Spaces of topological complexity one (Q360564)

The topological complexity \(\text{TC}(X)\) of a space \(X\) is a numerical homotopy invariant introduced by \textit{M. Farber} in [Discrete Comput. Geom. 29, No. 2, 211--221 (2003; Zbl 1038.68130)] in order to study the motion planning problem in Robotics from a topological perspective. It is a known fact that odd-dimensional spheres have topological complexity 1 (normalized version). In this paper the authors give a converse of this result. Namely, if \(X\) is a path-connected CW-complex of finite type, then they prove that \(\text{TC}(X)=1\) if and only if \(X\) has the homotopy type of an odd-dimensional sphere. Actually, the authors work with higher analogs of topological complexity. These numerical homotopy invariants, denoted \(\text{TC}_n(X),\) were introduced in [\textit{Y. B. Rudyak}, Topology Appl. 157, No. 5, 916--920 (2010); erratum ibid. 157, No. 6, 1118 (2010; Zbl 1187.55001)] and they are a generalization of the topological complexity as \(\text{TC}_2(X)=\text{TC}(X).\) In this more general setting their main result is the following: Let \(X\) be a path-connected CW-complex of finite type such that \(\text{TC}_n(X)=n-1,\) for some \(n\geq 2.\) Then \(\pi _1(X)\) is torsion-free and either \(X\) is acyclic or \(X\) is an odd-dimensional integral homology sphere.