In mathematics, a Haefliger structure on a topological space is a generalization of a foliation of a manifold, introduced by Haefliger (1970, 1971). Any foliation on a manifold induces a Haefliger structure, which uniquely determines the foliation.
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Definition
A Haefliger structure on a space X is determined by a Haefliger cocycle. A codimension-q Haefliger cocycle consists of a covering of X by open sets Uα, together with continuous maps Ψαβ from Uα ∩ Uβ to the sheaf of germs of local diffeomorphisms of Rq, satisfying the 1-cocycle condition
More generally, Cr, PL, analytic, and continuous Haefliger structures are defined by replacing sheaves of germs of smooth diffeomorphisms by the appropriate sheaves.
Haefliger structure and foliations
A codimension-q foliation can be specified by a covering of X by open sets Uα, together with a submersion φα from each open set Uα to Rq, such that for each α, β there is a map Φαβ from Uα ∩ Uβ to local diffeomorphisms with
whenever v is close enough to u. The Haefliger cocycle is defined by
An advantage of Haefliger structures over foliations is that they are closed under pullbacks. If f is a continuous map from X to Y then one can take pullbacks of foliations on Y provided that f is transverse to the foliation, but if f is not transverse the pullback can be a Haefliger structure that is not a foliation.
Classifying space
Two Haefliger structures on X are called concordant if they are the restrictions of Haefliger structures on X×[0,1] to X×0 and X×1.
If f is a continuous map from X to Y, then there is a pullback under f of Haefliger structures on Y to Haefliger structures on X.
There is a classifying space BΓq for codimension-q Haefliger structures which has a universal Haefliger structure on it in the following sense. For any topological space X and continuous map from X to BΓq the pullback of the universal Haefliger structure is a Haefliger structure on X. For well-behaved topological spaces X this induces a 1:1 correspondence between homotopy classes of maps from X to BΓq and concordance classes of Haefliger structures.