Higher generation by abelian subgroups in Lie groups (Q6185767)

Let \(G\) be a group. A finite set \(S=\{g_{0},\ldots ,g_{n}\}\) of elements of \(G\) is called affinely commutative if the group generated by \(\{s_{i}^{-1}s_{j}\mid s_{i},s_{j}\in S\}\) is abelian. Let \(G\) be a topological group, define the following space \(E_{n}(2,G):=\{(g_{0},\ldots , g_{n})\in G^{n+1}\mid \{ g_{0},\ldots , g_{n}\} \text{ is affinely commutative}\}\). These spaces form a simplicial subspace of the bar construction; define \(E(2,G) \) as the geometric realization \(|E_{\bullet}(2,G)|\). The authors relate topological properties of \(E(2,G)\) with algebraic properties of \(G\). The main result is the following \textbf{Theorem 1} Let \(G\) be a compact Lie group, then the following assertions are equivalent \begin{itemize} \item[1.] \(G\) is abelian, \item[2.] \(E(2,G)\) is contratctible, \item[3.] \(\mathfrak{c}\) is null-homotopic, where \(\mathfrak{c}:E(2,G)\to B[G,G]\) is the commutator map, \item[4.] \(\pi_{i}(E(2,G))=0\) for \(i=1,2,4\). \end{itemize}