Injectivity of local diffeomorphisms from nearly spectral conditions (Q1815655)

A theorem of \textit{C. Gutierrez} [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 12, No. 6, 627-671 (1995; Zbl 0837.34057)] states: ``A \(C^1\) map \(f:\mathbb{R}^2\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^2\) is injective if \([0,\infty)\cap \text{Spec}(D(f(x))\) is empty for all \(x\in{\mathbb{R}}^2\)''. In this paper, the authors establish: \smallbreak\noindent 1) An injectivity theorem for local diffeomorphisms of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) for \(n\geq 2\) with nearly'' spectral hypotheses. \smallbreak\noindent 2) The existence of examples showing the result of Guitierrez cited above fails in high dimensions. \smallbreak\noindent 3) An injectivity theorem with spectral hypothesis for local diffeomorphisms defined on disks in \(\mathbb{R}^2\). \medbreak Let \(f:\mathbb{R}^n\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n\) be a local diffeomorphism. The authors use a construction similar to the exponential map in Riemannian geometry to construct a new map \(\psi:\mathbb{R}^n\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n\) so that if \(\psi\) is surjective, then \(f\) is injective; this reduces injectivity questions to surjectivity questions where one can use tools from nonlinear analysis. Results 1) and 3) above are proved using degree theory; result 2) above is proved using techniques from algebraic geometry.