Homotopy types of \(\mathrm{Spin}^{\mathrm{c}} (n)\)-gauge groups over \(S^4\) (Q6174107)

Let \(G\to P\to X\) be a principal \(G\)-bundle over a manifold \(X\). Then the gauge group of \(P\) is the topological group consisting of \(G\)-equivariant automorphisms of \(P\) which descend to the identity map on \(X\). For fixed \(X\) and \(G\), it is known that the set of homotopy types of gauge groups is finite. A longstanding problem is enumerating and distinguishing their homotopy types. In this paper the author has considered gauge groups of \(G\)-bundles \(P\) over \(S^4\) where \(G\) is \(\mathrm{Spin}(n)\) or \(\mathrm{Spin}^c(n)\) for \(n\geq 6\). The isomorphism class of \(P\) is uniquely determined by its second Chern class. Denote the gauge group of \(P\) by \(\mathcal{G}_k(G)\) if the second Chern class of \(P\) is \(k\in\mathbb{Z}\). The classifying problem now becomes: for which pairs of integers \((k, k')\) does there exist a homotopy equivalence \(\mathcal{G}_k(G)\simeq\mathcal{G}_{k'}(G)\)? This paper contains two main results. The first main result is a homotopy decomposition of \(\mathrm{Spin}^c(n)\)-gauge groups. \textbf{Theorem 1.1:} For \(n\geq 6\) and any \(k\in\mathbb{Z}\) there is a homotopy equivalence \[ \mathcal{G}_k(\mathrm{Spin}^c(n))\simeq S^1\times\mathcal{G}_k(\mathrm{Spin}(n)). \] It follows that the classifying problem of \(\mathrm{Spin}^c(n)\)-gauge groups reduces to the classifying problem of \(\mathrm{Spin}(n)\)-gauge groups. The second main result gives upper and lower bounds for the number of distinct homotopy types of \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\)- and \(\mathrm{Spin}(8)\)-gauge groups after localization. \textbf{Theorems 1.2 and 1.3:} If \((168,k)=(168,l)\) there are homotopy equivalences \[ \mathcal{G}_k(\mathrm{Spin}(7))\simeq\mathcal{G}_l(\mathrm{Spin}(7)) \quad\text{and}\quad \mathcal{G}_k(\mathrm{Spin}(8))\simeq\mathcal{G}_l(\mathrm{Spin}(8)) \] after localizing rationally or at any prime. Moreover, if \begin{itemize} \item \(\mathcal{G}_k(\mathrm{Spin}(7))\simeq\mathcal{G}_l(\mathrm{Spin}(7))\) then \((84,k)=(84,l)\); \item \(\mathcal{G}_k(\mathrm{Spin}(8))\simeq\mathcal{G}_l(\mathrm{Spin}(8))\) then \((28,k)=(28,l)\). \end{itemize} The author reviews the basic properties of \(\mathrm{Spin}^c(n)\) in Section 2, and homotopy theoretical methods of classifying gauge groups in Section 3. Then he investigates \(\mathrm{Spin}^c(n)\)-gauge groups and proves Theorem 1.1 in Section 4, and proves Theorems 1.2 and 1.3 in Sections 5 and 6.