Axioms for the equivariant Lefschetz number and for the Reidemeister trace (Q2461362)

In 1962, \textit{C. Watts} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 13, 304-306 (1962; Zbl 0111.35705)] gave axioms characterizing when an integer valued function defined on a space \(M\) coincides with the Euler characteristic \(\chi(M)\). Since \(\chi(M)=L(1_M)\) where \(L(f)\) denotes the Lefschetz number of \(f\), \textit{M. Arkowitz} and \textit{R. Brown} [Fixed Point Theory Appl. 2004, No. 1, 1--11 (2004; Zbl 1083.55001)] generalized Watt's result by giving a similar characterization of the Lefschetz number. By taking a similar trace at the fundamental group level, one can obtain the so-called Reidemeister trace \(RT(f)\) which generalizes \(L(f)\) and contains information about the fixed point classes and thus the Nielsen number of \(f\). This trace \(RT\) takes values in an abelian group \(\mathbb Z\mathcal R_f\) generated by the set \(\mathcal R_f\) of \(f_{\sharp}\)-twisted conjugacy classes. When considering \(\Gamma\)-equivariant maps for a finite group \(\Gamma\), one considers the various contributions of the fixed point indices of \(f^H\), the restriction of \(f\) on the fixed point set \(M^H\) of the action of the subgroup \(H\) of \(G\). Thus, the appropriate equivariant Lefschetz number \(\lambda_{\Gamma}(f)\) is an element in the Burnside ring \(A(G)\) which, as an abelian group, is the free abelian group generated by the conjugacy classes \(\{(H)\}\) of subgroups \(H\) of \(G\). Finally, one can define an equivariant Reidemeister trace \(RT_{\Gamma}\) which takes values in \(\bigoplus \mathbb Z\mathcal R_{f, H_{i,c}}\) where \(\mathcal R_{f, H_{i,c}}\) is the set of orbits of an induced action on an extension of \(\pi_1(M^{H_i}_c\mathcal R_{f, H_{i,c}}\)) by \(WH_{i}\). Here, \(M^{H_i}_c\) denotes a connected component of \(M^{H_i}\) and \(WH_i=NH_i/H_i\) is the Weyl group of \(H_i\) in \(\Gamma\). In this paper, the authors give axiomatic characterizations of \(RT(f), \lambda_{\Gamma}(f)\), and for \(RT_{\Gamma}(f)\), thereby generalizing the work of Arkowitz and Brown.