Math 131: Final Exam Solutions

(1) Let X be a compact Hausdorff space and let be an equivalence relation

on X. Show that the quotient space X/ is Hausdorff if and only if the
subset {(x, y) X X : x y} is closed in X X.
Suppose first that the quotient Y = X/ is Hausdorff. Let Y Y
be the diagonal. Then is a closed subset of Y Y . The natural map f :
X X Y Y is continuous, so that f 1 = {(x, y) X X : x y} is a
closed subset of X X.
Conversely, suppose that S = {(x, y) X X : x y} is closed. Let
p1 , p2 : X X X be projection onto the first and second factor, respectively,
and let q : X Y be the quotient map. We first claim that the map q is
closed. Let K X be a closed subset; we wish to prove that its image q(K)
is a closed subset of Y . Since q is a quotient map, it suffices to show that
q 1 q(K) = p2 (S p1
1 K) is closed. Since X is compact, the map p2 is closed;
it therefore suffices to observe that S p1
1 K is closed (since S is closed and
p1
K
is
closed
by
virtue
of
the
continuity
of p1 ).
1
Now suppose that we are given distinct points x, y Y ; we wish to prove that
there exist disjoint open sets in Y containing x and y, respectively. Note that
q 1 {x} = {x0 X : (x, x0 ) S} is a closed subset of X, and therefore compact.
Similarly, q 1 {y} is a compact subset of X. Since X is Hausdorff, we can choose
disjoint open subsets U, V X such that q 1 {x} U and q 1 {y} V . Let
U0 = {z Y : q 1 {z} U } and let V0 = {z Y : q 1 {z} V }. Then
U0 = Y q(X U ). Since q is a closed map, q(X U ) Y is closed and
therefore U0 is open. Similarly, V0 is open. Thus U0 and V0 are disjoint open
sets in Y containing x and y, respectively.
(2) Let S 2 = {(x, y, z) R3 : x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 1} be the 2-sphere and S 3 =
{(w, x, y, z) R4 : w2 + x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 1} be the 3-sphere. Show that S 2
is not homeomorphic to S 3 .
Suppose there exists a homeomorphism h : S 2 S 3 . Without loss of
generality (composing h with a rotation if necessary) we may assume that h
carries the North pole x = (0, 0, 1) S 2 to the North pole x0 = (0, 0, 0, 1) S 3 .
Then h induces a homeomorphism S 2 {x} S 3 {x0 }. By stereographic
projection, we have homeomorphisms
S 2 {x} ' R2

S 3 {x} ' R3 .

We therefore obtain a homeomorphism h0 : R2 R3 . Without loss of generality

(composing with a translation if necessary), we may assume that h0 carries the
origin 0 R2 to the origin 0 R3 . It follows that we obtain a homeomorphism
v
, log |v|) determines a homeoh00 : R2 {0} R3 {0}. The map v 7 ( |v|
3
2
morphism R {0} ' S R. We know from class that S 2 and R are simply
connected, so the product S 2 R is also simply connected. Using the homeomorphism h00 , we deduce that R2 {0} is simply connected. This contradicts
our calculation 1 (R2 {0}) ' Z.
(3) Let G be a topological group, and let e G be the identity element. Show
that the fundamental group 1 (G, e) is abelian.
Let m : G G G be the multiplication on G. Since m is continuous, it
induces a group homomorphism
f : 1 (G, e) 1 (G, e) 1 (G G, (e, e)) 1 (G, e).
Let e : [0, 1] G be the constant map taking the value e, and let [e] denote
its homotopy class (which is the identity element of 1 (G, e)). For any loop
p : [0, 1] G, we have m(e(t), p(t)) = p(t) = m(p(t), e(t)), so that
f ([p], [e]) = [p] = f ([e], [p]).
Now let [p], [q] be arbitrary elements of 1 (G, e). Since f is a group homomorphism, we compute
[p][q] = f ([p], [e])f ([e], [q]) = f ([p][e], [e][q]) = f ([e][p], [q][e]) = f ([e], [q])f ([p], [e]) = [q][p],
so that the group 1 (G, e) is abelian.
(4) Let T 2 = S 1 S 1 = {(z1 , z2 ) C C : |z1 | = |z2 | = 1} be a torus. Define
an equivalence relation on T 2 so that (z1 , z2 ) (z10 , z20 ) if and only if
(z1 , z2 ) = (z10 , z20 ) or (z1 , z2 ) = (z10 , z10 ), and let X be the quotient space
2
T 2 / . Show that the fundamental group of X is not abelian.
Let p : T 2 / X be the quotient map, and let q : R2 T 2 be the map
given by (x, y) 7 (e2ix , e2iy ). The map q is also a quotient map, so that
(p q) : R2 X is also a quotient map. Let G denote the group of all linear
transformations from R2 to itself having the form
(x, y) 7 (x + m, y + n)
or

m, n Z

1
(x, y) 7 (x + m + , y + n)
m, n Z.
2
Note that G the action of G on R2 is topologically free: for any v R2 , the
open ball U = B 41 (v) does not intersect g(U ) for any g G. Note also that
two points v, w R2 have the same image in X if and only if v = g(w) for
2

some g G. It follows that we can identify X with the quotient space R2 /G.
Since R2 is simply connected, we deduce that there is a canonical isomorphism
1 (X, x) ' G (for any base point x X). It now suffices to observe that the
linear transformations
1
(x, y) 7 (x + , y)
2

(x, y) 7 (x, y + 1)
belong to G and do not commute.