Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 127 3 Solution 2026-09-28
Because is simply connected for , the homological Serre spectral sequence has constant coefficients and only two nonzero columns:Its only possible nonzero differential isUsing the orientation generator of to identify both columns with defines the Wang homomorphismThe kernel and cokernel descriptions of the two surviving columns splice with the filtration of to give the Wang sequence over a sphere
Let be the homotopy fiber of a degree- map . Apply this sequence to the fibrationAt the bottom, the map between the two copies of is multiplication by . It follows thatThe first torsion group can also be seen from and the Hurewicz theorem; the Wang map then propagates it periodically.
The universal coefficient theorem for cohomology givesEvery product of two positive-degree classes is zero. For , this follows immediately because the sum of two degrees of the form is not of that form. For , degree counting does not suffice, since for every . Use instead the multiplicative cohomological Serre spectral sequence forIts transgression in degree one is multiplication by . Every positive integral cohomology class that survives lies in filtration two, while the product of two such classes lies in filtration four; the base has dimension two, so filtration four is zero. Thus the reduced cohomology is a square-zero ideal, andas a graded ring, with zero multiplication on the second summand.