Approximate fibrations on topological manifolds (Q1064583)

The first main result of the paper is the following parametrized version of a theorem of \textit{T. A. Chapman} [Approximation results in topological manifolds (Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 251) (1981; Zbl 0478.57009)]: Let B be a polyhedron and \(\alpha\) an open covering of B. Then there exists an open covering \(\beta\) of B with the following properties. Whenever M is an m- manifold, \(\partial M=\emptyset\), \(m\geq 5\), and \(f_ t: M\to B\), \(t\in \Delta^ n\), is a family of maps such that \(f_ t\) has the \(\beta\)- homotopy lifting property, for \(t\in \Delta^ n\), and is an approximate fibration for \(t\in \partial \Delta^ n\), then there exists a family of approximate fibrations \(\tilde f_ t: M\to B\), such that \(\tilde f_ t\) is \(\alpha\)-close to \(f_ t\), for \(t\in \Delta^ n\), and \(\tilde f_ t=f_ t\), for \(t\in \partial \Delta^ n.\) The second main result is a parametrized approximation theorem for approximate fibrations: Let \(M^ m\) and B be closed manifolds, \(m\geq 5\), and let \(p_ t: M\to B\), \(t\in \Delta^ n\), be a family of approximate fibrations. Then for every \(\epsilon >0\) there exists a family of homeomorphisms \(H_ t: M\to M\) such that \(H_ 0=id\) and \(p_ tH_ t\) is \(\epsilon\)-close to \(p_ 0\), \(0\in \partial \Delta^ n\). The special case \(B=S^ 1\) is due to \textit{S. Ferry} [''Approximate fibrations over \(S^ 1\)'', in preparation]. From the main theorems several important consequences are derived. In particular, it is shown that the space of approximate fibrations, the space of bundle projections and the space of Hurewicz fibrations \(M\to B\) are L \(C^{\infty}\) provided M and B are closed manifolds, dim M\(=m\geq 5\). Furthermore, an approximate fibration \(M\to B\) can be approximated arbitrarily closely by bundle projections if and only if it is homotopic to a bundle projection via approximate fibrations. The latter result supplements the results of \textit{L. S. Husch} [Can. J. Math. 29, 897-913 (1977; Zbl 0366.55006)] and of \textit{T. A. Chapman} and \textit{S. Ferry} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 276, 757-774 (1983; Zbl 0526.55019)].