Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/ii/paper-3/20f/b/solution

A covering space is a map such that every has an open neighbourhood for which
with every restriction a homeomorphism.
Let in
. Then
The subgroup is normal of index three, so the degree of a connected covering shows that every fibre has exactly three points.
The cell complex of a covering from a coset graph gives an explicit model. Take vertices with indices modulo three; put an -loop at every , and a directed -edge . Attach a 2-cell at each along
Map every to , every to the -cell, every to the -cell, and each 2-cell homeomorphically to the unique 2-cell of . Its attaching word is the lift of beginning at . This defines the required connected three-sheeted covering.

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