Paper 2, Section II, 21F

Algebraic Topology
Part II, 2021

(a) State a suitable version of the Seifert-van Kampen theorem and use it to calculate the fundamental groups of the torus T2:=S1×S1T^{2}:=S^{1} \times S^{1} and of the real projective plane RP2\mathbb{R P}^{2}.

(b) Show that there are no covering maps T2RP2T^{2} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} \mathbb{P}^{2} or RP2T2\mathbb{R P}^{2} \rightarrow T^{2}.

(c) Consider the following covering space of S1S1S^{1} \vee S^{1} :

Here the line segments labelled aa and bb are mapped to the two different copies of S1S^{1} contained in S1S1S^{1} \vee S^{1}, with orientations as indicated.

Using the Galois correspondence with basepoints, identify a subgroup of

π1(S1S1,x0)=F2\pi_{1}\left(S^{1} \vee S^{1}, x_{0}\right)=F_{2}

(where x0x_{0} is the wedge point) that corresponds to this covering space.