Self-coincidence numbers and the fundamental group (Q2461363)

In response to a question raised by D. McDuff, the author generalizes his earlier work [Am. J. Math. 87, 840--856 (1965; Zbl 0148.17106)], now known as Gottlieb's theorem which says that the evaluation map \(\omega: \text{ Map}(X,X;1_X) \to X\) induces the trivial map on \(\pi_1\) if \(X\) is a compact CW complex with \(\chi(X)\neq 0\). More precisely, it is shown (Theorem 1.1) that if the evaluation map \(\omega: \text{ Map}(M,N;f)\) given by \(g \mapsto \omega_*(g)\) induces a non-trivial homomorphism on \(\pi_1\) then \((\deg f)\chi(N)=0\). Here, \(f:M\to N\) is a map between two closed oriented connected manifolds of the same dimension. The main tool employed is the Lefschetz self-coincidence number.