Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 132 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the closed genus version of Teichmüller's uniqueness theorem. Let be a Teichmüller map: for a nonzero holomorphic quadratic differential , normalized by , and ,The value at a zero of is irrelevant to the Beltrami coefficient, which is defined almost everywhere. For every quasiconformal map preserving orientation and homotopic to , the conclusion isThe normalized is also uniquely determined when .
We use the following analytic input, stated with its hypotheses. The Reich–Strebel inequality says that if has the displayed Beltrami coefficient and a competitor has the same target and homotopy class, then, for ,This is the standard fundamental inequality for an integrable holomorphic quadratic differential; it also holds on a finite-type punctured surface with the homotopy fixing the punctures. Its formulation is given in Gardiner and Hu, §5. We quote this analytic inequality as the lecture result used in the proof.
Put . Pointwise, away from the isolated zeros of ,Integrating against the probability density function proves . If , all these inequalities are equalities almost everywhere. The strictly increasing last function forces almost everywhere; equality in the triangle inequality then forces . ThereforeTwo quasiconformal maps with the same Beltrami coefficient differ by postcomposition with a biholomorphism, by the local chain rule for the Beltrami equation. Consequently is a biholomorphism from to itself homotopic to the identity.
For completeness, such a biholomorphism is the identity when . Apply the uniformization theorem and choose the lift of the homotopy to starting at the identity. Its endpoint lift commutes with every deck transformation. It is a real Möbius transformation. The compact quotient has no parabolic Möbius transformations in its deck group, and freeness excludes elliptic Möbius transformations. Two distinct hyperbolic axes exist: a discrete free group preserving just one axis would be cyclic, contradicting the fundamental group of a closed surface of genus at least two. Commutation with two deck transformations represented by hyperbolic Möbius transformations having distinct axes makes it fix their boundary endpoints individually; there are at least three such endpoints. A Möbius transformation fixing three points is the identity. Hence and .
If is another unit-area differential for the same map, then , so is positive real wherever defined. This meromorphic function is constant by the open mapping theorem, and normalization makes the constant one. Without normalization, positive multiples of describe the same map. At , uniqueness of the map still holds in genus at least two, but there is no distinguished . In genus one, translations supply nontrivial biholomorphisms homotopic to the identity, so equality determines the map only up to those biholomorphisms; the genus hypothesis cannot be omitted.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 302 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The two Lie groups have the same local infinitesimal structure, but different global topology. This difference determines which Lie algebra representations integrate to representations of each group.
An element of the SU(2) group is a unitary matrix of determinant one. Orthogonality of its columns and its determinant give the unique formThus its group manifold is the unit three-sphere in : this is SU(2) as the three-sphere. In particular it is compact, connected and simply connected. In terms of the Pauli matrices one may also write with real coefficients satisfying .
Differentiate and at . The tangent space consists of traceless skew-Hermitian matrices:The Lie bracket of a Matrix Lie group is the matrix commutator. With , the Pauli matrix multiplication law givesThis derives the SU(2) Lie algebra as a three-dimensional real Lie algebra. The Hermitian physics generators instead obey ; they are times the skew-Hermitian tangent generators, so these are consistent conventions.
The SO(3) group consists of real orthogonal matrices with determinant one. Differentiating at the identity givesThe determinant condition gives no additional infinitesimal constraint because a skew-symmetric matrix already has trace zero. Define . The cross product identity impliesTherefore the SO(3) Lie algebra has the same structure constants and is a Lie algebra isomorphism.
