Characterizing slices for proper actions of locally compact groups (Q1709061)

A completely regular space \(X\) with an action of \(X\) of a Hausdorff topological group \(G\) is called a \(G\)-space. If \(X\) and \(Y\) are \(G\)-spaces, then a continuous map \(f:X\to Y\) is called an \textit{equivariant map} if \(f(gx)=gf(x)\) for every \(x\in X\) and \(g\in G\). Let \(X\) be a \(G\)-space. For a subset \(S\subseteq X\) and a subgroup \(H\leq G\), put \(H(S)=\{hs:h\in H, s\in S\}\). Let \(H\) be a closed subgroup of \(G\). A subset \(S\) of \(X\) is called an \textit{\(H\)-slice} in \(X\), if \(H(S)=S\), \(S\) is closed in \(G(S)\), \(gS\cap S=\emptyset\) for every \(g\in G\setminus H\), and \(G(S)\) is open in \(X\). If in addition \(G(S)=X\), then we say that \(S\) is a \textit{global \(H\)-slice} of \(X\). In [\textit{R. S. Palais}, Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 36, 72 p. (1960; Zbl 0119.38403), Theorem 1.7.7], Palais proved the following important external characterization of an \(H\)-slice: Let \(G\) be a compact group, \(H\) a closed subgroup of \(G\), and \(X\) a \(G\)-space. Then there exists a one-to-one correspondence between all equivariant maps \(f:X\to G/H\) and global \(H\)-slices \(S\) in \(X\) given by \(f\mapsto S_f:=f^{-1}(eH)\), where \(eH\) is the coset of the unit element \(e\in G\). The inverse correspondence is given by \(S\mapsto f_S\), where \(f_S:G(S) \to G/H\) is an equivariant map defined by \(f_S(gs)=gH\) for every \(g\in G\) and \(s\in S\), which is called the \textit{slicing map}. In this paper, first the author proves some important properties of small global slices. Then, he generalizes the above result to the case of proper actions of arbitrary locally compact groups, that is, he proves the following: Let \(H\) be a compact subgroup of a locally compact group \(G\), and let \(X\) be a proper \(G\)-space with a global \(H\)-slice \(S\). If the slice \(S\) is small (e.g., if \(S\) is compact), then the slicing map \(f_S: X\to G/H\) is continuous and open. If, in addition, \(S\) is compact then \(f_S\) is also closed. Conversely, if one has an equivariant map \(f:X\to G/H\), then the inverse image \(S=f^{-1}(eH)\) is a global \(H\)-slice which is a small subset of \(X\), and \(f_S=f\). Furthermore, he applies these results to orbit spaces of proper \(G\)-spaces, and an equivariant extension theorem is proved for proper actions.