Cohomogeneity one manifolds and self-maps of nontrivial degree (Q1024621)

In this highly interesting article the author deals with the notoriously difficult question of which numbers can occur as degrees of self-maps of compact oriented manifolds \(M\). The general case seems to be out of reach so the author imposes the action of a compact Lie group \(G\) on \(M\) and looks for equivariant maps. If the action is transitive then each such map \(f\) is a diffeomorphism, so \(\deg f=\pm1\). To obtain nontrivial results the author considers the case where \(\dim M/G=1\), hence \(M/G\) is a circle or a closed interval. In the former case \(\pi_1(M)\) is infinite, so there remains the second case. In this case, \(M\) can be equipped with a \(G\)-invariant Riemannian metric so that the Weyl group \(W\) is finite. The preimage of the endpoints of the interval under \(\pi:M\to M/G\) consists of two ``nonprincipal'' orbits. The preimage of the open interval is formed by ``principal'' orbits of the form \(G/H\). Let \(j\) be an even integer. For each \(k=j|W|/2+1\) the author constructs an equivariant map \(\psi_k:M\to M\) such that \(\deg\psi_k=k\) if both nonprincipal orbits have odd codimension and \(\deg\psi_k=1\) else. In the former case, the Lefschetz number \(L(\psi_k)=-j\chi(G/H)/2\) and \(L(\psi_k)=\chi(M)\) else. (The condition that \(j\) be even can be removed if one imposes a condition on the isotropy groups.) The author describes explicit coordinate polynomial self-maps on \(\mathbf{SU}(3)\), \(\mathbf{SU}(4)\), and \(\mathbf{SO}(2n)\) and computes their degrees. For \(\mathbf{SU}(3)\) it is proved that the degrees of self-maps are precisely the integers \(4^m(2\ell+1)\) (\(m\in\mathbb{N}\), \(\ell\in\mathbb{Z}\)).