorname{Homeo}_+(S,\omega ))$, where $S$ is an oriented closed hyperbolic surface.

We show that Euler classes have positive norms for any closed hyperbolic surface and volume classes have positive norms for all hyperbolic surfaces and certain hyperbolic $3$-manifolds; hence, they are non-trivial.

Given any topological group G, the topological classification of principal G-bundles over a finite CW-complex X is long known to be given by the set of free homotopy classes of maps from X to the corresponding classifying space BG. This classical result has been long-used to provide such classification in terms of explicit characteristic classes. However, even when X has dimension 2, there is a case in which such explicit classification has not been explicitly considered. This is the case where G is a Lie group, whose group of components acts nontrivially on its fundamental group $\pi_1G$ . Here, we deal with this case and obtain the classification, in terms of characteristic classes, of principal G-bundles over a finite CW-complex of dimension 2, with G is a Lie group such that $\pi_0G$ is abelian.

The main purpose of this article is to define a quadratic analogue of the Chern character, the so-called Borel character, that identifies rational higher Grothendieck-Witt groups with a sum of rational Milnor-Witt (MW)-motivic cohomologies and rational motivic cohomologies. We also discuss the notion of ternary laws due to Walter, a quadratic analogue of formal group laws, and compute what we call the additive ternary laws, associated with MW-motivic cohomology. Finally, we provide an application of the Borel character by showing that the Milnor-Witt K-theory of a field F embeds into suitable higher Grothendieck-Witt groups of F modulo explicit torsion.

Vanishing cycles, introduced over half a century ago, are a fundamental tool for studying the topology of complex hypersurface singularity germs, as well as the change in topology of a degenerating family of projective manifolds. More recently, vanishing cycles have found deep applications in enumerative geometry, representation theory, applied algebraic geometry, birational geometry, etc. In this survey, we introduce vanishing cycles from a topological perspective and discuss some of their applications.

In this paper we give explicit formulas for differential characteristic classes of principal $G$-bundles with connections and prove their expected properties. In particular, we obtain explicit formulas for differential Chern classes, differential Pontryagin classes and the differential Euler class. Furthermore, we show that the differential Chern class is the unique natural transformation from (Simons–Sullivan) differential $K$-theory to (Cheeger–Simons) differential characters that is compatible with curvature and characteristic class. We also give the explicit formula for the differential Chern class on Freed–Lott differential $K$-theory. Finally, we discuss the odd differential Chern classes.

A logarithmic 1-form on $\mathbb C\mathbb P^n$ can be written as

\omega=\biggl(\prod_0^m F_j\biggr)\sum_0^m \lambda_i\frac{dF_i}{F_i}=\lambda_0 \widehat F_0 \,dF_0+\cdots+\lambda_m \widehat F_m \,dF_m

with $\widehat F_i=(\prod_0^m F_j)/F_i$ for some homogeneous polynomials Fi of degree di and constants $\lambda_i\in{\mathbb C}^\star$ such that $\sum\lambda_id_i=0$. For general $F_i,\lambda_i$, the singularities of $\omega$ consist of a schematic union of the codimension 2 subvarieties Fi = Fj = 0 together with, possibly, finitely many isolated points. This is the case when all Fi are smooth and in general position. In this situation, we give a formula which prescribes the number of isolated singularities.