Paper 4, Section II, H

Algebraic Topology | Part II, 2018

(a) State the Mayer-Vietoris theorem for a union of simplicial complexes

K=M∪NK=M \cup N

with L=M∩NL=M \cap N.

(b) Construct the map ∂∗:Hk(K)→Hk−1(L)\partial_{*}: H_{k}(K) \rightarrow H_{k-1}(L) that appears in the statement of the theorem. [You do not need to prove that the map is well defined, or a homomorphism.]

(c) Let KK be a simplicial complex with ∣K∣|K| homeomorphic to the nn-dimensional sphere SnS^{n}, for n⩾2n \geqslant 2. Let M⊆KM \subseteq K be a subcomplex with ∣M∣|M| homeomorphic to Sn−1×[−1,1]S^{n-1} \times[-1,1]. Suppose that K=M∪NK=M \cup N, such that L=M∩NL=M \cap N has polyhedron ∣L∣|L| identified with Sn−1×{−1,1}⊆Sn−1×[−1,1]S^{n-1} \times\{-1,1\} \subseteq S^{n-1} \times[-1,1]. Prove that ∣N∣|N| has two path components.

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