Maps of degree 1 and Lusternik-Schnirelmann category (Q2400863)

Let \(M^n,N^n\) be two closed connected oriented smooth manifolds. The purpose of this short article under review is to investigate the following question: If \(f: M \to N\) is a map of degree \(\pm1\), does it follow that \(\mathrm{cat}(M)\geq \mathrm{cat} (N)\)? Here \(\mathrm{cat}\) is the normalized Lusternik-Schnirelmann category. The author is able to prove that in certain cases, the answer to this question is in the affirmative. One such case is the following: Corollary 3.4: Let \(M\) be a closed connected \(E\)-orientable manifold, and \(f: M\to N\) a map of degree \(\pm1\). If \(e^*_E(N)=\mathrm{cat}(N)\), then \(\mathrm{cat}(M)\geq \mathrm{cat}(N)\). Furthermore, if \(\mathrm{cl}_E(N)=\mathrm{cat}(N)\), then \(\mathrm{cat}(M)\geq \mathrm{cat}(N)\). Here \(e^*_E\) is the Toomer invariant while \(\mathrm{cl}\) denotes the cone-length. Other special cases are also proved. Furthermore, the author is able to use his result to prove an interesting fact about the category of the special orthogonal group \(SO_n\). He proves that if \(f: M \to SO_n\) is a map of degree \(\pm1\), then \(\mathrm{cat}\geq \mathrm{cat}(SO_2)\) for \(n\geq 9\). It is worth noting, as mentioned in the paper, that the method used to prove this can be applied to other Lie groups. The paper concludes by musing on some related questions.