Math 2.0

Manifolds and cell complexes Surfaces Example

Klein bottle

Example

Let Q=[0,1]×[0,1]Q = [0, 1] \times [0, 1] be the unit square. The Klein bottle KK is the quotient of QQ by the identifications (0,y)∼(1,y)and(x,0)∼(1−x,1)for x,y∈[0,1].(0, y) \sim (1, y) \quad \text{and} \quad (x, 0) \sim (1 - x, 1) \qquad \text{for } x, y \in [0, 1]. Then KK is a closed surface. Check: every point has a disc neighbourhood, made of pieces of QQ glued along the identified edges. Also KK is compact and connected as a quotient of QQ. The four corners become one vertex, the edges give two edges, and QQ gives one face, so the Euler characteristic is χ(K)=1−2+1=0\chi(K) = 1 - 2 + 1 = 0. The strip {(x,y):∣x−1/2∣≤1/4}\set{(x, y) : \abs{x - 1/2} \le 1/4} with its top and bottom edges glued by (x,0)∼(1−x,1)(x, 0) \sim (1 - x, 1) is a Möbius strip in KK, so KK is not orientable.

Remarks

By the classification of surfaces, KK is homeomorphic to the connected sum ℝP2#ℝP2\R P^2 \# \R P^2. Its fundamental group has the presentation ⟨a,b∣aba−1b⟩\langle a, b \mid a b a^{-1} b \rangle. Gluing two Möbius strips along their boundary circles also gives KK. The Klein bottle cannot be embedded in ℝ3\R^3, since a closed surface embedded in ℝ3\R^3 bounds a region and is therefore orientable. It has immersions in ℝ3\R^3 and embeddings in ℝ4\R^4.

Further reading

  1. Web https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein_bottle
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