Homotopy of gauge groups over non-simply-connected five-dimensional manifolds (Q829443)

Suppose \(G\) is a simply connected, simple compact Lie group with trivial \(\pi_4(G)\) and \(M\) is an oriented closed compact 5-manifold \(M\) with \(\pi_1(M)\cong\mathbb{Z}/c\mathbb{Z}\) and \(H_2(M)\) being torsion free. The set \([M,BG]\) of pointed homotopy classes of maps from \(M\) to \(BG\) is \(\mathbb{Z}/c\mathbb{Z}\). Hence the isomorphism class of a principal \(G\)-bundle \(P\) over \(M\) is determined by a mod-\(c\) congruence class \(k\in\mathbb{Z}/c\mathbb{Z}\). The gauge group \(\mathcal{G}_k(M)\) is the topological group consisting of \(G\)-equivariant automorphisms of \(P\) that fix \(M\). In this paper the author studies the homotopy types of looped gauge groups for 5-manifolds. In particular, he shows that \(\Omega^2\mathcal{G}_k(M)\) decomposes as a product of double looped gauge groups for Moore space and several looped mapping spaces of \(G\) when \(6\nmid c\), and so does \(\Omega^3\mathcal{G}_k(M)\) when \(2\nmid c\), \(M\) is stably parallelizable and has one 5-dimensional cell. In Section 2 the author proves the key proposition that leads to his main theorems: If \(M\) has a subcomplex \(Y\) such that \([Y,BG]=0\) and the suspension of the inclusion \(\Sigma^{i+1}Y\hookrightarrow\Sigma^{i+1}M\) has a homotopy left inverse, then \(\Omega^i\mathcal{G}_k(M)\simeq\Omega^i\mathcal{G}_{k'}(M/Y)\times\Omega^i\text{Map}^*(Y,G)\). Then in Sections 3-5 he calculates the homotopy types of \(\Sigma^iM\) and decomposes \(\Omega^i\mathcal{G}_k(M)\) into products of looped gauge groups for Moore spaces and some looped mapping spaces of \(G\) when \(2\nmid c\) and when \(6\nmid c\), \(M\) is stably parallelizable and has one 5-cell. Furthermore he studies the homotopy types of gauge groups for Moore spaces in Section 6. In Sections 7 and 8 the author gives two applications of the main theorems. The first application is to calculate the \(p^{\text{th}}\) homotopy exponent of \(\mathcal{G}_k(M)\), which is the least power of \(p\) that annihilates all \(p\)-torsions in \(\pi_*(\mathcal{G}_k(M))\). Using the decomposition of \(\mathcal{G}_k(M)\) and the knowledge of homotopy exponents of spheres, Moore spaces and Lie groups he gives upper bounds on the homotopy exponents of \(\mathcal{G}_k(M)\) for different \(G\)'s. The second application is to compute the localized homotopy groups \(\pi_*(\mathcal{G}^C_k(M))\) for \(G=SU,Spin\). He shows that they have periodicity similar to the Bott periodicity of \(\pi_*(SU)\) and \(\pi_*(Spin)\).