Paths

1 et X be a topological space Recall that a path in X from

x to X is a continuous function f o D X st

f o Xo and f i xp we'll now keep 0,1 as our domain

we say two paths f and g both from to Xi are

homotopic if roughly we can continuously deform one to
the other

doggie topic
not to h

ie We have a continuous to
family of paths deforming t g
Precisely

Defi Two paths f and g from x to x are pathhomotopic

if there's a continuous map F 0,13
Ix I
6,1
X sit
Fls 0 t s F s l s F o t Xo and F 1st x
g
called a pathhomotopy we write f pg
i e for each teco I get another path
we ft s F s t
fwm x to X between f and g
t

g Think of
the
time
s Variable
We also have a more general notion of homotopy that we'll come
back to later

Def If f X Y and g X Y are continuous they are

h ic toeachother if 7 a continuous function

F XXI Y sit F x o f x and F x I glx called a

homotopy betweenf and and we write
fig
g
If f is homotopic to a constant map we say f is
Mimi
Emma and p are equivalence relations

Pf Clearly f't sit Ffx t f x works

Suppose f F x t
Eg w homotopy
path
G x t F x I t is a
homotopy and gives get

Now assume f g and

g h w corresponding homotopies
F and G Define It Xx 0,1 Y by
2T for beco K
H x f G x 2T l for tech I

It is well defined if t E F x 2ft g

x G x 2ft l
Thus it's continuous and therefore a path homotopy D

If t is a path we denote its path homotopy equivalence class

by f
 EI 1 If f g are paths in 1122
from x to y
we can define the straight lineholnotopy
F s t l t t s s
toy
that connects the point f s to the point s
by a
g
line segment f
In fact this holds for
subspace

µ
EYRE.IM

g
2 let X be the punctured plane Pi o.o

And f and paths from f 1,0 to 0,1 sit

g
The y coordinate of f is 20 and the y coordinate of
g
is to

h
There is no Tff

homotopy between
f and in k
g
We'll see precisely why later

Productsotpat
If f is a path from toy and g a path from Y to Z
 We get a new path f g from to 2 by running
fandy
twice as quickly ie

5 Zs Seco Yz
f g g
TX
ghs l secy
yL.z g

path
This product is well defined on homotopy classes
ie f g f long as 5 l o
g as
g

Does this operation have an identity Inverses

Identities
nm
Each point x c X has an identity id ex the class of the
constant path e s x Then f idy f id f by
changing how quickly we run each path
t

17
More precisely the proof follows
easily from the following claim

Chaim If h X Y is continuous and f and are homotopic

g
Paths in X then hot and hog are homotopic paths in Y
F
I XI X
compositi
is continuous
fh
y
Thus if i o I o l is the identity in Co D then
path
Go i i since o I is convex But then

f n o I X is continuous so

f fo i e fo e i fo e foi ex f
similarly f e f Ey

Inverses
mm

If f is a path from X to y define I to be the path fromy to

f s f l s

Then f I p Cx by the followinghomotopy

y
f I Y y
x me it
x x C

We that this is in fact

can see a homotopy by using the
above claim and the fact that i I in 0,1
eo

So each point has an identity path and every path has an inverse

Claim The path homotopy classes form a groupoid w objects

the points of X and Mor x f it is a

g fgm
pain

Notice Mor x y is nonempty x and y are in the

same path component

All that remains to show for the claim is associativity
which is trickier but we can demonstrate using the following

diagram for f g h paths in X s t

5 i and gci h o
g o
f g h

Tt
r
f g
a
a h
a
Thefundamentalgroup

The collection of paths in a space X isn't a group because

we can't multiply every pair of objects and there's no
identity In terms of category theory this is because
we have more than one object It instead we restrict our
ie
category to one object one point at which all paths begin
and end we
get a
group

Def X a space x c X a basefeint A path in X from

to itself is a loud The set of path homotopy classes of loops
based at xo w operation concatenation is called the
fundamentalgroupy of X denoted IT Xoxo

