Estimating Nielsen numbers on wedge product spaces (Q2472311)

Let \(A\) and \(C\) be groups and denote by \(A*C\) their free product. It is known that each \(g\in A*C\) has a unique reduced form, i.e., \(g=g_1\dotsm g_n\) where no \(g_i=1\), each \(g_i\) is in \(A\) or \(C\) and no successive elements are in the same free factor. Set \(\lambda(g):=n\) and call \(g\) cyclically reduced if \(g_1\) and \(g_n\) belong to different free factors or \(n\leq1\). (It is known that each element is conjugate to a cyclically reduced element.) Let then \(Y\) and \(Z\) be aspherical finite polyhedra and call \(X\) the wedge product of \((Y,y_0)\) and \((Z,z_0)\) with intersection point \(x_0\). Let \(f:(X,x_0)\to(X,x_0)\) satisfy \(f(Y)\subset Y\). Denote by \(q:X\to Z\) the retraction which maps \(Y\) to \(x_0\) and call \(f_Z\) the restriction of \(f\) to \(Z\). The authors estimate the \(q\)-Nielsen number \(N_q(f)\) as introduced by \textit{M. H. Woo} and \textit{J.-R. Kim} [J. Korean Math. Soc. 29, 117--125 (1992; Zbl 0764.55006)]: \(N_q(f)\geq N(q\circ f_Z)-1\). More generally, call \(p:X\to Y\) the retraction which maps \(Z\) to \(x_0\), assume in addition that \(f_\#(\pi_1(Z,z_0))\subset w\pi_1(Z,z_0)w^{-1}\) where \(w\in\pi_1(X,x_0)\) is cyclically reduced and choose a map \(\hat{f}:X\to X\) which is homotopic to \(f\) such that \(\hat{f}_\#(\cdot)=w^{-1}f_\#(\cdot)w\) (so that \(\hat{f}(Z)\subset Z\)). In this situation, the authors show that \(N(f)\geq N(p\circ\hat{f}_Y)+N(q\circ f_Z)-(\lambda(w)+2)\). These results are then applied to the case where \(Y\) is a torus or a Klein bottle and \(Z\) is a surface with boundary.