Maps between surfaces and minimal coincidence sets for homotopies (Q5948953)

The paper studies the question of the number of coincidence points during a homotopy of two maps between surfaces; this, in particular, contains such questions for the number of fixed points of a map during a homotopy. The following are some results of the paper. Suppose that \(S_h\) and \(S_g\) are surfaces of genera \(h\) and \(g\), respectively, with \(h\geq g\geq 1\). 1. Let \(f:S_h \to S_g\) be a map and \(y \in S_g - f(S_h)\). Then there is a countable family of maps \(\{f_n\}\) , each homotopic to \(f\), so that for any two maps \(f_m\) and \(f_n\) in the family with \(m\neq n\), and for any homotopy \(H\) between them there exists an \((x,t) \in S_h \times [0,1]\) such that \(H(x,t)=y\). 2. Let \(f_1, f_2: S_h \to S_g\) be homotopic maps such that \(|\deg(f_i)|={{(h-1)} \over {(g-1)}}\) for \(i=1, 2\). If \(\#f^{-1}_i(y)={{(h-1)} \over {(g-1)}}\) for \(i=1, 2\), then there is a homotopy \(H\) between \(f_1\) and \(f_2\) such that \(\#H( \cdot ,t)^{-1}(y)={{(h-1)} \over {(g-1)}}\) for all \(t \in [0,1]\). 3. Let \(f:S^2 \to S^2\) be a map with \(\deg(f) \neq -1\). Then there is an infinite family of maps \(\{f_n\}\), each homotopic to \(f\), such that \(\#\operatorname {fix}(f_n)=1\), and for \(m \neq n\), \(f_m\) and \(f_n\) cannot be joined by a Wecken homotopy; i.e., a homotopy \(H\) such that \(\#\operatorname {fix}(H( \cdot ,t) \leq 1\) for each \(t \in [0,1]\).