Epsilon Nielsen coincidence theory (Q5915984)

The Epsilon Nielsen number $N^\varepsilon (f)$ is a lower bound for the number of fixed points of self-maps of a Riemannian manifold $X$ which are $\varepsilon$-homotopic to $f$ for $\varepsilon>0$ sufficiently small. This is not a homotopy invariant, but in some cases it is computable (see [\textit{R. F. Brown}, Fixed Point Theory Appl. 2006, No. 2, Article 29470, 10 p. (2006; Zbl 1093.55003)]). \par The authors introduce the concept of $\varepsilon$-Nielsen coincidence number $N^\varepsilon (f,g)$, where $f,g: X\to Y$ are maps of compact, oriented Riemannian manifolds of the same dimension. \par A method for computing the number under certain conditions is addressed. An explicit example is given with $N^\varepsilon (f,g)=3$ and the usual coincidence number $N(f,g)\leq 2$ (cf. [\textit{D. L. Gonçalves}, in: Handbook of topological fixed point theory. Berlin: Springer. 3--42 (2005; Zbl 1081.55002)]).