In terms of the category of paths this is just Mor xoxo Aut xo

Exi In IR everyloop f at Xo is path homotopic to the identity

i.e the constantpath by the
straight line homotopy
F s t f s l t t t x
f
So IT 112 is trivial
Moreover any convex subspace of 112 has trivial fundamental

group

Defi X is called simply

ionted if it's nonempty path connected
 and for x c X IT X exo is trivial eg Sh h l

Dependinceonbasepoint
let Xo c X be in the same path component of X and
a path from Xo to

Then for any loop f at Xo we loop

get a at Xo as follows

Xo E X

So we
get a
group homomorphism
T IT X xo IT X x givenby
i
i
f I f d which is welldefinedsince is welldefined
on homotopy classes

Claim 2 is agroup isomorphism

PI If A Be IT X xo Thus 2 AB a AB x

4 AK D BCD
I A 2 B
If p J then IT X x IT X Xo and

2h51AM Cat ACP D A

Ii
g
 By symmetry God id as well so I is groupisomorphism D
a

In particular if X is path connected it X xo is independent of X UptoIsom

Cori Any loop fat x induces an automorphism I c Aut ThxxoD

called an inner automorphism

ITasafunct
We want to check that IT is a functor from the category of
pointed topological spaces to the category of groups

A pointedtopologipace is a topological space along w choice of

a basepoint X Xo In this category the morphisms are
continuous maps that preserve basepoints ie

f X xo Y yo st f X Y is continuous and f Xo yo

DEI let h X a Y yo be continuous Define

h IT X xo IT Y yo by
h f hot f
I
This is the
gyp homeomorphism
induced by h hotyffh
We need to check h is well defined
path
if F is a homotopy between
f and g then h F is a path
homotopy between hot and hog

Why is h homomorphism hot ho f

a hog g
h preserves concatenation

Claim IT is a functor w induced morphisms IT h h

PI let h X xo Y yo and K Yyo Z Zo be continuous

If f c IT X Xo Then

Koh D oh of Kolhof k hot k h ft

Similarly id idxo f t idqcx.no ft D

Core If h X xo Y yo is a homeomorphism then

h is an isomorphism Exercise

In fact we say something much more general once

can

we to deformation retracts and homotopy equivalence

get

Retractions
De let A EX then if r X A is a continuous map set
a a t aeA r is called a retraction of X onto A

and A is a retract of X
Then if i A a Xiao is the inclusion we have
i r
A A so r oi id i is injective and is
id

surjective
 Covering Spaces

Our goal in this section is to prove first result

our
big
about fundamental groups

The fundamental
group of S is isomorphic to 12

Defi let p CB be continuousand surjective p evenlycovers an

open set U B
C if we can write p U UVa where V
opensets sit V U is
are disjoint for each 4
ply a

homeomorphism The Va are called slices

HTTP
and
u

BP
u

tf every point be B has a neighborhood U that is evenly covered

by p then p is a coveringmapy and E is a covering space of B B is called the base of

thecovering

Exi Define the map p IR S by p x cos x sinx

This is a
covering
p
map Consider
the point bolts
The open set g

U he.gl xso3rs
has preimage p u U Zita Iz 2in
nee E
 The If p E B and
q C B are covering maps then so is

pxq Ex C BxB

Pf If b b c BxB w corresponding evenly covered

neighborhoods U b and U't b then p 4 4 p a xpki

which is the union of open slices of the form V XVI

homeomorphic to U U as desired D

Examplei Consider the torus S XS Since IRcovers S

IR covers 81 8
T pxp

Htt
I I
o

If we have a covering p C B and Bo EB a subspace we also

get a covering p Bo Boi

let be S be a point on the circle and consider

Bo bxs U six b E S x S

e ie
eightspace
OOo i
Bo is the union of two circles w a point in common
We obtain a covering space of Bo by taking pip Bo
 t

hes
112 21112 U 2172 x IR henman
e happy

E For any topological space X we can take fY X X

where Xp is homeomorphic to X and
fly is a homeomorphism

f is a coveringmap

fierce on Hw If B is connected and P E B is a covering

map then forany two points y c B the cardinality of the

x
t
fibers p x and p y are the same If the cardinality is
ds d d is called the degree of the covering

