Self-homotopy equivalences of product spaces (Q4243036)

The author shows that the group \({\mathcal E}^* (X\times Y)\) of pointed homotopy self-equivalences of the product of two connected CW complexes is the product \(G^X\cdot G^Y\) of its two subgroups which can be represented by maps which fix \(X\) and \(Y\) respectively, provided that \[ X\to X \times *\subset X\times Y@>f>> X\times Y\to X\quad \text{and} \quad Y\to *\times Y\subset X\times Y @>f>> X\times Y\to Y \] are homotopy equivalences whenever \(f\) is a homotopy equivalence. Thus each element of \({\mathcal E}^*(X\times Y)\) can be written as a product \(u\cdot v\) where \(u\) and \(v\) are in \(G^X\) and \(G^Y\) respectively. The theorem of \textit{P. I. Booth} and \textit{P. R. Heath} [Lect. Notes Math. 1425, 17-31 (1990; Zbl 0707.55009)], that, with some further restrictions, \({\mathcal E}^*(X\times Y)\) is a semi-direct product \[ [X,aut_1Y]\rtimes\bigl({\mathcal E}^*(X) \times {\mathcal E}^*(Y)\bigl) \] is obtained as a Corollary. Analogous results are obtained for the kernels of the representation into the group of automorphisms of homotopy groups up to dimension \(n\). Using these decompositions, the author obtains results on group-theoretic properties such as rank, category and nilpotency. The special cases of the decompositions where \(X\) and \(Y\) are \(h\)-spaces or co-\(h\)-spaces are considered, including the matrix representation and including \[ {\mathcal E}^*(S^m\times S^n)= \bigl(\pi_n (aut_1S^m) \rtimes Z_2\bigr) \cdot\bigl( \pi_m (aut_1S^n) \rtimes Z_2\bigr) \] for \(m\neq n\). Applications where \(Y\) is an Eilenberg-MacLane space, or where \(X\) and \(Y\) are spheres or real projective spaces up to dimension 7 are also given.