On LS-category and topological complexity of some fiber bundles and Dold manifolds (Q2216595)

The Lusternik-Schnirelmann category (or just category) \(\mbox{cat}(X)\) of a space \(X\) is a classical important numerical homotopy invariant not only in algebraic topology but also in differential topology and dynamical systems. Another important, but more recent, numerical homotopy invariant is the topological complexity \(\mbox{TC}(X)\) of a space \(X\), which was introduced by \textit{M. Farber} [Discrete Comput. Geom. 29 No. 2, 211--221 (2003; Zbl 1038.68130)] in order to study the motion planning problem in robotics from a topological perspective. Under mild conditions, both invariants are known to satisfy the product inequality: \(\mbox{cat}(X\times Y)\leq \mbox{cat}(X)+\mbox{cat}(Y)-1\) and \(\mbox{TC}(X\times Y)\leq \mbox{TC}(X)+\mbox{TC}(Y)-1\), respectively. Starting from the fact that the product space is a trivial bundle, the authors of the paper under review face the problem of extending the above inequalities to some classes of more general fiber bundles. In this sense they prove that under certain conditions for a fiber bundle \(F\rightarrow E\stackrel{p}{\rightarrow }B\) the inequality \(\mbox{cat}(E)\leq \mbox{cat}(B)+\mbox{cat}(F)-1\) holds. A similar formula is also given for topological complexity. Then, taking into account these results and considering usual cohomological lower bounds they are able to give, on the one hand, the computation of the category of Dold manifolds; on the other, they establish tight bounds for the topological complexity of a wide class of Dold manifolds. Finally, some discussion about the equivariant topological complexity of some spaces related to Dold manifolds is also given.