Polynomial and regular maps into Grassmannians
The paper studies the problem of representing elements of \(\pi _{2n}(S^{2n})\) by means of homogeneous polynomial maps. The Grassmannian \(G\) of \(r\)-planes in \({\mathbb C}^n\) can be identified with idempotent and Hermitian \(n\times n\) matrices of rank \(r\). The authors prove (algebraically) that the tangent bundle to \(G\) is diffeomorphic to the variety \(I\) of idempotent \(n\times n\)-matrices of rank \(r\) (this is also true for Grassmannians over \(\mathbb R\) and over the quaternions). Geometrically, if one views idempotent matrices as projections to planes and one recalls the computation of the tangent bundle to \(G\), the fact is essentially obvious (however, the authors don't mention the geometry behind their proof). From the above fact one gets a regular deformation retraction \(I\to G\) which is used to prove the following result. Let \(V\) be a subset of \({\mathbb R}^n\) and let \(V_ {\mathbb C}\) be its Zariski closure in \({\mathbb C}^n\). If \(V\subset V_{\mathbb C}\) is a homotopy equivalence then \(I\to G\) gives rise to an injection of homotopy classes of complex valued polynomials \(V_{\mathbb C}\to I \) to homotopy classes of real-valued regular maps \(V\to G\). This can be used to show that the Brouwer degree of a homogeneous self-map of an even dimensional sphere is either odd or zero. This result should be compared with \textit{R. M. W. Wood}'s result [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 25, 491-497 (1993; Zbl 0798.57013)], saying that for odd dimensional spheres any Brouwer degree can be realized by a homogeneous polynomial map.
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