# Problem 2.5b1

A First Course in String Theory

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2.5 Constructing simple orbifolds

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The wikipedia page “Fundamental polygon”, specifically the subsection entitled “group generators”, has a serious mathematical error. You cannot derive a presentation for the fundamental group from the fundamental polygon using the side labels in the manner described on that page (and which you have copied), unless all of the vertices of the polygon are identified to the same point. In the picture you provided and which can be seen on that page, one opposite pair of vertices of the square is identified to one point on the sphere, the other opposite pair of vertices is identified to a different point on the sphere.

There is still a way to derive a presentation for the fundamental group from a fundamental polygon, but it is not the way described on the wikipedia page. In the sphere example of your question, you have to ignore one of the two letters $\displaystyle{A}$, $\displaystyle{B}$, keeping only the other letter. For example, ignoring $\displaystyle{A}$ and keeping $\displaystyle{B}$, you get a presentation $\displaystyle{ \langle B \mid B B^{-1} = 1 \rangle }$, which is a presentation of the trivial group. The way you tell which to ignore and which to keep is by taking the quotient of the boundary of the polygon which is a graph with vertices and edges, choosing a maximal tree in that graph, ignoring all edge labels in the maximal tree, and keeping all edge labels not in the maximal tree.

On that wikipedia page, the Klein bottle and the torus examples are correct and you do not have to ignore any edge labels: all vertices are identified to a single point and the maximal tree is just a point. The sphere and the projective plane examples are incorrect: the four vertices are identified to two separate points, the maximal tree has one edge, and you have to ignore one edge label. The example of a hexagon fundamental domain for the torus is also incorrect: the six vertices are identified to two separate points, the maximal tree has one edge, and you have to ignore one edge label.

edited Jul 23 ’14 at 17:17

answered Jul 23 ’14 at 17:11

Lee Mosher

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yes, i thought that the fundamental polygon is this quotient space. – user159356 Jul 23 ’14 at 17:28

That’s backward: in your example, the sphere is the quotient space of the fundamental polygon, not the other way around. – Lee Mosher Jul 23 ’14 at 17:30

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