Foundations of geometric cohomology: from co-orientations to product structures

Abstract: This manuscript develops a geometric approach to ordinary cohomology of smooth manifolds, constructing a cochain complex model based on co-oriented smooth maps from manifolds with corners. Special attention is given to the pull-back product of such smooth maps, which provides our geometric cochains with a partially defined product structure inducing the cup product in cohomology. A parallel treatment of homology is also given allowing for a geometric unification of the contravariant and covariant theories.