The global relation is the Adjoint double cover from SU(2) to SO(3). For , define byConjugation preserves the real space of traceless Hermitian matrices and its inner product . Hence is orthogonal. Continuity and connectedness, together with , put it in . Composition of conjugations makes a group homomorphism. If , then commutes with every Pauli matrix, hence is scalar; unitarity and determinant one leave precisely . The differential sends to , so it is an isomorphism. More concretely,induces rotation through angle about , by the Rodrigues rotation formula. Every three-dimensional rotation has such an axis and angle, proving surjectivity. ConsequentlyThe matrices and are antipodal points on the three-sphere, so the SO(3) group manifold is Real projective space . Equivalently, the closed axis-angle ball has opposite boundary points identified. The fundamental group is , whereas . A rotation lifts from to ; a rotation returns to . Thus the covering is the universal cover and the groups are not globally isomorphic.
For representation theory, specify finite-dimensional complex continuous representations. Compactness permits an invariant Hermitian inner product, obtained by averaging against Haar measure, and therefore complete reducibility. Complexifying either real Lie algebra gives the sl2 Lie algebra. Its finite-dimensional irreducibles are indexed by , have highest weight , and have dimension . By integration of a Lie-algebra representation, since is simply connected, every such Lie algebra representation integrates uniquely. The resulting homogeneous polynomial representation of SU2 isIn the spin angular momentum notation , its Hermitian eigenvalues are . The central matrix acts on the symmetric power by , so descent of an SU(2) representation to SO(3) occurs exactly when is even. HenceFor a reducible representation, every summand must satisfy the descent condition. The spin-one-half doublet is a genuine representation of the covering group but does not define a single-valued representation of ; the spin-one triplet does and is its vector representation. The distinction is topological, rather than a difference in their isomorphic Lie algebras.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 308 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Skyrme model represents the three pions by a field in the special unitary group ,with Pauli matrices . Near , the three tangent components are the pion fields, with a normalization scale suppressed here. Define . In one useful sign convention with metric , the action consists ofwhere and the last term is optional, with proportional to a common pion mass squared. The first term is a nonlinear sigma model kinetic term, and the second is the four-derivative term of the Skyrme model. For a static configuration of size , the two derivative contributions scale as and , whereas a mass term scales as . This Derrick scaling explains why the four-derivative term can stabilize a finite size instead of allowing collapse.
A finite-energy field configuration approaches a vacuum, conventionally . Compactifying space makes a map . The topological baryon number in the Skyrme model is its degree of a map between oriented manifolds,The sign convention makes the standard decreasing hedgehog have . Smooth evolution with the vacuum boundary condition preserves this integer. A Skyrmion is a localized soliton in such a sector; the unit soliton, after quantization, models a nucleon, and higher positive charges model multi-baryon systems. The topological conservation law is distinct from an ordinary Noether charge of isospin. Classical pion fields are bosonic, so obtaining fermionic nucleons also needs the quantum-statistics choice discussed below.
The derivative theory has global chiral symmetry , acting by . The simultaneous pair acts trivially, so the faithful connected action can also be viewed as on . In the massless theory the choice of vacuum breaks this to the vector subgroup. For fixed , the vacuum-preserving symmetry of the Skyrme model requires and acts by . This is isospin, effectively because and act the same way. A usual common pion-mass term explicitly preserves only this vector subgroup; full chiral symmetry is then an approximate massless-limit symmetry, not an exact symmetry of that term. Independent axial rotations change the vacuum and are not extra localized rigid-rotor coordinates in a sector with fixed boundary vacuum.
The space-time symmetry is the Poincare group, comprising translations and Lorentz transformations, including spatial rotations. Parity acts as , since pions are pseudoscalars. For a static finite-energy solution, translations change its position; spatial rotations and isorotations change its orientation. These transformations generate collective coordinates, but a particular field can be unchanged by certain combined transformations.
For the usual low-charge minimum branches of the standard model, the relevant shapes and density symmetries are the following. These are not claims about every field of a given degree, all excited solutions or arbitrary modified pion potentials.
