Introduction to Algebraic Topology MAST31023 Instructor: Marja Kankaanrinta Lectures: Monday 14:15 - 16:00, Wednesday 14:15 - 16:00 Exercises: Tuesday 14:15 - 16:00 August 12, 2019 1 2 Contents 0. Introduction 3 1. Categories and Functors 3 2. Homotopy 7 3. Convexity, contractibility and cones 9 4. Paths and path components 14 5. Simplexes and affine spaces 16 6. On retracts, deformation retracts and strong deformation retracts 23 7. The fundamental groupoid 25 8. The functor π1 29 9. The fundamental group of a circle 33 10. Seifert - van Kampen theorem 38 11. Topological groups and H-spaces 41 12. Eilenberg - Steenrod axioms 43 13. Singular homology theory 44 14. Dimension axiom and examples 49 15. Chain complexes 52 16. Chain homotopy 59 17. Relative homology groups 61 18. Homotopy invariance of homology 67 19. Reduced homology 74 20. Excision and Mayer-Vietoris sequences 79 21. Applications of excision and Mayer - Vietoris sequences 83 22. The proof of excision 86 23. Homology of a wedge sum 97 24. Jordan separation theorem and invariance of domain 98 25. Appendix: Free abelian groups 105 26. English-Finnish dictionary 108 References 110 3 0. Introduction These notes cover a one-semester basic course in algebraic topology. The course begins by introducing some fundamental notions as categories, functors, homotopy, contractibility, paths, path components and simplexes. After that we will study the fundamental group; the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra will be proved as an application. This will take roughly the first half of the semester. During the second half of the semester we will study singular homology. We will show that singular homology satisfies the Eilenberg-Steenrod Axioms. As an application we will, for example, prove the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem in all dimensions. We will finish the semester by doing more applications of singular homology, exactly what topics will be covered depends on how much time will be left. These notes are based on Joseph Rotman's book "An Introduction to Algebraic Topology". 1. Categories and Functors Definition 1.1. A category C consists of three ingredients: (1) a class of objects, obj(C), (2) a class of morphisms, Hom(C), (3) composition of morphisms. For every ordered pair (A; B) of objects in C, there is a set of morphisms Hom(A; B). For objects A; B; C of C, there is composition of morphisms Hom(A; B) × Hom(B; C) ! Hom(A; C); (f; g) 7! g ◦ f: The following axioms are satisfied: (1) the sets Hom(A; B) are pairwise disjoint, (2) composition is associative (h ◦ (g ◦ f)) = (h ◦ g) ◦ f; (3) for every object A of C, there exists a morphism 1A : A ! A called the identity morphism for A, such that 1A ◦ f = f, for every f 2 Hom(B; A) and for every object B of C, and g ◦ 1A = g, for every g 2 Hom(A; C) and for every object C of C. We often also denote the identity morphism 1A by idA. Example 1.2. The category of all sets is C = Sets: (1) obj(C) = all sets, (2) Hom(A; B) = the family of all functions A ! B, (3) composition is the usual composition of functions. Example 1.3. The category of all topological spaces is C = Top: (1) obj(C) = all topological spaces, (2) Hom(A; B) = the family of all continuous functions A ! B, (3) composition is the usual composition of functions. 4 Although the objects of a category C do not necessarily form a set, we use the expression A 2 obj(C) to mean that A is an object of C. Similarly, if A is another category, we write obj(C) ⊂ obj(A) to mean that every object in C is also an object in A. Definition 1.4. Let A and C be categories. Assume obj(C) ⊂ obj(A). For A; B 2 obj(C), we denote the sets of morphisms corresponding to A and C by HomA(A; B) and HomC(A; B); respectively. We call C a subcategory of A, if HomC(A; B) ⊂ HomA(A; B); for all A; B 2 obj(C) and if the composition in C is the same as the composition in A. Example 1.5. Subcategories of Top: We obtain subcategories by restriction. For example, the objects could be all Hausdorff spaces, all compact spaces or all connected spaces. If we choose the objects to be smooth manifolds, it makes sense to choose the morphisms to be smooth maps. Example 