QF 04

QUALIFYING EXAMINATION
Harvard University
Department of Mathematics
Tuesday September 21, 2004 (Day 1)
Each of the six questions is worth 10 points.
1) Let H be a (real or complex) Hilbert space. We say that a set of vectors {
n
}
H, n = 1, 2, . . ., has property D provided H is the closure of the space of all nite
linear combinations of the
n
. Now let {
n
}, n = 1, 2, . . ., be an orthonormal set
having property D, and {
n
} a set of vectors satisfying
n=1
2
< 1 ,
where refers to the Hilbert space norm. Show that {
n
} also has property D.
2) Let K be the splitting eld of the polynomial x
4
x
2
1. Show that the Galois
group of K over Q is isomorphic to the dihedral group D
8
, and compute the lattice
of subelds of K.
3) Let S be a smooth surface in R
3
dened by r(u, v), where r is the radius vector
of R
3
and (u, v) are curvilinear coordinates on S. Let H and K be respectively the
mean curvature and the Gaussian curvature of S. Let A and B be respectively the
supremum of the absolute value of H and K on S. Let a be a positive number
and n be the unit normal vector of S. Consider the surface

S dened by (u, v) =
r(u, v) + a n(u, v). Let C be a curve in S dened by u = u(t) and v = v(t). Let

C
be the curve in

S dened by t (u(t), v(t)). Show that the length of

C is no less
than the length of C multiplied by 1 a
_
A +
A
2
+ 4B
_
. (Hint: compare the rst
fundamental form of

S with the dierence of the rst fundamental form of S and 2a
times the second fundamental form of S.)
4) Compute the integral
_

0
x
a1
1 + x
4
dx
_
0 < a < 4
_
.
5) The Grassmann manifold G(2, 4) is the set of all 2-dimensional planes in R
4
.
More precisely,
G(2, 4) =
_
M =
_
a b c d
e f g h
_
a, . . . , h R, M has rank 2
_
/
where M
1
M
2
if and only if M
1
= AM
2
for some invertible 2 2 real matrix A.
We equip G(2, 4) with the quotient topology; it is a compact orientable manifold.
a) Compute
1
(G(2, 4)) (You may want to use the fact that given any 2 4 real
matrix M there exists an invertible 2 2 real matrix A such that AM is in reduced
row-echelon form. This gives a cell decomposition of G(2, 4) with one cell for each
possible reduced row-echelon form.)
b) Compute the homology and cohomology groups of G(2, 4) (with integer coe-
cients), stating carefully any theorems that you use.
6) a) What is the dimension of the space of hyperplanes in P
n+1
containing a xed
linear subspace L of dimension k?
b) Let Q P
n+1
be a smooth quadric over C. Show that the map Q (P
n+1
)
associating to a point x Q the tangent hyperplane T

x
Q P
n+1
is an isomor-
phism onto its image. (Here (P
n+1
)
is the dual projective space parameterizing

hyperplanes in P
n+1
.)
c) Show that if L is a linear subspace contained in a quadric Q as in b), then
dim L n/2.
2
Harvard University
Wednesday September 22, 2004 (Day 2)
1) Show that if Y P
n
is a projective subvariety of dimension at least 1, over an
algebraically closed eld, and H P
n
is a hypersurface, then Y H = . (Justify
any intermediate statement you may use.)
2) Let u (u) be a smooth curve in R
3
. Let S be the surface in R
3
dened by
(u, v) (u) + v
(u), where
(u) means the rst-order derivative of (u) with

