Merging of degree and index theory (Q884252)

The author generalizes the degree of a map to a kind of degree \(DEG(F, p, q, \Omega)\) for a function triple \((F, p, q)\), where \(F\colon U\to Y\) and \(q\colon \Gamma \to Y\) are continuous maps with \(\bar\Omega\subset U\), and \(p\colon \Gamma\to X\) is an \((F, \bar\Omega)\)-compact-homotopy-bijection. Canonically, \(U\) is an open subset of a normed space \(X\), and \(Y\) is a Banach space. The assumption on \(p\) is a little too complicated to be stated here, and, roughly speaking, guarantees that the set-valued function \(q\circ p^{-1}\) is in some sense homotopic to a single-valued map. Some properties of this triple-degree are obtained. Especially \(DEG(F, p, q, \Omega)\neq 0\) implies \(COIN_\Omega(F, p,q)=: \{x\in\Omega \mid \exists z, x=p(z), F(x) = q(z)\}\neq \emptyset\). This triple-degree can be used to find the solution of the equation \(F(x)\in \Phi(x)\) when \(\Phi\) is a multi-valued acyclic map. Some examples of \((F, M)\)-compact-homotopy-bijections are illustrated, meanwhile, the author obtains a necessary condition when a compact absolute retract (AR) is a topological group.