The index of coincidence Nielsen classes of maps between surfaces (Q5948952)

It is well known that the indices of fixed point classes of maps on the torus are either \(1\), \(0\) or \(-1\). By Thurston's classification of diffeomorphisms of surfaces, \textit{B. Jiang} and \textit{J. Guo} [Pac. J. Math. 160, No. 1, 67-89 (1993; Zbl 0829.55001)] proved that for any diffeomorphism on the closed oriented surface of genus \(g>1\), the index of any fixed point class is bounded. This result has been extended to arbitrary maps. In this paper the authors discuss the same question for indices of Nielsen coincidence classes of pairs of maps \((f_1, f_2): S_h\to S_g\) between the closed oriented surfaces of genus \(h\) and \(g\). Denote \(B(g,h,d_1,d_2)=\sup\{|\text{ind}(C)|: |\deg(f_1)|=d_1\), \(|\deg(f_2)|=d_2\}\), where \(C\) ranges over all coincidence classes of all pairs of maps \((f_1, f_2): S_h\to S_g\). It is shown that such a bound is infinite when \(h>g=1\) or when \(h\geq g>1\) and both \(d_i<(h-1)(g-1)\). The authors also calculate the number \(B(g,h,d_1,d_2)\) in some special cases in which it is finite: (1) \(h=g\) and \(d_2\) which implies that \(f_2\) is homeomorphism; (2) \(f_2\) is a constant map, i.e. the root case.