Lower bounds for topological complexity (Q390821)

For a topological space \(X\) one defines the notion of topological complexity \(\text{{TC}}(X)\) as the least integer \(n\) such that \(X\times X\) admits an open cover \(U_1\cup \dots \cup U_n=X\times X\) with the property that over each \(U_j\) there is a continuous section \(s_j: U_j\to X^I\) of the path fibration \(X^I\to X\times X\). This notion was introduced in [\textit{M. Farber}, Discrete Comput. Geom. 29, No. 2, 211-221 (2003; Zbl 1038.68130)], it was motivated by the motion planning problem of robotics. A monoidal version \(\text{TC}^M(X)\) of this notion was introduced by \textit{N. Iwase} and \textit{M. Sakai} in [Topology Appl. 157, No. 1, 10--21 (2010; Zbl 1192.55002), ibid. 159, No. 10-11, 2810--2813 (2012; Zbl 1243.55002)] here \(\text{TC}^M(X)\) denotes the minimal integer \(m\) such that there is an open cover \(V_1\cup \dots \cup V_m=X\times X\) such that each \(V_j\) contains the diagonal \(\Delta(X) \subset X\times X\) and there is a continuous section \(s_j: V_j\to X^I\) of the path fibration \(X^I\to X\times X\) such that \(s_j(x,x)\) is the constant path at \(x\) for any point \(x\in X\). It is known that \(\text{TC}(X)\leq \text{TC}^M(X)\leq \text{TC}(X)+1\) and Iwase and Sakai conjectured that \(\text{TC}^M(X)= \text{TC}(X)\) for any space \(X\). The authors study several variations of the notion of monoidal topological complexity \(\text{TC}^M(X)\) in the spirit of Ganea and Whitehead. They also prove inequalities for various versions of the topological complexity. Among the inequalities established in the paper are \[ \text{nil}_R(X) \leq \sigma\text{{TC}}(X) \leq w\text{TC}_G(X) \leq \text{TC}^M(X), \] \[ \text{nil}_R(X)\leq \text{{conil}}_{\text{TC}}(X) \leq w\text{TC}(X) \leq w\text{TC}_G(X) \leq \text{TC}^M(X). \] Moreover, if the ring \(R\) is a field, \(R=k\), then \[ \text{nil}_k(X) \leq e_k^{\text{TC}}(X) \leq \sigma \text{{TC}}(X) \] where \(e_k^{\text{TC}}(X)\) is an analogue of the Toomer invariant. Proposition 8 of the paper under review (stating the inequality \(\text{{TC}}(X) \geq \text{{nil}}_R(X)\)) is closely related to Corollary 4.40 from the book [\textit{M. Farber}, Invitation to topological robotics. Zurich Lectures in Advanced Mathematics. Zürich: European Mathematical Society (EMS) (2008; Zbl 1148.55011)].