MTH 996 - TOPICS IN TOPOLOGY - HOMEWORK 1

Due date: Wednesday, November 6th 2019. Assignments will be collected at the
beginning of class.

Note: Make sure to present your assignments in a neat and organized manner.
Discussion of homework problems is highly encouraged, but you should write your
solutions on your own. Each question is worth 10 points, for a total of 100 points.
(1) Let Grk (Rn ) be the Grassmannian of k-planes in Rn , k ≤ n. Recall that
Grk (Rn ) can be constructed as the quotient of the Stiefel manifold of or-
thonormal k-frames in Rn
Vk (Rn ) = V ∈ Rn×k : V ∗ V = Ik


by the O(k) = Vk (Rk ) action given by matrix multiplication

Vk (Rn ) × O(k) −→ Vk (Rn )
(V, U ) 7→ VU
Show that if E(γkn ) = {(V, v) ∈ Grk (Rn ) × Rn : v ∈ V } is endowed with
the subspace topology, then
π : E(γkn ) −→ Grk (Rn )
(V, v) 7→ V
defines an R-vector bundle γkn of rank k over Grk (Rn ).
(2) Let π : E −→ B be a principal G-bundle, and let ρ : G −→ GLk (R) be a
homomorphism. Show that
v · g := ρ(g)−1 v
defines a right G-action
on Rk . Endow E × Rk with the diagonal G-action
(e, v) · g := eg, ρ(g)−1 v , and let E ×G Rk := (E × Rk )/G. Show that
πρ : E ×G Rk −→ B
[(e, v)] 7→ π(e)
is a well-defined rank-k real vector bundle over B.
(3) Show that the quotient map π : Vk (Rn ) −→ Grk (Rn ) = Vk (Rn )/O(k) (see
Problem (1)) defines a principal O(k)-bundle over Grk (Rn ). Let
ρ : O(k) ,→ GLk (R)
be the inclusion, and prove that the vector bundle
πρ : Vk (Rn ) ×O(k) Rk −→ Grk (Rn )
(see Problem (2)) is isomorphic to γkn (see Problem (1)).
(4) Show that there are inclusions Vk (Rn ) ,→ Vk (Rn+1 ) for all n ∈ N, and let
[
Vk (R∞ ) = Vk (Rn ).
n∈N

Prove that Vk (R ) is contractible, and conclude that BO(k) = Grk (R∞ ).

∞

1
2 MTH 996 - TOPICS IN TOPOLOGY - HOMEWORK 1

(5) A Euclidean structure on an R-vector space V is a quadratic and positive

definite function µ : V −→ R. Quadratic means that µ can be written as
X
µ(v) = αj (v)βj (v)
j

where αj , βj : V −→ R are linear; and positive definite means that µ(v) > 0
for all v 6= 0. Show that if µ : V −→ R is a Euclidean structure, then
1

hu, viµ = µ(u + v) − µ(u) − µ(v)
2
defines an inner product on V .
The case of vector bundles is similar: A Euclidean structure on a vector
bundle π : E −→ B is a function µ : E −→ R which is quadratic and
positive definite on each fiber. Show that any vector bundle over a para-
compact space can be endowed with a Euclidean structure, and conclude
that such bundles admit inner products.

(6) Show that if G is an aspherical topological group — i.e. all its homotopy
groups are trivial — then BG is contractible. Use this to conclude that
BR = R.

(7) Let ζ be the principal GLk (R)-bundle π : E −→ B, let ι be the identity of

GLk (R), and let ζι be the associated vector bundle πι : E×GLk (R) Rk −→ B.
Show that ζι is trivial if and only ζ has a section.

(8) Provide an explicit homotopy equivalence between the Milnor construction

BZ = (Z ∗ Z ∗ Z · · · )/Z and the unit circle S 1 ⊂ C.

(9) Let U = {Uj }j∈J be an open cover for a topological space B, let N (U)
be the never of U, and let η ∈ C 1 (N (U); Z2 ) be a simplicial cochain with
coefficients in Z2 = {0, 1}. For each j, k ∈ J, let ϕηjk : Uj ∩ Uk −→ R∗ =
R r {0} be the function which is constant and equal to (−1)ηjk . Show that
Φ : H 1 (N (U); Z2 ) −→ Ȟ 1 (U; CR∗ )
[η] 7→ [ϕη ]
is a well-defined homomorphism, and that if each Uj is connected, then Φ
is injective.
(10) Let η ∈ C 2 (N (U); Z) be a simplicial cochain, let  : Z ,→ R be the inclusion
homomorphism, and assume that θ ∈ C 2 (N (U); R) is cohomologous to
# (η). That is, that there is τ ∈ C 1 (N (U); R) so that δ 1 (τ ) = # (η) − θ.
Assume {ϕj }j∈J is a partition of unity subordinate to U and let
ωjk : Uj ∩ Uk −→ S 1 ⊂C 
P
b 7→ exp 2πi ϕ` (b)ηjk`
`

ejk : Uj ∩ Uk
ω −→ S 1 ⊂C  
P
b 7→ exp 2πi τjk + ϕ` (b)θjk`
`

e ∈ Č 1 (U; CS 1 ) are cohomologous Čech

Show that if η is a cocycle, then ω, ω
cocycles.