Homotopy decomposition of a group of symplectomorphisms of \(S^{2} \times S^{2}\). (Q1430392)

The theory of pushouts and amalgams, especially of topological groups, is developed and then applied to the group \(G_\lambda\) of symplectomorphisms of the symplectic manifold \((\mathbb S^2\times\mathbb S^2,\omega_\lambda)\), where \(1<\lambda\leq 2\) and \(\omega_\lambda=\lambda\sigma_0\oplus\sigma_0\) with \(\sigma_0\) the standard area form on \(\mathbb S^2\) with total area 1. In particular it is shown that the canonical continuous homomorphism from the pushout of \(\mathbb S^1\times SO(3)\overset{j}{\leftarrow} SO(3)\overset{\Delta}{\to} SO(3)\times SO(3)\) to \(G_\lambda\) is a weak equivalence. Other weak equivalences involving the relevant classifying spaces and the quotient of \(G_\lambda\) by \(\mathbb S^1\times SO(3)\) are also verified.