The fundamental group of a torus is a central concept in algebraic topology that captures the idea of loops on the surface of the torus. A torus can be visualized as a doughnut-shaped object, and it has a distinct structure when it comes to paths and loops. The fundamental group is denoted as , where represents the torus. For a torus, this group is isomorphic to the direct product of two cyclic groups:
This means that any loop on the torus can be decomposed into two types of movements: one around the "hole" of the torus and another around its "body". The elements of this group can be thought of as pairs of integers , where represents the number of times a loop winds around one direction and represents the number of times it winds around the other direction. This structure allows for a rich understanding of how different paths can be continuously transformed into each other on the torus.
Start your personalized study experience with acemate today. Sign up for free and find summaries and mock exams for your university.