Classifying space 2026-10-06
For a topological group , a universal principal bundle has contractible total space and classifies numerable principal -bundles by pullback. Over a paracompact base, isomorphism classes correspond to homotopy classes of maps to . For a discrete group, its classifying space of a discrete group is a ; for the circle, .
For , pointwise multiplication of based cube maps into a topological group induces the ordinary addition in its homotopy group . Concatenation and pointwise multiplication share an identity and satisfy the interchange rule, so the Eckmann-Hilton argument identifies the two operations. In particular, the -th power map induces multiplication by on every homotopy group, for all integers .
For , let denote concatenation in the first cube coordinate and let denote pointwise multiplication of maps into the topological group. Both operations descend to the homotopy group, and the constant map is their common identity. They satisfy the interchange rule
which follows by considering the two halves of the first coordinate. Using the identity class gives
Therefore . The equality is on based homotopy classes; the usual reparametrization homotopies justify the unit identities for concatenation. This is the Eckmann-Hilton argument, and proves homotopy-group addition in a topological group even for .
For the unit quaternions, the explicit inverse is
Both compositions cancel in the displayed order, without commuting the quaternions. Multiplication, inversion and all integer powers are continuous, so this proves that is a homeomorphism for all integers .
Put . Let be the standard generators of , represented by the first and second factors. The previous pointwise-multiplication result and the Hurewicz theorem imply that the mapping degree of on is , including negative integers. Restricting to the two factors therefore gives
The map on is the identity. For the top homology group, take the dual degree-three cohomology classes . We have , . Since these classes have odd degree, graded commutativity of the cup product gives
Thus is multiplication by on , and all other homology groups of the product are zero.
For the gluing, regard as the attaching identification from to . In these coordinates its first input is the boundary coordinate of , its second input the fibre coordinate; its second output is the boundary coordinate of the other . This makes the two pieces the usual two trivializations of a three-sphere bundle over the four-sphere.
Let and , and parametrize their common boundary using the coordinates. Collar neighbourhoods give an open cover with the same homotopy types, so the Mayer–Vietoris sequence applies. Both pieces retract onto . In degree three, the map into the homology of the pieces is
Indeed, inclusion into retains the first output coordinate, while inclusion into retains the second input coordinate. Exactness now gives
The second relation eliminates the second generator of the cokernel, leaving a single generator with relation times that generator equal to zero. Thus . The kernel is zero if and is generated by if .
The degree-six boundary class gives . All remaining positive-degree groups outside degrees vanish by the same Mayer–Vietoris sequence; connectedness gives . Consequently the complete integral answer is
Here means , and a negative gives the same cyclic group as . In particular, gives the integral homology of a seven-sphere, while gives the integral homology of .
For fixed , the conjugation map is the composite
followed by multiplication. Inversion, constant maps, diagonal maps, and multiplication are continuous in a topological group, so is continuous.
The product of the finite groups with their discrete topology is a topological group under coordinatewise multiplication and inversion. The compatibility equations defining are preserved by both operations, so is a subgroup. Their restrictions to the subspace topology on are continuous. Hence with its standard inverse-limit topology is a topological group.
The quotient maps define a continuous homomorphism
Its kernel is , because is a neighborhood basis and is Hausdorff. Thus is injective. The standard compactness argument for inverse limits makes it surjective: a compatible family of cosets has the finite intersection property, and the corresponding closed cosets in compact have nonempty intersection. Finally, a continuous bijection from compact to the Hausdorff inverse limit is a homeomorphism. Hence
as topological groups.