7.05 Fundamental group of the circle

Below the video you will find accompanying notes and some pre-class questions.

Notes

Fundamental group of the circle

(0.00) In this section, we will see a proof that π1(S1,1)=Z.

Given an integer n, define the loop δn(t):=e2πint.

Define the homomorphism F:Zπ1(S1,1) by F(n)=[δn]. We need to check:

F is a homomorphism

(1.36) F(0)=[δ0] and δ0(t)=e0=1 is the constant loop, so F takes the identity to the identity.

(2.23) To see that F(m+n)=F(m)F(n), we need to check that δnδmδm+n [NOTE: I got my concatenation the wrong way around in the video]. Let p:RS1 be the covering map p(x)=eix and let ˜δn be the unique lift of δn with the initial condition ˜δn(0)=0, in other words δn(t)=ei˜δn(t).

(4.03) Let ˜δm be the unique lift of δm to the same covering space with ˜δm(0)=˜δn(1). The concatenation ˜δn˜δm makes sense and is a lift of δnδm.

(5.23) Finally, let ˜δm+n be the unique lift of δm+n to the same covering space with ˜δm+n(0)=0.

(6.28) We have ˜δm+n(t)=2π(m+n)t)˜δm(t)=2πmt˜δn(t)=2π(nt+m)

so ˜δn˜δm and ˜δm+n are paths which start at 0 and end at 2π(m+n).

(9.16) Since R is simply-connected, any two paths with the same endpoints are homotopic rel endpoints, so ˜δm˜δn˜δm+n via a homotopy H. The homotopy pH is then a homotopy δnδmδm+n.

F is injective

(10.30) As F is a homomorphism, it suffices to show that nker(F) implies n=0. We therefore want to show that if n0 then δn is not homotopic to the constant loop.

(11.18) For this, we will show that, for a suitable covering space, the monodromy σδn is nontrivial. Let p:RS1 be the covering space p(x)=eix. For each 2πk2πZ=p1(1), the path ˜δn(t)=2π(nt+k) is a lift of the loop δn with initial condition 2πk, so σδn(2πk)=˜δn(1)=2π(n+k).

We see that the monodromy σδn:2πZ2πZ is 2πk2π(k+n), which is nontrivial if n0.

F is surjective

(15.07) Given a loop γ:[0,1]S1 based at 1S1, we want to find an n such that δnγ. Take the same covering space p:RS1 and lift γ to get a path ˜γ in R with ˜γ(0)=0 (so γ(t)=exp(i˜γ(t))). If n=˜γ(1)/2π then nZ. Let ˜δn be the unique lift of δn with ˜δn(0)=0. Then ˜δn and ˜γ are paths in R connecting 0 to 2πn. Because R is simply-connected, these paths are homotopic via a homotopy H, which implies that δnγ via the homotopy pH.

Pre-class questions

  1. What was the key property of the covering space p:RS1 which made this proof work?

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