Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2020/ii/paper-1/21f/c/solution

Choose . By the classification of connected covering spaces and the degree of a connected covering, each cover corresponds to an index-two subgroup
An index-two subgroup is the kernel of a nonzero homomorphism . There are three:
The group acts transitively on the three nonzero linear functionals on , and its elementary matrices lift to the integral general linear group. Hence there is such that
Take . Since , the lifting criterion for a covering space gives a based lift
such that
Applying the same argument to gives a lift in the reverse direction. The composites are based lifts of the appropriate identity maps; uniqueness of based lifts makes them identities. Thus and are homeomorphisms, and the required square commutes. This proves the equivalence of connected double covers of the torus.

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