Consider S E E consisting of complex s w 121 1 Then

p S s given by
p z z is an n fold covering
y deg2
covering
Os's
Lifting
De Let p C B be a continuous function
If t X B is another continuous function to B then
a
lifting of f is a
map I X E s t p of f
 i e E
JP commutes
X B
f

If p E B is a
coveringmap then we can locally lift functions

ie it f X E UE B and U is evenly covered then we can lift

f to one of the sheets

0 E IR

Jp
B S
f I O
g

We'll see that if p E B is a covering paths and path

homotopies on B can be lifted

EX Consider the covering

p IR on s given by p x usa sinx
on
i
y y
2T O 21T 41T

f bP The path
f s costs sinks
f lifts to many possible
paths depending which
o D point 0 gets sent to

theorem let p E B be a covering map and f o1 B a path

Suppose f o b p e Then there is a uniquelifting I o 1 E
s t f o e

PI cover B by open sets U which are each

evenly covered by
p The preimages f U cover 0,1
Since o l is a compact metric space the Lebesgue Lemma tells
us that 7 some d s.t x x 8 Ef U some UV x

Thus We can choose a subdivision 0 so S c Sn st f siSiti

lies in one of the opensets

Define F O e Assume we can define Ffs for OE s Esi

Define F on Csi Sit as follows

f si si EU some open U evenly covered by P

let VE p U be the slice containing F Si

t
Then for sc Csi Sit define Fcs p f s
v

Ptv is a homeomorphism so I is continuous oh si Sir By induction

we can define a continuous function I o 1 E

I is unique since for each s there was a unique slice containing

Icsi D suits
s

O
s cs.in
ftcsi
 A similar resultholds for maps from IxI I co D

Thin Let F Ix I B be continuous w F o.o b let piC B

be a covering map w p e b There is a
uniquelifting of F

F Ix I E st F 0,0 e

PI The proof is
just like the previous except we subdivide I I
into squares w side length Cd where 8 is a Lebesgue for
e

t Pb

the preimage of the covering of

F I XI by open sets that are evenlycovered

We then build thelifting square

by square F is unique because at
each step there is a unique choice of slice that will make F
continuous D

Note that if F is a path homotopy from f to g F will

be a path homotopy from F tog i If F Ost bo then

P F O t bo so E o t E p bo which is a setof

points w discrete topology Thus Flo t is a

single point and similarly
so is F 1st
What about liftingloops Loops don't always lift to loops

IR
Ex I
Jp
gl

However since path lifting is unique given starting point

a

the endpoint is also unique i e if bot B and e c E s't

p e bo then there is a function on sets

4 IT B b p bo

defined 4 tf F l where F is the liftoff st Ilo e

This is called the liftingcorrespondence

Wmhymi fqd If F is a path homotopy from

f to g F is path homotopyfrom F to I g l
a
J so i

Ex If we take the covering IT lR S 4 f 25k

where k depends on how manytimes f loops around 8
and in which direction CCW or CCW

Claim If E is path connected 4 is surjective

let e E
PI g Co path from
e
p bo 1 a e toe
Then pog is a loop atbo and g poof D
When is 4
bijective When two paths starting and ending
at eo and e resp always have homotopic images in B

Theorem If X is simply connected any two paths f g from

X to X are pathhomotopic

Pfi f g is a loop at xo so f g led

Thus f 5 f f pg D
g e
g g

Coe If p E B is a covering and E is simply connected

4 IT B bo p bio is a bijection

Pf If 4 ft Y Eg then F and J are paths

starting at eo and ending at some e Thus I PJ
so f p of r pog f
g D g

Thmi IT 8 EX

PI let p R.co 51,4 d be the covering p x costa sin 2 x

Then since IR is simply connected

4 IT S's bos p io 12 is a bijection

We just need to show 4 is a homomorphism

Let Cf Cg c Ti S and 4 CST n

4kg m
 Define a new path h o D IR by h s
mtg s
where is thelifting of t o O
cj g
s
g

