# Lattices in 𝐑² and finite subsets of a circle

## Spaces of finite subsets

For $`X`$ a topological space let $`\mathrm{exp}_kX`$ be the set of all finite subsets of $`X`$ of cardinality at most $`k`$. There is a map from the Cartesian product of $`k`$ copies of $`X`$ with itself to $`\mathrm{exp}_kX`$ which sends $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_k)`$ to $`\{x_1\}\mathrm{}\{x_k\}`$. The quotient topology gives $`\mathrm{exp}_kX`$ the structure of a topological space. Clearly, $`\mathrm{exp}_1X=X`$ for any $`X`$.

The simplest non-trivial example is provided by the space $`\mathrm{exp}_2S^1`$ which is easily seen to be homeomorphic to the Möbius band. The space $`\mathrm{exp}_3S^1`$ is described by a well-known theorem of R. Bott:

###### Theorem 1.

(Bott, ) The space $`\mathrm{exp}_3S^1`$ is homeomorphic to a 3-sphere $`S^3`$.

The homeomorphism between $`\mathrm{exp}_3S^1`$ and $`S^3`$ is rather non-obvious. This is illustrated by the following result which is, apparently, due to E. Shchepin. Consider the canonical embedding $`\mathrm{\Delta }:S^1\mathrm{exp}_3S^1=S^3`$ which sends a point $`xS^1`$ to the subset $`\{x\}\mathrm{exp}_3S^1`$.

###### Theorem 2.

(Shchepin, \[unpublished\]) The map $`\mathrm{\Delta }:S^1S^3`$ is a trefoil knot.

In his proof of Theorem 1 Bott used a “cut-and-paste” argument. Shchepin’s proof of Theorem 2 was based on a direct calculation of the fundamental group of $`S^3\backslash \mathrm{\Delta }(S^1)`$. The purpose of this note is to show that the above theorems can be deduced from well-known facts about lattices in a plane.

## Spaces of lattices.

A lattice in $`𝐑^2`$ is a subgroup of the vector space $`𝐑^2`$ generated by two linearly independent vectors. The set $``$ of all lattices considered up to multiplication by a non-zero real number can be identified with $`SL(2,𝐑)/SL(2,𝐙)`$ and will be considered with this topology.

The space $``$ can be compactified by adding points which correspond to degenerate lattices, that is, subgroups of $`𝐑^2`$ generated by one non-zero vector. Degenerate lattices modulo multiplication by a non-zero real number form a circle $`S^1`$. The topology on the union $`\widehat{}=S^1`$ can be described as follows. Denote by $`\widehat{T}`$ the space of triangles of perimeter 1 in $`𝐑^2`$ each of whose angles does not exceed $`\pi /2`$ and is possibly equal to zero. The space $`\widehat{T}`$ contains degenerate triangles which have one side equal to 0 and both angles adjacent to it equal to $`\pi /2`$. Let $`T\widehat{T}`$ be the subspace of non-degenerate triangles. There is a map $`p:\widehat{T}\widehat{}`$ which sends a triangle to the lattice generated by any two of its sides considered as vectors. Notice that the restriction of $`p`$ to $`T`$ is a continuous map from $`T`$ onto $``$. We define the topology on $`\widehat{}`$ as the quotient topology with respect to the map $`p`$.

###### Theorem 3.

The compactification $`\widehat{}`$ of the space of lattices $``$ is homeomorphic to a 3-sphere $`S^3`$. The inclusion $`\widehat{}\backslash \widehat{}`$ is a trefoil knot.

The proof of the above theorem (due to D.Quillen) can be found in  on page 84 where a homeomorphism between $``$ and the complement of a trefoil is constructed. This map can be easily seen to extend to a homeomorphism between $`\widehat{}`$ and $`S^3`$.

## Main theorem

Our main result relates Theorem 3 to Theorems 1 and 2.

###### Theorem 4.

There is a homeomorphism $`\mathrm{\Phi }:\widehat{}\mathrm{exp}_3S^1`$ which identifies the circle $`\widehat{}\backslash `$ with $`\mathrm{\Delta }(S^1)`$.

###### Remark.

The circle $`S^1`$ acts as a subgroup of $`PSL(2,𝐑)`$ on $``$ (and, in fact, on $`\widehat{}`$) rotating the lattices. It will be clear from the construction below that $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ sends the action of $`S^1`$ on $`\widehat{}`$ to the action of $`SO(2)`$ by rotations on $`\mathrm{exp}_3S^1`$.

###### Proof.

For any non-degenerate lattice $`L`$ there is a finite number of triangles $`V_i^L`$ with vertices in $`L`$ whose sides are generators of $`L`$ and whose angles do not exceed $`\pi /2`$. There are 12 such triangles for a rectangular lattice and 6 for any other lattice, as shown in the figure.

For each non-degenerate lattice $`L`$ choose one of the triangles $`V_i^L`$ and trace 3 lines which connect the vertices of the triangle with the centre of its circumscribed circle. These lines are distinct unless $`L`$ is rectangular in which case two of them coincide. Each line determines a point in $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^1=S^1`$ so we obtain a point $`\mathrm{\Phi }(L)`$ in $`\mathrm{exp}_3S^1\backslash \mathrm{\Delta }(S^1)`$ for each $`L`$. It is clear that $`\mathrm{\Phi }(L)`$ depends only on $`L`$ and not on a particular choice of a triangle. Now, for a degenerate lattice $`L`$ define $`\mathrm{\Phi }(L)`$ as the point of $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^1`$ which corresponds to the line containing $`L`$. A straightforward check shows that $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is a homeomorphism. ∎

## Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Evgenii Shchepin, Abdelghani Mouhallil and Alberto Verjovsky for useful discussions.