Farley-Sabalka's Morse-theory model and the higher topological complexity of ordered configuration spaces on trees (Q2066312)

In the present paper TC\(_s(-)\) (\(s\geq 2\)) denotes the \(s\)-th higher topological complexity introduced by \textit{Y. B. Rudyak} [Topology Appl. 157, No. 5, 916--920 (2010; Zbl 1187.55001)]. The invariant \(\text{cat}(-)\) means the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category. Note that the authors use the reduced version, i.e., \(\text{TC}_s(X)=0=\text{cat}(X)\) if and only if \(X\) is contractible. For a tree \(T\) with at least one essential vertex, a positive integer \(n\geq 2\), and \(\ell=\ell(n,T)=\min\{\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor,m\}\), where \(m=m(T)\) stands for the number of essential vertices of \(T\), the authors study the homotopy type of the ordered configuration space \(\mathcal{C}^nT\) of \(n\) points in \(T\) and compute the category \(\text{cat}\left(\mathcal{C}^nT\right)\) and the higher topological complexity \(\text{TC}_s\left(\mathcal{C}^nT\right)\). Specifically, they show the following statement. \textbf{Theorem} Let \(T\) be a tree with at least one essential vertex, \(n\geq 2\), and \(\ell=\ell(n,T)=\min\{\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor,m\}\), where \(m=m(T)\) stands for the number of essential vertices of \(T\). Then \begin{itemize} \item[1)] The configuration space \(\mathcal{C}^nT\) has the homotopy type of a cell complex of dimension \(\ell\). \item[2)] The Lusternik-Schnirelmann category and the higher topological complexity of \(\mathcal{C}^nT\) are given by \(\text{cat}\left(\mathcal{C}^nT\right)=\ell\) and \(\text{TC}_s\left(\mathcal{C}^nT\right)=s\ell\), with the single exception of the second inequality when \(T\) is the \(Y\)-graph and \(n=2\), for which \(\mathcal{C}^2Y\simeq S^1\) and \(\text{TC}_s\left(\mathcal{C}^2Y\right)=s-1\). \end{itemize}