Trace map, Cayley transform and LS category of Lie groups (Q629930)

Let \(X\) be a topological space. A subset \(V \subset X\) is called categorical if \(V\) is contractible in \(X\). The Lusternik-Schnirelmann (LS)-category of \( X \) is the least positive integer \(n\) such that \(X\) can be covered by \( n+1 \) categorical open subsets. The LS-category is difficult to compute. Using the Cayley transform, the authors find a simpler method to compute the LS-category of Lie groups and homogeneous spaces. Explicit computations for \(U(n)\), \( U(2n)/Sp(n)\) and \(U(n) / O(n)\) are given. A relationship between the Cayley transform and the height function allows to give an explicit categorical covering of \(Sp(2)\). The obstacles to generalize these results to \(Sp(n)\) are related to left eigenvalues of symplectic matrices.