Then I h is defined and is a path from 0 to Mtn

But p n s
p n
g s p offs g s since pig periodic w

period 1

Thus f h is the lifting of 0

f
g beginning at
4 f g htm as desired D

Exercise Using a similar argument we can show IT 5 5 7 7

TheQuotientthopology

we get lots of interesting examples of topological spaces

can

by gluing together simple spaces we already know

O DI
o i S CoDxCo D S Co D S xs

we need to formalize this construction

Def let X be a topological space and A a set

let f X A be a surjective function The quotient
topology on A is defined by UEA is open f U is
Exer check this is a
topology
open

A map f X Y between topologicalspaces is a

quotient
m ap if t is surjective and f U is open HEY
is open

Note that w the quotient topology on A t X A is a

quotient map A is called a q tpee of X

We can also construct A from X by introducing an

equivalence relation on X and setting A Xlr
Then f i X A sends x to the equivalence class containing X
Exi We can think of S as GD with 0 glued to I

i e the equivalence relation is just 0 l and

the quotient map is f x cos 2lTx sin 2 Tx

Note that the map g o 1 S defined as the

restriction of f to Co l is also surjective but is not
a quotient map 4
e
o
let U my ly o U o.o Es

Then U is not open but

g u O K E o D is open
whereas f u 0,42 UCB is hot

let X x Xn xn be pointed topological spaces

w Xi homeomorphic to 5

Then wequotient space A

get aof W Xi by the
equivalence relation Xinxj t i j This is called the
wedgeol the ir.es Xi Xn

A nice property of quotient maps is that if h X Y

is a
map that respects the quotientstructure X A
we can uniquely define a
map A Y More precisely
 The let p X Y be a
quotient map let t X 2 be
a continuous map to a topological space 2 such that f is
constant on each set y for y in z i e if pCx pad
p
then f x f xD Then there is a continuous map g Y Z
X
sit gop f ie commutes
pfft
Y z
g

PI For each y c Y f pt y is a one point set

Define be this point Then if cX
g y to
g p
x f x
by construction Thus gop f

For continuity let UEZ be an

open set We want to show

g
U is open
g
U C Y is open p g UDEX
is open But p g gop U
u f U which is
open since f is continuous Thus g U C Y is open D

Note If f X Y is surjective continuous and open then f is a

quotient map Similarly if f is closed then if f U is open
Xl f u f Y U is closed so YIU is closed U is open

thus f is also a quotient map in This case

Example let 11 1124103 We can put an equivalence

relation on X as follows X
y x ay ie x
y if
and the same line through the
only if and
y lie
x on

origin
You can check that this is an

equivalence relation and thus we y

i
get a corresponding quotient map
p X Xlr

This is one to construct projectivetpace defined

way
IRP X given the quotient topology

If 7 is another topological space then the continuous maps

f X 2 that give an induced map RIP Z
have the property that f xx f x t a c 1121803 xeX

On the Hw we'll see that RIP is homeomorphic to S

But we'll later see that IRP is nothomeomorphic to S
for n I

Example Quotients of the unit square X Co D

Set A 03 6 I
A fA A 13 6 i
B Co 13 803
B B o I x 43

1 If we glue A 10 A via the equivalence relation Ost 1st

get a cylinder A typical neighborhood of
we a point on the
gluing line corresponds to two half
moons along A and A in X f f n
I
0
2 If we glue A to A via o t I l t we get a

Mobiusbandy
f
3 As we've seen gluing A to A and B to B via o t 1 t
and s O n s l
gives us the torus

4 Gluing via Cost 1st and Sso n l s l gives us

the KleinBotte which cannot be embedded in 1123 We
draw picture where it overlaps itself whereas
a an

actual Klein bottle does not

5 Gluing O t n l l t and sO n l s t is a lot trickier to

visualize It turns out this space is homeomorphic to RIP

nottohandin
Exercise Consider the quotient spaces o 1 o D with the

following equivalence relations

a O t Ct O
b o t too and I s si
c HARD t o O l t
Can you visualizethese spaces