An averaging formula for the coincidence Reidemeister trace (Q1704375)

Let \(M_1\), \(M_2\) be closed orientable manifolds of the same dimension with universal coverings \(p_1:\tilde{M}_1\to M_1\), \(p_2:\tilde{M}_2\to M_2\) with covering transformation groups \(\Pi_1\) and \(\Pi_2\). Let \(f,g:M_1\to M_2\) be continuous maps and choose liftings \(\tilde{f}\) and \(\tilde{g}\). Then we get homomorphisms \(\phi, \psi:\Pi_1\to\Pi_2\) given by \(\phi(\alpha)\tilde{f}=\tilde{f}\alpha\) and likewise for \(g\). Define a conjugacy relation \(\sim\) on \(\Pi_2\) by defining \(\alpha\sim\beta\) if there is a \(\gamma\in\Pi_1\) with \(\alpha=\psi(\gamma)^{-1}\beta\phi(\gamma)\). Then the set of Reidemeister classes is defined to be \(\mathcal{R}[\phi,\psi]:=\Pi_2/\sim\). The set of coincidence classes is then known to be the disjoint union \(\text{Coin}(f,g)=\bigsqcup_{[\beta]\in\mathcal{R}[\phi,\psi]}p_1(\text{Coin}(\beta\tilde{f},\tilde{g}))\). The coincidence Reidemeister trace of \((f,g)\) is then defined as \(RT(f,\tilde{f},g,\tilde{g})=\sum_{[\beta]\in\mathcal{R}[\phi,\psi]}\text{ind}(f,g;p_1(\text{Coin}(\beta\tilde{f},\tilde{g})))[\beta]\in\mathbb{Z}\mathcal{R}[\phi,\psi]\). Here, \(\text{ind}\) denotes the coincidence index. Let now \(\Gamma_1\) and \(\Gamma_2\) be normal subgroups of \(\Pi_1\) and \(\Pi_2\) with finite index such that \(\phi(\Gamma_1)\subset\Gamma_2\) and \(\psi(\Gamma_1)\subset\Gamma_2\). Let \(\bar{M}_1=\Gamma_1\backslash\tilde{M}_1\) and \(\bar{M}_2=\Gamma_2\backslash\tilde{M}_2\). If instead of \(\tilde{f}\) we use another lift \(\beta\tilde{f}\) we obtain a homomorphism \(\tau_\beta\phi:\Pi_1\to\Pi_2\). Moreover, the inclusion \(i_2:\Gamma_2\to\Pi_2\) induces a map \(\hat{i}_2^\beta:\mathcal{R}[\tau_\beta\phi',\psi']\to\mathcal{R}[\tau_\beta,\psi]\). Here, \(\tau_\beta\phi'\) is the homomorphism \(\Gamma_1\to\Gamma_2\) obtained from the lift \(\beta\tilde{f}\) of \(\bar{\beta}\bar{f}:\bar{M}_1\to\bar{M}_2\). Finally, we note that right multiplication by \(\beta\) yields a map \(\rho_\beta:\mathcal{R}[\tau_\beta\phi,\psi]\to\mathcal{R}[\phi,\psi]\) providing us with an isomorphism \(\rho_\beta:\mathbb{Z}\mathcal{R}[\tau_\beta\phi,\psi]\to\mathbb{Z}\mathcal{R}[\phi,\psi]\). With these preliminaries and the same notation we can now state the authors' main result: \(\text{RT}(f,\tilde{f},g,\tilde{g})=\frac1{[\Pi_1:\Gamma_1]}\sum_{\bar{\beta}\in\Pi_2/\Gamma_2}\rho_\beta\circ\hat{ i}_2^\beta(\text{RT}(\bar{\beta}\bar{f},\beta\tilde{f},\bar{g},\tilde{g}))\).