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3-sphere
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In mathematics, a 3-sphere is a higher-dimensional analogue of a sphere. It consists of
the locus of points equidistant from a fixed central point in 4-dimensional Euclidean
space. An ordinary sphere (or 2-sphere) is a two dimensional surface while a 3-sphere is
an object with three dimensions, known as a 3-manifold.
A 3-sphere is also called a hypersphere, although the term hypersphere can in general
represent any n-sphere for n ≥ 3.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Definition
• 2 Πρ ο π ε ρ τ ι ε σ
• 2.1 Elementary properties
• 2.2 Τ ο π ο λ ο γ ι χ α λ προ π ε ρ τ ι ε σ
• 2.3 Γ ε ο µ ε τ ρ ι χ προ π ε ρ τ ι ε σ
• 3 Topological construction
• 3.1 Unslicing
• 3.2 Υ ν π υ ν χ τ υ ρ ι ν γ
• 4 Coordinate systems on the 3-sphere
• 4.1 Hyperspherical coordinates
• 4.2 Η ο π φ χοο ρ δ ι ν α τ ε σ
• 4.3 Σ τ ε ρ ε ο γ ρ α π η ι χ
χοο ρ δ ι ν α τ ε σ
• 5 Group structure
• 6 Ιν λιτ ε ρ α τ υ ρ ε
• 7 Σε ε αλσ ο
• 8 Ρεφ ε ρ ε ν χ ε σ
• 9 Εξ τ ε ρ ν α λ λινκ σ
[edit] Definition
In coordinates, a 3-sphere with center (C0, C1, C2, C3) and radius r is the set of all points
(x0, x1, x2, x3) in R4 such that
It is often convenient to regard R4 as C2 or H (the quaternions). The unit 3-sphere is then
given by
The last description is often the most useful. It describes the 3-sphere as the set of all unit
quaternions—quaternions with absolute value equal to unity. Just as the set of all unit
complex numbers is important in complex geometry, the set of all unit quaternions is
important to the geometry of the quaternions.
[edit] Properties
[edit] Elementary properties

The 3-dimensional volume (or hyperarea) of a 3-sphere of radius r is
Every non-empty intersection of a 3-sphere with a three-dimensional hyperplane is a 2-

sphere (unless the hyperplane is tangent to the 3-sphere, in which case the intersection is
a single point). As a 3-sphere moves through a given three-dimensional hyperplane, the
intersection starts out as a point, then becomes a growing 2-sphere which reaches its
maximal size when the hyperplane cuts right through the "equator" of the 3-sphere. Then
the 2-sphere shrinks again down to a single point as the 3-sphere leaves the hyperplane.
[edit] Topological properties

A 3-sphere is a compact, connected, 3-dimensional manifold without boundary. It is also
simply-connected. What this means, loosely speaking, is that any loop, or circular path,
on the 3-sphere can be continuously shrunk to a point without leaving the 3-sphere. The
Poincaré conjecture proposes that the 3-sphere is the only three dimensional manifold
with these properties (up to homeomorphism). This conjecture was proved in 2003 by
Grigori Perelman.
The 3-sphere is homeomorphic to the one-point compactification of R3. Generally, any
topological space which is homeomorphic to the 3-sphere is called a topological 3-
sphere.
The homology groups of the 3-sphere are as follows: H0(S3,Z) and H3(S3,Z) are both
infinite cyclic, while Hi(S3,Z) = {0} for all other indices i. Any topological space with
these homology groups is known as a homology 3-sphere. Initially Poincaré conjectured
that all homology 3-spheres are homeomorphic to S3, but then he himself constructed a
non-homeomorphic one, now known as the Poincaré sphere. Infinitely many homology
spheres are now known to exist. For example, a Dehn filling with slope 1/n on any knot
in the three-sphere gives a homology sphere; typically these are not homeomorphic to the
three-sphere.
As to the homotopy groups, we have π1(S3) = π2(S3) = {0} and π3(S3) is infinite cyclic.
The higher homotopy groups (k ≥ 4) are all finite abelian but otherwise follow no
discernible pattern. For more discussion see homotopy groups of spheres.
Homotopy groups of S3
k 01234 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
πk(S3) 0 0 0 Z Z2 Z2 Z12 Z2 Z2 Z3 Z15 Z2 Z2⊕Z2 Z12⊕Z2 Z84⊕Z2⊕Z2 Z2⊕Z2 Z6
[edit] Geometric properties

