Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 14 5 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Give the three Hopf fibration components coherent orientations, so their pairwise linking numbers are one. In the link exterior, their longitudes satisfy . Filling along imposes that relation on first homology. For the three rational coefficients the presentation matrix isIts determinant is , and the greatest common divisor of its two-by-two minors is one (for example, and occur). Its Smith normal form is , soA nonzero rational coefficient with numerator one does not by itself make a multi-component surgery an integral homology sphere: the nonzero linking numbers must be included.
For the integer filling, use the Seifert fibered space structure . Its central regular fiber is , and each preferred longitude is . The three filling relations are consequentlySubstituting into gives . The remaining equations say , hence and . Thus its fundamental group is cyclic of order two.
Geometrically, a filling coefficient attaches a Seifert fibered space solid torus with multiplicity , the distance of from the regular fiber . The multiplicities are ; the middle filling creates no exceptional fiber. The result is a Seifert fibered space over the sphere with at most two exceptional fibers, hence a union of two solid tori, or a lens space. A lens space with fundamental group of order two is . ThereforeAs a separate arithmetic check, the integer surgery linking matrix has determinant , in agreement with its first homology of order two.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 112 5 b Solution 2026-09-28
Distinct components of the positively oriented torus link have linking number one. Since every component also has framing relative to the Seifert framing, the surgery linking matrix and hence the intersection form of the surgery trace areIts Smith normal form is . The surgery exact sequence, equivalently the kernel and cokernel of , gives
In Kirby calculus, sliding the components over one chosen component diagonalizes the framed link to a split -framed unknot and zero-framed unknots. Hencewhere denotes boundary connected sum.
Seifert framing Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
The Seifert framing pushes a knot in the direction tangent to a Seifert surface and normal to its boundary. The knot and its push-off then have linking number zero.
Torus link 2026-09-28