Schematic Skyrmion configurations
. Schematic shapes of the Skyrme baryon density at low charge: sphere, torus, tetrahedral shell and cubic shell. They show shape and symmetry, rather than numerically computed density isosurfaces.For , the Skyrmion hedgehog ansatz isIts Skyrme baryon density is spherical. Indeed . A spatial rotation rotates the pion direction, so the field itself is invariant under a compensating isorotation, not under every spatial rotation alone. Its proper combined stabilizer is a diagonal .
For , the toroidal two-Skyrmion has a ring-shaped density with an axial hole and full density symmetry . The proper combined field stabilizer is an -type group: its continuous subgroup pairs axial spatial rotation by with isorotation by , and it also has discrete transverse half-turns. The angular approximation makes the axial factor two explicit. A static two-baryon minimum is consequently not simply two separate round unit lumps.
For , the tetrahedral three-Skyrmion has a tetrahedral shell with four face-hole directions and full density group . Its proper rotational group is , the tetrahedral symmetry group of order 12. The actual field symmetries again pair these rotations with isorotations.
For , the cubic four-Skyrmion has a cubic shell with six face-hole directions. Its full density group is , the symmetry group of a cube, and its proper group is , the rotational symmetry group of a cube of order 24. Cubic and octahedral symmetry name the same point group; this particular density shape is cubic. Reflections in these full density groups should not be confused with the proper rotation-isorotation group used for angular-momentum quantization.
As a concrete independent check on these shape symmetries, the rational map approximation for Skyrmions useswith and . Representative maps areTheir degrees are , and with the stated radial boundary conditions their baryon numbers equal these degrees. The angular Jacobian of a rational map is . It vanishes at branch directions. has uniform angular density; has its two branch directions on the axial poles; the Wronskian of a rational map for is proportional to , giving tetrahedrally arranged holes; has branch directions , giving the six cube-face directions. Also pairs a spatial quarter-turn with an isospin half-turn. These give illustrative approximate fields, not exact analytic solutions or a proof of global energy minimality.
To quantize, first distinguish the model's group from the chosen soliton's stabilizer subgroup . A family of the same static energy isIgnoring translations for the moment, , and different rigid orientations form the Skyrmion collective-coordinate orbit . The connected stabilizer dimensions are for the four shapes, so their orientation-orbit dimensions are ; adding translations gives . For the unit hedgehog, treating rotation and isorotation as six independent modes would double-count its locked orientation. For higher charges, arbitrary separation of constituent lumps is not an exact flat moduli space in this non-Bogomolny theory.
Let the orbit coordinates depend slowly on time. Integrating the kinetic terms gives a collective-coordinate effective Lagrangian , with positive kinetic metric after removing redundant stabilizer directions. Its angular blocks are the spatial, isospin and mixed inertia tensors. Collective-coordinate quantization produces a rotor Hamiltonian on this orbit, with translations giving center-of-mass momentum. The global symmetry supplies states transforming in spin- and isospin- group representations, and the associated conserved angular momenta. Inertia tensors determine energy splittings; group symmetry alone does not specify those tensors or their numerical energies.
The topology and the static stabilizer supply further collective-rotation constraints for a Skyrmion. The degree- configuration space has fundamental group , related to . Choosing the nontrivial Finkelstein-Rubinstein constraints character gives fermionic unit baryons. Wavefunctions live on the appropriate cover, and a lifted stabilizer operation obeysThe sign depends on whether the actual field-configuration loop is contractible, not just on whether the density looks symmetric. A spatial rotation or isorotation has sign in this fermionic choice, soThus odd baryon number requires half-integer spin and isospin; even baryon number requires integers. Discrete or continuous combined stabilizer symmetries impose additional restrictions on the allowed pairs and body-fixed rotor states. They must not simply be omitted, or replaced by trivial invariance under every density symmetry. The trivial character is a possible bosonic quantization but would not produce a fermionic nucleon. Improper field symmetries, implemented using the model parity transformation, can additionally constrain parity labels; scalar-density reflection symmetry alone is insufficient to infer those labels.
