Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 16 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The space is the mapping torus of the antipodal map . Its mapping degree is , so transporting a fiber orientation once around the base circle reverses it. is nonorientable.
On integral fiber homology, is the identity in degree zero and minus the identity in degree two. The Wang sequence, whose relevant map is , therefore givesThe universal coefficient theorem for cohomology shifts the torsion contribution into degree three, because . HenceLet be pulled back from the base circle, and the nonzero degree-three class. The square of the circle class vanishes, so . All other products of positive-degree classes land above dimension three and vanish. This gives the cohomology ring of the antipodal two-sphere mapping torusModulo two, is the identity on fiber cohomology. The cohomological Wang sequence shows that restriction is onto; choose mapping to its generator. The classes restrict to a fiber basis, so the Leray-Hirsch theorem makes the total cohomology free over on those two classes. Write for the mod-two base class. The basis is , and in particular . Since by pullback and by dimension, the mod-two cohomology ring of the antipodal two-sphere mapping torus isThe argument of Question 3 works over any field, so its use here over is justified. The ring agrees with that of ; a cohomology ring alone does not determine orientability.