Configuration spaces of rings and wickets (Q1939565)

Let \({\mathcal R}_n\) denote the finite dimensional space consisting of all configurations of \(n\) distinct pairwise unlinked circles (usually called rings) in \(\mathbb R^3\), and let \({\mathcal L}_n\) be the space of all smooth trivial links in \(\mathbb R^3\). Similarly, let \({\mathcal U}{\mathcal R}_n\subset {\mathcal R}_n\) denote the subspace of all configurations of rings lying in the planes parallel to the fixed plane. Let \({\mathcal W}_n\) denote the space consisting of all \(n\) distinct wickets (or called semicircles) in \(\mathbb R^3_+\), and let \({\mathcal A}_n\) be the space of all configurations of \(n\) disjoint smooth unknotted and unlinked arcs in \(\mathbb R^3_+\) with endpoints on \(\partial \mathbb R^3_+=\mathbb R^2\). Note that the fundamental group \(\pi_1({\mathcal R}_n)\) is usually called the ring group \(R_n\) and it is known that it is isomorphic to the group \(\pi_1({\mathcal L}_n)\). Similarly, the groups \(UR_n=\pi ({\mathcal U}{\mathcal R}_n)\) and \(\pi ({\mathcal W}_n)\) are usually called untwisted ring group and wicket group \(W_n\), respectively. In this paper, the authors prove that the inclusion maps \({\mathcal R}_n\to {\mathcal L}_n\) and \({\mathcal W}_n\to {\mathcal A}_n\) are homotopy equivalences. Moreover, they also prove that the space \({\mathcal W}_n\) and its untwisted subspace \({\mathcal U}{\mathcal W}_n\) are aspherical. The key part of their proof is a procedure for greatly reducing the complexity of tangled configurations of rings and wickets.