Do covering spaces have the homotopy lifting property

algebraic-topologycovering-spacesgeneral-topologyhomotopy-theory

I am having troubles to understand the interplay bewteen fiber bundles, fibrations and covering spaces. What I (think to) know is that:

  1. A covering space is a fiber bundle
  2. A fiber bundle is a fibration, i.e. it has the homotopy lifting property
  3. A map $f: X \to B$ can be lifted to a covering space $p: E \to B$ if and only if $f_*(\pi_1(X)) \subseteq p_*(\pi_1(E))$

(Some additional hypotheses are needed, but I don't think they are important for the sequel)

  • From 1 e 2 I would conclude that a covering space $p: E \to B$ has the homotopy lifting property. In particular we can lift every map $f: X \times I \to B$.
  • From 3 this would mean that $f_*(\pi_1(X \times I)) \subseteq p_*(\pi_1(E))$.
  • It is always true that $\pi_1(X \times I) \cong \pi_1(X)$
  • Furthermore, if we take $E$ to be the universal cover of $B$ we will have that $\pi_1(E) \cong 0$ and so $p_*(\pi_1(E)) \cong 0$.

Finally, from the three facts stated above I would conclude that

If $p: E \to B$ is a universal covering space and $f: X \times I \to B$ is a map, then $f_*(\pi_1(X)) \cong 0$

… but this is not true!

My question is: which of the three assertions is wrong? Or is my reasoning wrong? Do covering spaces have the homotopy lifting property?

Best Answer

To apply the homotopy lifting property, you need to assume that $f: X\to B$ has a lifting. It doesn't assert that any homotopy can be lifted without assumptions. Your first bullet point is not correct.

However all 3 facts stated are correct (modulo some extra conditions on the topological spaces).

For a simple example highlighting why your argument doesn't hold, consider $f:\mathbb S^1\to\mathbb S^1$ the identity map, $\pi:\mathbb R\to \mathbb S^1$ the universal covering map. Then $f$ cannot be lifted, to $\tilde f:\mathbb S^1\to \mathbb R$, hence any homotopy between $f$ and another map cannot be lifted as well.

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