For example, the two-Skyrmion axial stabilizer can be written in body-axis conventions as , with the spatial and the isospin generators. A transverse spatial half-turn accompanied by an isospin half-turn has the nontrivial sign in the Finkelstein-Rubinstein constraints. The integer-spin scalar state is therefore excluded despite even . A spin-one, isospin-zero state with zero axial body projection has the required minus sign under that half-turn; the spin-zero, isospin-one channel can also satisfy the constraints. Their relative energies require the inertia tensors.
For the unit hedgehog, these requirements reduce to rotational quantization of a unit Skyrmion: one orientation with has . With the energies are , where is its moment of inertia. Since , the purely rotational hedgehog band has positive parity; vibrational excitations need not share it. The multiplet models the spin-half proton/neutron isospin doublet; gives the Delta baryon multiplet. The familiar lowest rotor assignments for are respectively . These assignments incorporate the corresponding field-stabilizer constraints and standard inertia ordering, not a prediction from density shape alone. Deformations, vibrational modes, radiation and binding dynamics lie beyond the rigid approximation. The two symmetry roles are therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 344 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a strictly planar nematic director, the order-parameter manifold at fixed nonzero amplitude is , homeomorphic to a circle. Its fundamental group is . The topological charge of a two-dimensional nematic disclination is for director angle , defined modulo ; the integer winding of the physical doubled angle is . Thus a texture has and cannot be continuously replaced by a uniform nonvanishing planar texture while the surrounding loop is held fixed:It can nevertheless split into two defects, because their charges add to one. Such splitting preserves the total winding and is not topological unwinding. Allowing escape into the third dimension changes the manifold to , with fundamental group ; the doubled winding of this integer defect is then trivial. That escape is excluded by the stated two-dimensional director model.
Energetically, the defect is not the preferred isolated charge-one configuration at large separation of scales. At constant amplitude, the planar nematic divergence-elasticity identity gives , so a charge has self-energy . Separating two defects by , with , makes the far field still charge one but reduces the near-field logarithm:The logarithmic gain eventually dominates the finite core cost. HenceThis is energetic fission of an integer nematic disclination. It proves failure of global energetic stability, not the absence of every microscopic kinetic barrier or a full linear stability spectrum of the radial core. Core structure, boundaries or pinning can make a charge-one texture metastable over a finite time or length scale.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 20I a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Use path concatenation in the order of traversal and let . A loop based at determines the loop based at . Thus the change of basepoint isomorphism isA based homotopy of can be concatenated with the fixed outer paths to give a based homotopy of the resulting loops, so this map is well-defined on the fundamental group. Different parenthesizations and affine reparametrizations of path concatenation are based homotopic.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 20I c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the free homotopy from to and put . Because both endpoint loops are based at , this is itself a loop based at .
Cut the circle parameter at 1 and regard as a map on a square. Traversing its boundary gives the concatenation . The boundary is null-homotopic since the map extends over the square. Thus, in the fundamental group,Hence the corresponding elements are conjugate group elements. The moving basepoint path is precisely what distinguishes free homotopy from based homotopy.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 20I e Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the two oriented circle generators of the fundamental group of a bouquet of circles, . TakeTheir loops are freely homotopic: slide the basepoint of the loop along the path , thereby introducing the route to the original loop and back. Equivalently the change-of-basepoint construction along a loop realizes conjugation, and the retraced connecting portions can be contracted with a moving marked point.