The 3-sphere is naturally a smooth manifold, in fact, a closed embedded submanifold of
R4. The Euclidean metric on R4 induces a metric on the 3-sphere giving it the structure of
a Riemannian manifold. As with all spheres, the 3-sphere has constant positive sectional
curvature equal to 1/r2 where r is the radius.
Much of the interesting geometry of the 3-sphere stems from the fact that the 3-sphere
has a natural Lie group structure given by quaternion multiplication (see the section
below on group structure). The only other spheres with such a structure are the 0-sphere
and the 1-sphere (see circle group).
Unlike the 2-sphere, the 3-sphere admits nonvanishing vector fields (sections of its
tangent bundle). One can even find three linearly-independent and nonvanishing vector
fields. These may be taken to be any left-invariant vector fields forming a basis for the
Lie algebra of the 3-sphere. This implies that the 3-sphere is parallelizable. It follows that
the tangent bundle of the 3-sphere is trivial. For a general discussion of the number of
linear independent vector fields on a n-sphere see the article vector fields on spheres.
There is an interesting action of the circle group T on S3 giving the 3-sphere the structure
of a principal circle bundle known as the Hopf bundle. If one thinks of S3 as a subset of
C2, the action is given by
x
_
where ψ and θ runs over the range 0 to π, and φ runs over 0 to 2π. Note that for any fixed
value of ψ, θ and φ parameterize a 2-sphere of radius sin(ψ), except for the degenerate
cases, when ψ equals 0 or π, in which case they describe a point.
The round metric on the 3-sphere in these coordinates is given by
Here η runs over the range 0 to π/2, and ξ1 and ξ2 can take any values between 0 and 2π.
These coordinates are useful in the description of the 3-sphere as the Hopf bundle
[edit] Stereographic coordinates

Another convenient set of coordinates can be obtained via stereographic projection of S3
onto a tangent R3 hyperplane. For example, if we project onto the plane tangent to the
point (1, 0, 0, 0) we can write a point p in S3 as
We could just have well have projected onto the plane tangent to the point (−1, 0, 0, 0) in
which case the point p is given by
Note that the u coordinates are defined everywhere but (−1, 0, 0, 0) and the v coordinates
everywhere but (1, 0, 0, 0). Both patches together cover all of S3. This defines an atlas on
S3 consisting of two coordinate charts. Note that the transition function between these two
charts on their overlap is given by
[edit] In literature
Stephen Baxter used the 3-sphere in his short story Dante and the 3-Sphere, a very deep
story in which a seemingly mad scientist and theologian "realizes" that Dante is referring
to a traversal through multiple 3-spheres in The Divine Comedy. The main character is
taken by the scientist into a journey through multiple 3-spheres.
In Edwin Abbott Abbott's Flatland, published in 1884, the 3-sphere is referred to as an
oversphere.
Writing in the American Journal of Physics, Mark A. Peterson describes three different
ways of visualizing 3-spheres and points out language in Dante's Divine Comedy that
suggest he (Dante) viewed the Universe in the same way. Peterson appears to be unaware
of Baxter's work.
(ref: "Dante and the 3-sphere", American Journal of Physics, vol 47, number 12, 1979,
pp1031-1035)
[edit] See also
• Hypersphere
• 1−σ π η ε ρ ε , 2-sphere, n-sphere
• τεσσ ε ρ α χ τ , polychoron, simplex
• Πα υ λ ι µα τ ρ ι χ ε σ
• ρο τ α τ ι ο ν γρου π SO(3)
• charts on SO(3)
• θυα τ ε ρ ν ι ο ν σ αν δ σπα τ ι α λ
ρο τ α τ ι ο ν σ
• Hopf bundle, Riemann sphere
• Πο ι ν χ α ρ  σπη ε ρ ε
• Ρε ε β φολ ι α τ ι ο ν
• Χλ ι φ φ ο ρ δ τορ υ σ
[edit] References
• David W. Henderson, Experiencing Geometry: In Euclidean, Spherical, and
Hyperbolic Spaces, second edition, 2001, [1] (Chapter 20: 3-spheres and
hyperbolic 3-spaces.)
• ϑεφ φ ρ ε ψ Ρ . Ω ε ε κ σ , The Shape of Space: How to Visualize

Surfaces and Three-dimensional Manifolds, 1985, ([2]) (Chapter 14: The
Hypersphere) (Says: A Warning on terminology: Our two-sphere is defined in
three-dimensional space, where it is the boundary of a three-dimensional ball.
This terminology is standard among mathematicians, but not among physicists.
So don't be surprised if you find people calling the two-sphere a three-sphere.)

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3-sphere

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• 2.1 Elementary properties

• 4 Coordinate systems on the 3-sphere

• 4.1 Hyperspherical coordinates

[edit] Elementary properties

Every non-empty intersection of a 3-sphere with a three-dimensional hyperplane is a 2-

[edit] Topological properties

[edit] Geometric properties

[edit] Stereographic coordinates

• 1−σ π η ε ρ ε , 2-sphere, n-sphere

• τεσσ ε ρ α χ τ , polychoron, simplex

• Hopf bundle, Riemann sphere

• ϑεφ φ ρ ε ψ Ρ . Ω ε ε κ σ , The Shape of Space: How to Visualize

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