On the rational topological complexity of coformal elliptic spaces (Q2690450)

If \(X\) is a simply-connected CW-complex, then lower bounds of the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category \(\mathrm{cat}(S)\) and of the topological complexity \(\mathrm{TC}(S)\) are given respectively by the \textit{rational LS-category} \(\mathrm{cat}_0(S) := \mathrm{cat}(S_0)\) and \textit{rational topological complexity} \(\mathrm{TC}_0(S):= \mathrm{TC}(S_0)\) where \(S_0\) is the rationalization \(S\). We have: \(\mathrm{cat}(S)\leq\mathrm{TC}(S)\leq 2\,\mathrm{cat}(S)\). A space \(S\) is \textit{elliptic} if \(\pi_*(S) \otimes \mathbb{Q}\) and \(H^*(S;\mathbb{Q})\) are both finite dimensional, and is \textit{pure} if it admits a Sullivan model \((\Lambda V, d)\) with \(d V^{\mathrm{even}} = 0\) and \(d V^{\mathrm{odd}} \subset \Lambda V^{\mathrm{even}}\). The article focuses on the study of the rational topological complexity of pure elliptic spaces. \textbf{Theorem} Let \(S\) be a pure elliptic formal space. We have \[ \mathrm{TC}_0(S) = 2\, \mathrm{cat}_0(S) + \chi_\pi(S) \] where \(\chi_\pi(S) := \dim\pi_{\mathrm{even}} \otimes \mathbb{Q} - \dim \pi_{\mathrm{odd}} \otimes \mathbb{Q} \leq 0\). The following theorem extends the previous one to non-formal spaces: \textbf{Theorem} Let \(S\) be a pure elliptic space and let \((\Lambda V, d)\) be its Sullivan model. If there exists an extension \((\Lambda Z, d) \hookrightarrow (\Lambda V, d) \) where \(Z^{\mathrm{even}} = V^{\mathrm{even}}\) and \((\Lambda Z, d)\) is the model of an elliptic space \(R\) with \(\chi_\pi(R) = 0\), then we have \[ \mathrm{TC}_0(S) \leq 2\, \mathrm{cat}_0(R)-\chi_\pi(S). \] If moreover there exists an integer \(k \geq 2\) such that \(dV \subset \Lambda^k V\), then \[ \mathrm{TC}_0(S)\leq 2\,\mathrm{cat}_0(S) + \chi_\pi(S).\] \textbf{Theorem} Let \(S\) be a pure elliptic coformal space. We have \[ \mathrm{cat}_0(S) + L_0(S) \leq \mathrm{TC}_0(S) \] where \(L_0(S)\) is a certain cuplength. These theorems are applied to the explicit calculation of the rational topological complexity in several examples. In particular it is shown that \(\mathrm{TC}_0(S) = \dim\pi_*(S) \otimes \mathbb{Q}\) for some special families of coformal elliptic spaces.