Is R mod 2pi a Compact Manifold?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Bahram_phd
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Compact Manifold
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on whether R mod 2pi can be classified as a compact manifold. Participants explore the properties of this space, comparing it to the real line and discussing the implications of quotient topology and compactness.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants assert that R mod 2pi resembles the interval [0, 2pi] with endpoints identified, suggesting it is topologically a circle.
  • Others propose considering the mapping from R to the circle defined by t → (cos(t), sin(t)) as a way to understand the topology of R mod 2pi.
  • There are questions about the specific topology being used, particularly regarding the quotient topology and its implications for compactness.
  • One participant notes that compactness is hereditary and argues that since the topology is smaller than the subspace topology of [0, 2pi], which is compact, R mod 2pi should also be compact.
  • Another participant mentions that the quotient topology agrees with the subspace topology of S^1 in R^2, supporting the claim of compactness through a homeomorphism.
  • There is a reference to results about quotients of manifolds by certain group actions, suggesting that such quotients can also be manifolds.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the nature of R mod 2pi and its compactness, with no consensus reached on the definitive classification of this space as a compact manifold.

Contextual Notes

Participants discuss the definitions and properties of open sets in the context of quotient topology, but some assumptions and definitions remain implicit and may affect the conclusions drawn.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in topology, manifold theory, and the properties of quotient spaces may find this discussion relevant.

Bahram_phd
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hi,
Why R mod 2pi is a Compact Manifold?
Isn't this like a real line which is not compact?
How should we prove it using a finite sub-cover for this manifold?
bah
 
Physics news on Phys.org
R mod 2pi doesn't look like the real line; it looks like the interval [0,2pi] except the end points are identified. (So it's a circle...)
 
consider the map from R to the circle defined by t-->(cos(t), sin(t)).
 
Bahram_phd said:
Hi,
Why R mod 2pi is a Compact Manifold?
Isn't this like a real line which is not compact?
How should we prove it using a finite sub-cover for this manifold?
bah

What is the topology that you want?
If it is R with the topology of a line modulo the discrete group of integer multiples of 2pi, then use the definition of open set in the quotient topology to show that every open cover has a finite subcover. You need to know that a closed interval is compact.
 
lavinia said:
What is the topology that you want?
If it is R with the topology of a line modulo the discrete group of integer multiples of 2pi, then use the definition of open set in the quotient topology to show that every open cover has a finite subcover. You need to know that a closed interval is compact.

Isn't the quotient topology assumed when talking about a quotient?

It seems like the open sets here would be the sets (a,b); 0<a,b<2∏ , which lift to

the open sets U(a±2k∏, b± 2k∏ ); for k integer, in ℝ

Then, since compactness is hereditary, and this topology is smaller than the subspace topology in [0,2∏],

(which is a compact space), then the quotient is compact.

EDIT:
Correction: the quotient topology agrees with the subspace topology of S^1 in R^2. By, e.g., mathwonk's map f, which descends to

a homeo f^ between R/~ and S^1, subspace (since the map is constant in R/~) , and which can be shown to be continuous and onto.

Then, by homeo., R/~ is also compact. If you want an argument by subcovers, do the argument in S^1, and pull back to R/~ by the homeo f^
 
Last edited:
Actually, to show the manifold part, there are results that the quotients of manifolds by some special types of group actions are themselves manifolds--you can, e.g., show that projective space is a manifold by using this result/theorem.
 
Thanks guys,
It helped me a lot. I did some studies on quotient topology and now I have a better understanding of the problem.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
1K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 36 ·
2
Replies
36
Views
6K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
562
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
3K
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
4K