Commutators of \(C^{\infty}\)-diffeomorphisms. Appendix to ''A curious remark concerning the geometric transfer map'' by John N. Mather (Q791207)

Let \(D^{\infty}(M)\) denote the group of \(C^{\infty}\) diffeomorphisms of a \(C^{\infty}\) manifold which are compactly isotopic to the identity map. The purpose of this paper is to prove that this group is perfect, i.e. is equal to its own commutator subgroup. The author proves more: the universal cover of this group is also perfect. As the author remarks, the proof follows exactly along the lines of \textit{J. N. Mather}'s [ibid. 49, 512-528 (1974; Zbl 0289.57014); see also the preceding review] original proof that \(D^ r(M)\) is perfect, for \(n+1<r<\infty\) where \(n=\) dimension \((M)\).