They are not based homotopic, since their reduced words in the free group are distinct: has length one and has length three with no cancellation. This illustrates that free homotopy remembers conjugacy classes, whereas based homotopy remembers actual elements of the fundamental group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 19I a ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The Seifert-van Kampen theorem states: if , where are open and path connected, is path connected and contains a basepoint , then is the pushout of groups of and over . Thus the fundamental group is obtained by amalgamating the overlap relations. Openness can be replaced by standard neighborhood hypotheses, as in the wedge calculation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 19I b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The real projective plane has fundamental group , while the circle has fundamental group . Apply the Seifert-van Kampen theorem to open neighborhoods of the two wedge summands whose overlap is contractible. This givesChanging the basepoint within this path-connected space gives an isomorphic group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 19I c ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Yes, it retracts onto a graph. On each of the three spheres, choose an arc joining the two marked points. A sphere retracts onto this arc: identify it with the vertical meridian parameterized by the height coordinate, and send every point of a given height to the meridian point at that height. This map is continuous and fixes the meridian. Apply these three retractions and fix the lifted circles pointwise; the maps agree at all attachment points. The resulting connected graph has six vertices and nine edges, so its fundamental group is free of rank .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 114 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
All groups in the first calculation have integral coefficients. Let and . A two-sided tubular neighborhood of identifies as a compact manifold with boundary, with interior . Pushing its boundary inward in a collar neighborhood gives a homotopy equivalence . After thickening across the same collar, excision identifies the relative groupsThe orientation of gives an orientation. The Poincare-Lefschetz duality isomorphism therefore givesEach component of has boundary: a closed component would have open image by the local embedding condition and closed image by compactness, hence would occupy the whole connected sphere, leaving no room for the components with boundary. In particular is nonempty, and .
Apply the long exact sequence in relative homology of , using reduced homology for the absolute terms. Away from the top-dimensional homology of the sphere, it identifiesThe exceptional map iswhere is the number of components of . Local compatibility of the orientations sends to , the relative fundamental classes of all the components. Its kernel is zero and its cokernel is . Thus the exceptional term has exactly the reduced form required, and all higher groups vanish. We obtain the Alexander duality formulawith negative-index cohomology zero. Ordinary degree zero is recovered byBoth formulas depend on the abstract manifold , so they establish the requested independence up to group isomorphism. They make no claim that the complements themselves are homeomorphic or have isomorphic fundamental groups. The argument also covers , when the diagonal map handles the degree-zero exception. This is the complement homology of a compact codimension-zero submanifold.
For the second calculation write , and . First suppose , with . The rank- normal bundle has a mod-two Thom class, regardless of orientability. A tubular neighborhood, excision and the homological Thom isomorphism theorem identifyThe long exact sequence in relative homology becomes the Gysin sequence of an embedding:The map takes the mod-two fundamental class of to that of : restricting to each normal fiber evaluates the Thom class as . Since is closed and connected, the degree- mapis an isomorphism. This cancels the exceptional top term and gives for when . In all the intervening degrees the sphere groups vanish. In degree zero, the remaining is removed by the augmentation. Consequently the mod-two homology of a submanifold complement iswhere negative-index homology of is zero. To recover ordinary homology, add one copy of in degree zero and change nothing in positive degrees. For the first range is empty, so the complement of a connected zero-manifold has the homology of a point. For example, codimension at least two gives , while codimension one gives when .
If , an embedding of the closed connected manifold has image both open and closed in , hence is onto; its complement is empty and all its ordinary homology groups vanish. The positive-codimension formula is not asserted in that case. The standard sphere calculations here assume ; in ambient dimension zero the complement of the embedded connected point in is the other point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 141 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The solid torus supplied by the side has fundamental group generated by the image of , while is trivial. The two-handle imposes . The three-handles do not change the fundamental group, so
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 141 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The elliptization theorem says that a closed oriented three-manifold with finite fundamental group has spherical geometry. When the fundamental group is a cyclic group, it is a lens space. Consequently the candidates are with , using the same surgery orientation convention throughout.
