Playing with the Möbius strip… mathematically

general-topologysoft-question

On the internet you often see these animations, where a Möbius strip gets cut along the center line, or other fun stuff.

But I have never seen a mathematical description of what is happening there.

What is the technique used to "cut" a topological space in half, like a sphere.

In my textbook there is the following task:

A Möbius strip arises from gluing the ends of a paper strip after twisting them in a half turn. More generally is the $n/2$-twisted Möbius strip obtained after twisting, and gluing the ends n/2 times ($n\in\mathbb{Z}$).
How many parts do you get after cutting in the middle along the direction of the strip. Are the parts again twisted Möbius strips?

I understand this task as "get a pair of scissors and some glue, and start playing around" what I did. But how can you mathematically describe what is happening, and prove the results?
What is the mathematics behind these constructions?

Twisting is simple, with an equivalence relation. But besides that?

Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

Consider the following strips:

$$A=[0,2]\times[0,1]\quad\mbox{and}\quad B=[0,2]\times[1,2].$$

The "non-cut" möbius strip is the composition of gluing $A$ and $B$ along the common side $[0,2]\times\{1\}$ and do the classical identification for the mobius strip.

For visualize the "cut" möbius strip, just do the classical identification for the mobius strip for the set $A\bigsqcup B$.

I think a good approach is consider the following quotient map:

$$\pi:A\bigsqcup B\to\$, \left\{\begin{matrix}\pi(0,x)=\pi(2,2-x)&{\rm for }\ x\in[0,1],\\\pi(0,1+y)=\pi(2,1-y)&{\rm for }\ y\in[0,1]. \end{matrix}\right.$$

where $\$$ denote the "cut" möbius strip.

Exercise: Prove that $\pi\left(A\bigsqcup B\right)$ is connected.