Hurewicz fibrations, almost submetries and critical points of smooth maps (Q2363336)

The topological space \(Z\) is \(\mathbb K\)-acyclic if its reduced singular homology with coefficients in the field \(\mathbb K\) satisfies \(\widetilde H_n(Z;\mathbb K)=0\) for every \(n\geq 0\). A finite-dimensional \(CW\)-complex is a locally contractible paracompact normal space of finite covering dimension, hence locally path connected and semi-locally simply connected. If \(X\) is a connected, locally path connected and semi-locally simply connected, separable metric space with finite covering dimension \(\dim X<\infty\) and with the homotopy type of a \(CW\)-complex, \(Y\) is a connected, locally path connected and semi-locally simply connected space with the homotopy type of a finite dimensional \(CW\)-complex, and \(\pi:X\to Y\) is a Hurewicz fibration, then the authors prove that if at least one fiber \(F\) is locally contractible and \(X\) is aspherical, then the universal covering space \(Y'\) of \(Y\) is \(\mathbb K\)-acyclic for any field \(\mathbb K\), and if \(\widetilde{\Omega_yY}\) is the connected component of the loop space of \(Y\) containing the constant loop \(C_y=y\), \(X\) is aspherical, and the fiber \(F=\pi^{-1}(y)\) is a finite-dimensional \(CW\)-complex, then \(H_k(\widetilde{\Omega_yY},\mathbb K)=0\) for every \(k>\dim X\) and for any field \(\mathbb K\). Also, they show that if \(X\) and \(Y\) are connected finite-dimensional \(CW\)-complexes, \(\pi:X\to Y\) is a Hurewicz fibration with at least one locally contractible fiber, and \(X\) is aspherical, then \(Y'\) is \(\mathbb K\)-acyclic for any field \(\mathbb K\). Smooth manifolds are finite-dimensional separable metric spaces and also finite-dimensional \(CW\)-complexes, so to investigate topological properties of Hurewicz fibrations is to get information on maps between compact Riemannian manifolds under curvature restrictions. A point \(p\in M\) is critical for the \(C^1\)-map \(f:M\to N\) if \(f\) is not submersive at \(p\). As consequences of the main results, the authors show that if \(f:M\to N\) is a smooth map between the compact Riemannian manifolds \((M,g)\) and \((N,h)\) of dimension \(m\) and \(n\), respectively, and \(\text{Sect}_M\leq 0\) and \(\text{Ric}_N\geq(n-1)K>0\), then \(f\) must have a critical point. Also, if \(M\) is aspherical and the universal covering space of \(N\) is compact, then \(f\) has a critical point.