The oriented classification of lens spaces says that and are related by an orientation-preserving homeomorphism exactly when . Since , , and modulo five, the complete list isThese are three distinct oriented homeomorphism classes. Reversing orientation interchanges and ; the class containing and admits an orientation-reversing homeomorphism. The elliptization theorem and the stated oriented classification of lens spaces are the general classification results used here.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 141 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The fiber monodromy is periodic when isotopy is allowed to move the boundary, in the sense of a periodic surface homeomorphism. Here is a justification from the Seifert fibered space structure, rather than a special formula about torus knots. Its base is a disk with cone-point orders . The fiber Seifert surface is an incompressible surface because its inclusion in the mapping torus is injective on fundamental groups. It is also a boundary-incompressible surface: lift a proposed boundary-compressing disk to the infinite cyclic cover and project to . This would homotope an essential arc of into , contradicting its essentiality. The classification of incompressible surfaces in Seifert fibered spaces therefore applies. A vertical surface in a Seifert fibered space has zero intersection with a regular Seifert fiber, whereas the fibration class evaluates on as . Thus the Seifert surface is isotopic to a horizontal surface in a Seifert fibered space, with intersections per regular orbit.
Following the oriented Seifert fibers from one intersection to the next gives a first-return homeomorphism of the horizontal topological surface. It is a representative of the fiber monodromy, and its -th power is the identity. It has order : a regular orbit meets the connected horizontal surface in a Seifert fibered space in cyclically ordered points. This realizes the periodic case of the Nielsen–Thurston classification theorem. It is neither an Anosov homeomorphism nor a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism.
There is a boundary convention here. A representative fixed pointwise on the boundary is not periodic relative to the boundary: its -th power is a boundary Dehn twist (with sign determined by the return-map convention). Capping the boundary, or allowing it to rotate during isotopy, gives the finite-order representative intended by “periodic”. This distinguishes periodic surface type from literal finite order in the mapping class group relative to the boundary.
For any fibered knot, its Alexander module is with the deck transformation given by homological monodromy, so its Alexander polynomial of a knot is up to a unit. The general Turaev torsion relation and part (b) therefore giveThis rational expression is a polynomial: in its factorization into cyclotomic polynomials, cancels all denominator factors. It is monic, has constant coefficient one, and has polynomial degree . The characteristic polynomial has polynomial degree , is monic, and has constant coefficient , because homological monodromy preserves the intersection form. These facts remove the unit ambiguity and giveThe sign change between and is trivial because is even. As a separate geometric check, the orbifold Euler characteristic of the base is , and its -sheeted horizontal surface in a Seifert fibered space has Euler characteristic .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 114 1 1 3 Solution 2026-10-03
The standard cellular chain complex of the Klein bottle givesThe universal coefficient theorem for cohomology therefore yields , , and . The degree-one generator is pulled back from the base circle in the circle-bundle description of , so its square is zero. Thus every positive-degree product vanishes. The same calculation for gives the integral cohomology ring of the wedge of the real projective plane and a circle, and hence
There is no map inducing this isomorphism. The Klein bottle is an aspherical space, and its fundamental group is torsion-free. Any map therefore induces the trivial homomorphism and is null-homotopic. Its pullback on is zero, while the circle summand has no degree-two cohomology. Consequently every map is zero on and cannot be a cohomology isomorphism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 141 2 a Solution 2026-10-03
Orient the alpha curves and choose generators dual to , respectively. Following once around the edge identifications and through the attached annulus gives, up to cyclic permutation and simultaneous inversion conventions,The dotted blue arcs pass underneath the attached annulus, so their apparent crossings with the red arc on the annulus are not intersections. The fundamental group presentation is thereforeThe exponent sums of in are . Henceand abelianization sends to the order-two generator and to the infinite cyclic generator.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 143 1 a Solution 2026-10-03
The Nielsen–Schreier theorem says that every subgroup of a free group is free. Realize as the fundamental group of the rose , the graph with one vertex and oriented loops. A subgroup of finite index of a subgroup corresponds to a connected -sheeted covering graph . The graph has vertices and unoriented edges. Choosing a spanning tree leavesedges outside the tree, and these freely generate . Thus the Nielsen–Schreier formula is
