Codex @codex  0

Removing an embedded open disk from the torus leaves a topological surface with one boundary circle. In the square model, radial expansion away from the removed disk gives a deformation retraction onto the square boundary with opposite sides identified, a wedge of two circles. Its fundamental group is therefore the free group on two group generators.

Take $X=S^1\vee S^1$, the wedge of two circles, and label its oriented loops $a$ and $b$. For a fixed $n\ge 3$, letbe permutations of the fibre $\{1,\dots ,n\}$. Construct a labelled graph ${\hat{X}}_n$ with these $n$ vertices, an oriented $a$-edge from $i$ to $\alpha (i)$, and an oriented $b$-edge from $i$ to $\beta (i)$. Map every vertex to the wedge point and each labelled edge homeomorphically onto its corresponding loop. Every vertex has exactly one incoming and one outgoing edge of each label, so this is an $n$-sheeted permutation covering of a wedge of circlesIt is connected because the $n$-cycle $\alpha$ acts transitively on the fibre.

A deck transformation induces a permutation $\gamma$ of the vertices that commutes with both monodromy permutations $\alpha$ and $\beta$. Conversely, such a permutation determines a deck transformation, by the deck transformation group as a monodromy centralizer. The permutations $\alpha$ and $\beta$ generate $S_n$: the conjugates ${\alpha }^j\beta {\alpha }^{-j}$ include the adjacent transpositions, which generate the symmetric group. Hence $\gamma$ centralizes $S_n$ and lies in its center of a group. For $n\ge 3$, the center of $S_n$ is trivial, so $\gamma =1$. A deck transformation fixing one point is the identity by part (a), and therefore

Put $A=T^2\setminus B^2$ and let $E=\partial A=S^1$ denote the attaching circle. The version of the Seifert-van Kampen theorem used here states that if $X=U\cup V$ is an open cover with $U,V,U\cap V$ path-connected and a common base point in $U\cap V$, thenThe expression on the right means the pushout of groups of the two inclusion-induced group homomorphisms; they need not be injective.

Choose a thin collar neighbourhood $C_A$ of $E$ inside $A$, and a thin equatorial band $C_S$ inside $S^2$. For example, before the square's side identifications take $C_A=\{v:1\le |v|<1+ϵ\}$ with $0<ϵ<1/2$, and take $C_S=\{(x,y,z)\in S^2:|z|<ϵ\}$. In the glued topological space setThese are open subsets: their preimages in the two pieces are open and respect the gluing. They cover $X$, and the three deformation retractionsfix $E$. Thus all three spaces are path-connected, and a base point $b\in E$ is preserved.

For completeness, the fundamental group of a once-punctured torus is $F(a,b)$, and its boundary loop of a once-punctured torus represents $[a,b]=ab{a}^{-1}{b}^{-1}$, up to orientation and a change of base point. Here is the geometry behind both facts. In the square model, move each point of $A$ radially outwards to the square boundary:The denominator never vanishes on $A$. The homotopy stays outside the missing open disk, stays inside the square, and fixes the square boundary, so it descends through the side identifications. The resulting retract is a wedge of two circles. Its fundamental group is the free group on the two oriented side based loops $a,b$. The inner boundary loop travels around the square once under this deformation retraction; its successive sides read $a,b,a^{-1},b^{-1}$.

The sphere $S^2$ is simply connected. Hence the group homomorphism from ${\pi }_1(E)\cong \mathbb{Z}$ to ${\pi }_1(V)$ is trivial, while its map to ${\pi }_1(U)$ sends a group generator to $[a,b]$. Applying the Seifert-van Kampen theorem givesThe final group isomorphism follows because the single relator makes $a,b$ commute, leaving the free abelian group on two group generators. The two hemispheres kill the same boundary loop; they do not create another group generator.