Relative topological complexity of a pair

DOI10.1016/J.TOPOL.2018.07.015MaRDI QIDQ1790227zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Publication date 2 October 2018

Published in Topology and its Applications (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.06201

projective spaces relative topological complexity spatial polygon spaces

Lyusternik-Shnirel'man category of a space, topological complexity à la Farber, topological robotics (topological aspects) (55M30) Artificial intelligence for robotics (68T40) Kinematics of mechanisms and robots (70B15) Automated systems (robots, etc.) in control theory (93C85)

Abstract: For a pair of spaces

X

and

Y

such that

Y s u b s e t e q X

, we define the relative topological complexity of the pair

(X, Y)

as a new variant of relative topological complexity. Intuitively, this corresponds to counting the smallest number of motion planning rules needed for a continuous motion planner from

X

to

Y

. We give basic estimates on the invariant, and we connect it to both Lusternik-Schnirelmann category and topological complexity. In the process, we compute this invariant for several example spaces including wedges of spheres, topological groups, and spatial polygon spaces. In addition, we connect the invariant to the existence of certain types of axial maps.

Review text

The topological complexity of a space \(X,\) denoted as \(\text{TC}(X)\), is defined as the Schwarz genus (or sectional category) of the free path fibration \(\pi :PX\rightarrow X\times X\), \(\alpha \mapsto (\alpha (0),\alpha (1))\) (here \(PX\) denotes the free path space of \(X\) equipped with the compact-open topology). This numerical homotopy invariant was introduced by \textit{M. Farber} in [Discrete Comput. Geom. 29 No. 2, 211--221 (2003; Zbl 1038.68130)] in order to study the motion planning problem in Robotics from a topological perspective. In the paper under review the author introduces a relative version of topological complexity. Indeed, for a pair of spaces \(X\) and \(Y\) such that \(Y\subseteq X\) the relative topological complexity of \((X,Y),\) denoted as \(TC(X,Y)\), is defined as the Schwarz genus of the fibration \(\pi :P_{X\times Y}\rightarrow X\times Y,\) \(\alpha \mapsto (\alpha (0),\alpha (1))\) where \[ P_{X\times Y}=\{\alpha \in PX:\alpha (1)\in Y\}\subseteq PX \] This invariant corresponds to the smallest number of continuous local motion planners needed for a motion planning algorithm which outputs paths from \(X\) to \(Y.\) After establishing its homotopy invariance and some estimates (basically, a dimensional upper bound and a cohomological lower bound) for \(TC(X,Y)\) the author presents some relationships with other invariants, such as L-S category and ordinary topological complexity. All this also permits to do some interesting computations. Among them we can mention the computation for pairs of complex projective spaces, pairs of spheres and pairs of wedge of spheres. The relative topological complexity is also applied to pairs of real projective spaces (giving a connection to the existence of certain axial maps) and pairs of spatial polygon spaces. In the latter case their computation is given.

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