Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 15 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a coordinate chart and either orientation sheet over , take the chart on that sheet. On a nonempty overlap, its transition to is exactly , restricted to the open agreement set from part (a). It is smooth with smooth inverse. These charts therefore define a smooth structure for which is locally a diffeomorphism.
The topology is Hausdorff: points with distinct base points are separated by inverse images of disjoint base neighborhoods; two points over the same base point are separated by the two disjoint sheets over one coordinate neighborhood. A countable coordinate cover of gives a countable collection of two-sheeted charts, whose Euclidean chart bases show second countability. Thus the cover is a genuine smooth manifold, not just a collection of compatible charts. The construction using all base charts makes the smooth structure independent of the chosen atlas. It also makes a diffeomorphism for every oriented open , since it is a bijective local diffeomorphism.
At , the derivative is a linear isomorphism. Define the orientation of to be the one mapped to . On it is represented by . Where two sheets overlap, their base orientation forms differ by a positive function, so their pullbacks determine the same orientation. This proves the canonical orientation of the cover:The deck involution reverses this canonical orientation of the orientation double cover. No global orientation of the base was used.