Presentations of the first homotopy groups of the unitary groups (Q1417433)

The goal of this paper is to describe explicit presentations of the stable and the first nonstable homotopy groups of the unitary groups. For the stable groups the paper contains also a review of some known results, in particular, concerning the last stable groups \(\pi_{2n-1}U(n)\). In this purpose the explicit Bott periodicity isomorphism \(\pi_{r}U(n) \to \pi_{r+2}SU(n),\) \(r<2n,\) is used [given by \textit{A. T. Fomenko} in Variational principles of topology. Multidimensional minimal surface theory. Mathematics and Its Applications: Soviet Series, 42. Kluwer Academic Publishers (1990; Zbl 0697.49044)]. In consequence the authors obtain a simple formula for a minimal embedding \(\mathbb{S}^{5}\) into SU(3) that represents a generator of \(\pi_{5} \text{SU}(3).\) The paper mainly is concerned with the first nonstable homotopy groups \(\pi_{2n}\text{SU}(n) \cong \mathbb{Z}_{n!}\). It is shown how a suitable generator of \(\pi_{2n}\text{SU}(n)\) becomes null-homotopic in the \(n!\)-th power. Finally, the authors obtain presentations of certain stable homotopy groups of the symplectic groups and a structure theorem for arbitrary nonstable homotopy groups of the symmetric spaces \(\text{SU}(n) /\text{SO}(n).\)