1.6. The category of all groups is C = Groups: (1) obj(C) = all groups, (2) Hom(A; B) = the family of all homomorphisms A ! B, (3) composition is the usual composition of functions. Example 1.7. The category of all abelian groups is C = Ab: (1) obj(C) = all abelian groups, (2) Hom(A; B) = the family of all homomorphisms A ! B, (3) composition is the usual composition of functions. Then Ab is a subcategory of Groups. Example 1.8. The category of all rings is C = Rings: (1) obj(C) = all rings, (2) Hom(A; B) = the family of all ring homomorphisms A ! B, that preserve identity elements, (3) composition is the usual composition of functions. Example 1.9. The category C = Top2: (1) obj(C) = all ordered pairs (X; A), where X is a topological space and A is a subspace of X, (2) Hom(X; A); (Y; B): A morphism f :(X; A) ! (Y; B) is a continuous map f : X ! Y such that f(A) ⊂ B, (3) composition is the usual composition of functions. Example 1.10. The category of pointed spaces is Top∗. The objects of this cat- egory are all ordered pairs (X; x0) where X is a topological space and x0 2 X. A morphism f :(X; x0) ! (Y; y0) is a continuous map f : X ! Y such that f(x0) = y0. We call x0 the basepoint of X. Morphisms of this category are called 5 pointed maps or basepoint preserving maps. Objects are called pointed spaces. 2 The category Top∗ is a subcategory of Top . Definition 1.11. Let C be a category. Let ∼ be an equivalence relation on [ Hom(A; B): (A;B) We call ∼ a congruence on C, if it satisfies the following conditions: (1) if f 2 Hom(A; B) and f ∼ f 0, then f 0 2 Hom(A; B), (2) if f ∼ f 0, g ∼ g0 and the composite g ◦ f exists, then g ◦ f ∼ g0 ◦ f 0. The proof of the following theorem follows immediately from the definitions. Theorem 1.12. Let C be a category and let ∼ be a congruence on C. Let [f] denote the equivalence class of a morphism f. Define C0 by: (1) obj(C0) = obj(C), (2) HomC0 (A; B) = f[f] j f 2 HomC(A; B), (3)[ g] ◦ [f] = [g ◦ f]. Then C0 is a category. The category C0 is called a quotient category of C. For us the most important quotient category will be the homotopy category defined later. Definition 1.13. Let A and C be categories. Let T : A!C satisfy the following: (1) if A 2 obj(A), then TA 2 obj(C), (2) if f : A ! A0 is a morphism in A, then T f : TA ! TA0 is a morphism in C, (3) if f and g are morphisms in A and g◦f is defined, then T (g◦f) = T g◦T f, (4) T 1A = 1TA, for every A 2 obj(A). We say that T is a (covariant) functor from A to C. Example 1.14. Let A and C be categories and let T : A!C be a functor. We call T a forgetful functor, if it "forgets" some of the structure or properties of A. The functor T : Top ! Sets that assigns to each topological space its underlying set and to each continuous function itself is an example of a forgetful functor. Example 1.15. Let C be a category. The identity functor J : C!C is defined by JA = A for every A 2 obj(C) and Jf = f for every morphism f. Example 1.16. Let Y be a topological space. Then there is a functor TY : Top ! Top; where TY (X) = X × Y , for a topological space X, and, for a continuous function f : X ! X0, 0 TY (f): X × Y ! X × Y; is defined by (x; y) 7! (f(x); y). The functor Hom(A; ) in the following example is called a covariant Hom functor. 6 Example 1.17. Let C be a category. Let A 2 obj(C). Define a functor Hom(A; ): C! Sets as follows: assign the set Hom(A; B) to each B 2 obj(C), and assign the induced map Hom(A; f): Hom(A; B) ! Hom(A; B0); g 7! f ◦ g; to every morphism f : B ! B0. A functor is called contravariant, if it reverses the direction of arrows: Definition 1.18. Let A and C be categories. Let S : A!C satisfy the following: (1) if A 2 obj(A), then SA 2 obj(C), (2) if f : A ! A0 is a morphism in A, then Sf : SA0 ! SA is a morphism in C, (3) if f and g are morphisms in A and g◦f is defined, then S(g◦f) = Sf ◦Sg, (4) S1A = 1SA, for every A 2 obj(A). We say that S is a contravariant functor from A to C. Example 1.19. Let C be a category. Let B 2 obj(C). Define a functor Hom( ;B): C! Sets as follows: assign the set Hom(A; B) to each A 2 obj(C), and assign the induced map Hom(g; B): Hom(A0;B) ! Hom(A; B); h 7! h ◦ g; to every morphism g : A ! A0.