Algebraic Interlude I: Free abelian groups,

chain complexes and chain maps

Let S be a set.
Definition
The free abelian group on S, denoted ZS , is the set of all S-indexed families of integers

(ns )s∈S , ns ∈ Z

such that ns = 0 for all but finitely many s ∈ S.

These are added in the only way we could:

(ns )s∈S + (ms )s∈S = (ns + ms )s∈S .

Example
If S = {1, . . . , k}, then
ZS = Zk
is the set of k-tuples in Z.
For s ∈ S we set
es := (0, . . . , 0, 1, 0, . . .)
so X
(ns )s∈S = ns es .
s∈S

Example
I If X is a ∆-complex, then the group ∆n (X ) of n-chains in X is the free abelian
group on the set of n-simplices σ : ∆n → X in X .
I If X is a topological space, then Cn (X ) is the free abelian group on all singular
n-simplices in X .

Lemma
Let A be an abelian group. Then for any function f : S → A there exists a unique
homomorphism g : ZS → A such that g(es ) = f (s).
If A is an abelian group, and S ⊂ A a subset, then we have an induced map

g : ZS → A
P P
given by s∈S
ns es 7→ s∈S
ns s.

Definition
If g is an isomorphism, then S is called a basis for A.

Not all abelian groups have a basis!

Example
Neither Q nor Z/nZ (for n > 0) have a basis.

Example
If A = Zk , then any basis has size k, and a collection ai = (n1i , . . . , nki ) of k elements
in A is a basis iff the matrix
n n12 ... n1k

11

n21 n22 ... n2k 

 .. .. .. .. 
. . . .
nk1 nk2 ... nkk

is in GLk (Z).
Recall that if {Ai }i∈I is some collection of abelian groups, the direct sum
M
Ai
i

consists of collections of elements (ai )i∈I with ai ∈ Ai , such that only finitely many ai
are non-zero. Thus M
ZS = Z.
s∈S

Example
If X is a topological space, then H0 (X ) is the free abelian group on the set of path
components of X .
The key property of the boundary map

∂ : ∆n (X ) → ∆n−1 (X )

for a ∆-complex X is that the composite

∂ 2 : ∆n+1 (X ) → ∆n−1 (X )

is zero. In other words, in the sequence

∂ ∂ ∂ ∂
. . . → ∆n+2 (X ) → ∆n+1 (X ) → ∆n (X ) → ∆n−1 (X ) → ∆n−2 (X ) → . . .

the composite of any two successive maps is zero.

Definition
A chain complex C• consists of a sequence of abelian groups Cn , one for each n ∈ Z,
together with maps
dn : Cn → Cn−1 ,
called differentials, such that dn dn+1 = 0 for all n ∈ Z.
Example
I If X is a ∆-complex, then the groups ∆• (X ), together with the boundary maps
∂, form a chain complex, called the simplicial chain complex of X .
I If X is a topological space, then the groups C• (X ), together with the boundary
maps ∂, form a chain complex, called the singular chain complex of X .

Convention
If we only define Cn in some interval n ∈ [a, b], then it’s understood that Cn = 0 for
n∈ / [a, b].

We usually write a chain complex as a

dn+2 dn+1 dn dn−1

. . . → Cn+2 −→ Cn+1 −→ Cn −→ Cn−1 −→ Cn−2 → . . .

We call Cn the group of n-chains in C• .

Definition
The group of n-cycles is

Zn (C• ) := ker (d : Cn → Cn−1 ) .

Definition
The group of n-boundaries is

Bn (C• ) := im (d : Cn+1 → Cn ) .

The fact that d 2 = 0 means that Bn ⊂ Zn .

Definition
We define
Hn (C• ) := Zn /Bn

Example
When C• = ∆• (X ), this recovers Hn∆ (X ), and when C• = C• (X ), this recovers
Hn (X ).
Example
Let A be an abelian group, and n ∈ Z. Then we can consider the chain complex
×n
0 → A −→ A → 0.

concentrated in [0, 1]. Then

H0 = A/nA, H1 = A[n] = {n-torsion in A}

Example
Let C ∞ (R3 ) be the group of smooth functions R3 → R, or smooth scalar fields on R3 .
Then V ∞ (R3 ) = C ∞ (R3 )3 is the group of smooth vector fields on R3 . The operators
div, grad and curl can be viewed as homomorphisms

div : V ∞ (R3 ) → C ∞ (R3 )

grad : C ∞ (R3 ) → V ∞ (R3 )

curl : V ∞ (R3 ) → V ∞ (R3 ).
The facts that div ◦ curl = 0 and curl ◦ grad = 0 mean that we get a chain complex
grad curl div
0 → C ∞ (R3 ) → V ∞ (R3 ) → V ∞ (R3 ) → C ∞ (R3 ) → 0

which we think of as being concentrated in [−3, 0]. We have H0 = R, the constant

functions, and it’s easy to see that H−3 = 0. Some of the big theorems of Vector
Calculus assert that H−1 = H−2 = 0.
Let C• and D• be chain complexes.

Definition
A chain map from C• to D• is a collection of homomorphisms

fn : Cn → Dn

such that dn fn = fn−1 dn : Cn → Dn−1 , for all n ∈ Z.

We can visualise the definition in the following diagram:

... / Cn+1 d
/ Cn d
/ Cn−1 / ...

fn+1 fn fn−1
  
... / Dn+1 d
/ Dn d
/ Dn−1 / ...

where all of the squares commute.

Lemma
A chain map f• : C• → D• induces homomorphisms

fn : Hn (C• ) → Hn (D• )

in homology, for all n.

Example
Suppose f : X → Y is a map of ∆-complexes: that is, a map such that, for all
n-simplices
σ : ∆n → X
in X , the composite f ◦ σ is an n-simplex in Y . Then f induces

f∗ : {n-simplices in X } → {n-simplices in Y }
σi 7→ f ◦ σi

and hence a homomorphism

f∗ : ∆n (X ) → ∆n (Y ).

Moreover, these commute with the boundary map ∂. Indeed, if we label the vertices of
∆n in the usual way as v0 , . . . , vn , and fix an n-simplex σ : ∆n → X in X , then
X
∂f∗ (σ) = ∂(f ◦ σ) = (−1)i (f ◦ σ)|[v0 ,...,v̂i ,...,vn ]
i
X X
f∗ ∂σ = f∗ (−1)i σ|[v0 ,...,v̂i ,...,vn ] = (−1)i f ◦ (σ|[v0 ,...,v̂i ,...,vn ] )
i i

Hence f∗ is a chain map, and induces a map

f∗ : Hn∆ (X ) → Hn∆ (Y ).
Example
Suppose f : X → Y is any map of topological space. Then f induces

f∗ : {n-simplices in X } → {n-simplices in Y }
σ : ∆n → X 7→ f ◦ σ : ∆n → Y

and hence a homomorphism

f∗ : Cn (X ) → Cn (Y )
X X
ni σi 7→ ni (f ◦ σi ).
i i

These commute with the boundary map ∂ exactly as before, hence f∗ is a chain map,
and induces a map
f∗ : Hn (X ) → Hn (Y ).