Ganea and Whitehead definitions for the tangential Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of foliations (Q972503)

The Lusternik-Schnirelmann (LS)-category of a topological space \( X \) is the least positive integer \(n\) such that \(X\) can be covered by \( n+1 \) open subsets contractible in \(X\). A direct computation of the LS-category is difficult but there were tremendous developments when Ganea and Whitehead introduced equivalent definitions of the LS-category. For a foliated manifold, an analoguous homotopy invariant, called \textit{tangential LS-category} was introduced by \textit{H. Colman} and \textit{E. Macias-Virgós} [J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 65, No.~3, 745--756 (2002; Zbl 1012.55001)]. In the present paper, the authors give equivalent definitions of the tangential category corresponding to Ganea's and Whitehead's constructions.