Module sectional category of products (Q1793961)

For simply connected rational finite type spaces, Félix, Halperin, and Lemaire proved the additivity of the classical Lusternik-Schnirelmann category with respect to products, i.e., \(\operatorname{cat} (X \times Y) = \operatorname{cat} (X) + \operatorname{cat} (Y)\), [\textit{Y. Félix} et al., Topology 37, No. 4, 749--756 (1998; Zbl 0897.55001)]. This paper is concerned with the additivity of a homotopy invariant of the LS type, the module sectional category of a fibration \(p\), \(\operatorname{msecat} (p)\), introduced by \textit{L. Fernández Suárez} et al. [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 6, 119--144 (2006; Zbl 1097.55006)]. It is a rational approximation (lower bound) of the sectional category of the fibration \(p\), also known as the Schwarz genus. The main result of this paper (Theorem 1) shows that for \(p\) and \(p'\) fibrations whose base and total space have the homotopy type of simply connected \(CW\)-complexes of finite type, if either \(p\) or \(p'\) admit a homotopy retraction, then: \[\operatorname{msecat} (p \times p') = \operatorname{msecat} (p ) + \operatorname{msecat} ( p').\] As an immediate consequence (Corollary 2) the module invariant associated to the (higher) topological complexity (introduced by \textit{M. Farber} [Discrete Comput. Geom. 29, No. 2, 211--221 (2003; Zbl 1038.68130)] and generalised by \textit{Y. B. Rudyak} [Topology Appl. 157, No. 5, 916--920 (2010; Zbl 1187.55001)]) is also additive on products: \[\operatorname{mTC_n }(X \times Y) = \operatorname{mTC_n }(X ) + \operatorname{mTC_n }(Y).\] The results and techniques here are improvements on an earlier paper by the first author [\textit{J. G. Carrasquel-Vera}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 220, No. 4, 1310--1315 (2016; Zbl 1335.55003)]. In that previous work, fibrations in Theorem 1 were both required to have a homotopy retraction, and one of the total spaces was assumed a Poincaré duality complex (no longer needed).