Homotopy types of \( SU (n)\)-gauge groups over non-spin 4-manifolds (Q2274458)

Let \(G\) be a simple, simply connected compact Lie group and let \(M\) be a simply connected closed \(4\)-manifold. Let \(P_k\to M\) be a principal \(G\)-bundle classified by the characteristic element \(k\in \mathbb{Z}\cong \pi_3(G)\) and we denote by \(\mathcal{G}_k(M)\) the gauge group of \(P_k\). In this paper the author considers the classification problem of homotopy types of \(\{\mathcal{G}_k:k\in \mathbb{Z}\}\) when \(M\) is a non-spin \(4\)-manifold. Since it is known that there is a homotopy equivalence \( \mathcal{G}_k(M)\simeq \mathcal{G}_k(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2)\times (\Omega^2G)^{d-1}\) if \(M\) is non-spin, the problem reduces to classifying the homotopy types of \(\{\mathcal{G}_k(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2):k\in \mathbb{Z}\}.\) In particular, the author proves that if \(G=SU(n)\) and there is a homotopy equivalence \(\mathcal{G}_k(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2)\simeq \mathcal{G}_l(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2)\) then the equality \[ (\epsilon (n)n(n^2-1),k)=(\epsilon (n)n(n^2-1),l) \] holds, where \(\epsilon (n)=\frac{1}{2}\) if \(n\) is odd and \(\epsilon (n)=1\) if \(n\) is even and \((a,b)\) denotes the greatest common divisor of positive integers \(a\) and \(b\). The proof is based on a careful analysis of the evaluation fibration sequence \[ \mathcal{G}_k(M) \stackrel{}{\longrightarrow} G \stackrel{\partial_k}{\longrightarrow} \mathrm{Map}_k^*(M,BG) \stackrel{}{\longrightarrow} B\mathcal{G}_k(M) \stackrel{ev}{\longrightarrow} BG \] for \(M=\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2\), where we identify \(B\mathcal{G}_k(M)=\mathrm{Map}_k(M,BG)\).