Volume distortion in homotopy groups (Q2628932)

Given a finite metric CW-complex \(X\) and an element \(\alpha \in \pi_{n}(X)\) this paper studies the behaviour of the optimal volume of the element \(k \alpha\) as a function of \(k\). In particular the author is interested in the idea of volume distortion which is defined as meaning that the volume of \(k \alpha\) behaves like \(Ck^{n}\) and it is undistorted if it behaves like \(Ck\). The paper uses two notions of volume. One is based on a Lipshitz representation of the class and the other on the volume of the image. For a simply connected complex the author shows that for \(\alpha \in \pi_{n}(X)\otimes {\mathbb Q}\) then \(k\alpha\) has a representative of zero volume for some \(k\) if and only if \(h_{n}(\alpha) = 0\) where \(h_{n}\) is the Hurewicz map. The author identifies three conditions which together guarantee that a CW complex \(X\) has no volume distortion in \(\pi_{n}(X)\), these are, roughly, that \(X\) is rationally equivalent to the total space of a fibration over \(B\pi_{1}(X)\) with fibre a product of spheres and which decomposes as a tower of fibrations \(X \;= X_{m} \rightarrow X_{m-1} \rightarrow \ldots \rightarrow X{0} \;= B\pi_{1}X\) with fibres \((S^{2_{n_{i}}+1})^{r_i}\), further the monodromy representation \(\rho : \pi_{1}(X) \rightarrow GL(r_{i}, {\mathbb Q})\) is elliptic, and in addition for each \(i\) the Euler class \(\in H^{2n_{i} + 2}(X_{i-1}; M_{\rho})\) vanishes when considered in the \(L_{\infty}\) cohomology \(H^{2n_{i} + 2}_{(\infty)}( \tilde{X}_{i-1}; {\mathbb Q}^{r_{i}})\). Volume distortion is shown to be an invariant of rational equivalence. Two compact CW-complexes \(X\) and \(Y\) are rationally equivalent if there exists a space \(Z\) and maps \(X \rightarrow Z \leftarrow Y\) which induce isomorphisms on \(\pi_{1}\) and \(\pi_{n} \otimes {\mathbb Q}\). The paper also discusses an interesting analogy between duality in linear programming and isoperimetric duality.