respect to u. Assume that the two vectors
(u) and
(u) + v
(u) are R-linear

independent at the point (u, v) = (u
0
, v
0
), where
(u) means the second-order

derivative of (u) with respect to u. Verify directly from the denition of Gaussian
curvature that the Gaussian curvature of S is zero at the point (u, v) = (u
0
, v
0
).
3) a) Show that every linear fractional transformation which maps the upper half
plane onto itself is of the form
F(z) =
a z + b
c z + d
, with a, b, c, d R, a d b c = 1 .
b) Show that every linear fractional transformation which maps the unit disk onto
itself is of the form
F(z) =
z +
z +
, with , C, ||
2
||
2
= 1 .
4) a) State van Kampens Theorem. Use it to exhibit a topological space X such
that
1
(X) is isomorphic to the free group on 2 generators.
b) Show that the free group on 2 generators contains the free group on n generators
as a subgroup of nite index.
c) Show that every subgroup of a free group is free.
3
5) Let v
1
, . . . v
n
be complex numbers, and let A be the matrix:
A =
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
v
1
v
2
v
3
. . . v
n
v
n
v
1
v
2
. . . v
n1
v
n1
v
n
v
1
. . . v
n2
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
v
2
v
3
v
4
. . . v
1
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
.
Compute the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of A.
6) Given f C
0
(R) and > 0, consider the function
g
(x) :=
_
|xy|>
f(y)
x y
dy .
a) Show that
Hf(x) := lim
0
g
(x)
exists for each x R, and that Hf C
(R).
b) Exhibit a universal constant C such that
Hf
L
2 = C f
L
2 .
Show how to extend the operator H to an isomorphism from L
2
(R) to itself.
4
Harvard University
Tuesday September 23, 2004 (Day 3)
1) a) Let G be a group of order n, acting on a nite set S. Show that the number
of orbits of this action equals
1
n
gG
#{x S | gx = x}.
b) Let S be the set of integer points in the rectangle [0, 3] [0, 2]. We consider
two subsets of S equivalent if one can be transformed into the other by a series
of reections around the horizontal and vertical axes of symmetry of the rectangle.
How many equivalence classes of four-element subsets of S are there?
2) Let U C be a connected open subset. Carefully dene the topology of locally
uniform convergence on O(U), the space of holomorphic functions on U. Show that
O(U), equipped with this topology, is a Frechet space.
3) Consider the two dimensional torus T
2
= S
1
S
1
, where S
1
= R/2 Z. For any
xed R, nd all functions f L
2
(T
2
) with the property
f(x
1
+ , x
1
+ x
2
) = f(x
1
, x
2
) .
4) Let be a set of seven points in CP
3
, no four of them lying in a plane.
What is the dimension of the subspace of homogeneous quadratic polynomials in
C[X
0
, X
1
, X
2
, X
3
] vanishing along any subset {p
1
, . . . , p
m
} , m 7 ?
5) (Smooth Version of Michael Artins Generalization of the Implicit Function The-
orem.) Let a and b be positive numbers. Let R be the ring of all R-valued innitely
dierentiable functions on the open interval (a, a). For elements F, G, H in R
we say that F is congruent to G modulo H in R if there exists some element Q
of R such that F G = QH as functions on (a, a). Let f(x, y) be an R-valued
innitely dierentiable function on {|x| < a, |y| < b} with f(0, 0) = 0. Denote by
5
f
y
(x, y) the rst-order partial derivative of f(x, y) with respect to y. Let g(x) be
an element of R such that g(0) = 0 and sup
|x|<a
|g(x)| < b. Assume that f(x, g(x))
is congruent to 0 modulo (f
y
(x, g(x)))
2
in R. Prove that there exists an R-valued
innitely dierentiable function q(x) on |x| < for some positive number a such
that
(i) q(0) = 0,
(ii) f(x, q(x)) 0 on |x| < ,
(iii) q(x) is congruent to g(x) modulo f
y
(x, g(x)) in the ring of all R-valued innitely
dierentiable functions on the open interval (, ).
(Note that the usual implicit function theorem is the special case where g(x) 0
and f
y
(x, g(x)) is nowhere zero on (a, a) and is therefore a unit in the ring R.)
Hint: Let q(x) = g(x) + f
y
(x, g(x))h(x) and solve for h(x) by the usual implicit
function theorem after using an appropriate Taylor expansion of the equation.
6) For each of the following, either exhibit an example or show that no such example
exists:
a) A space X and a covering map f : CP
2
X.
b) A retract from the surface S to the curve C
c) A retract from the surface S
onto the curve C

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QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

associating to a point x Q the tangent hyperplane T

is the dual projective space parameterizing

(u) means the rst-order derivative of (u) with

(u) are R-linear

(u) means the second-order

onto the curve C

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