Spectral Sequences

Abstract

This chapter focuses on spectral sequences. The spectral sequence is a powerful computational tool in the theory of fiber bundles. First introduced by Jean Leray in the 1940s, it was further refined by Jean-Louis Koszul, Henri Cartan, Jean-Pierre Serre, and many others. The chapter provides a short introduction, without proofs, to spectral sequences. As an example, it computes the cohomology of the complex projective plane. The chapter then details Leray's theorem. A spectral sequence is like a book with many pages. Each time one turns a page, one obtains a new page that is the cohomology of the previous page.