Zachery Wall
Zachery Wall
Western Washington University
Abstract
The Fundamental Group and Covering Maps
Topologists are interested in the properties of spaces preserved under homeomorphisms. These properties are called topological invariants and can be used to distinguish non-homeomorphic spaces from one another. In this talk, we will introduce a particularly significant topological invariant, called the fundamental group. To calculate the fundamental group of the circle S1, we introduce covering maps. We explore the interplay between fundamental groups, covering maps, and lifts into the covering space. Finally, a few central results in covering space theory will be explored, including the classification theorem of coverings.