This paper is devoted to dualization of paracompactness to the coarse category via the concept of $R$-disjointness. Property A of Yu can be seen as a coarse variant of amenability via partitions of unity and leads to a dualization of paracompactness via partitions of unity. On the other hand, finite decomposition complexity of Guentner, Tessera, and Yu and straight finite decomposition complexity of Dranishnikov and Zarichnyi employ $R$-disjointness as the main concept. We generalize both concepts to that of countable asymptotic dimension and our main result shows that it is a subclass of spaces with Property A. In addition, it gives a necessary and sufficient condition for spaces of countable asymptotic dimension to be of finite asymptotic dimension.

For any finite group G, we impose an algebraic condition, the Gnil-coset condition, and prove that any finite Oliver group G satisfying the Gnil-coset condition has a smooth action on some sphere with isolated fixed points at which the tangent G-modules are not isomorphic to each other. Moreover, we prove that, for any finite non-solvable group G not isomorphic to Aut(A6) or PΣL(2, 27), the Gnil-coset condition holds if and only if rG ≥ 2, where rG is the number of real conjugacy classes of elements of G not of prime power order. As a conclusion, the Laitinen Conjecture holds for any finite non-solvable group not isomorphic to Aut(A6).

For the locally symmetric space X attached to an arithmetic subgroup of an algebraic group G of ℚ-rank r, we construct a compact manifold by gluing together 2r copies of the Borel–Serre compactification of X. We apply the classical Lefschetz fixed point formula to and get formulas for the traces of Hecke operators ℋ acting on the cohomology of X. We allow twistings of ℋ by outer automorphisms η of G. We stabilize this topological trace formula and compare it with the corresponding formula for an endoscopic group of the pair (G,η) . As an application, we deduce a weak lifting theorem for the lifting of automorphic representations from Siegel modular groups to general linear groups.

The topological complexity is a numerical homotopy invariant of a topological space X which is motivated by robotics and is similar in spirit to the classical Lusternik–Schnirelmann category of X. Given a mechanical system with configuration space X, the invariant measures the complexity of motion planning algorithms which can be designed for the system. In this paper, we compute the topological complexity of the configuration space of n distinct ordered points on an orientable surface, for both closed and punctured surfaces. Our main tool is a theorem of B. Totaro describing the cohomology of configuration spaces of algebraic varieties. For configuration spaces of punctured surfaces, this is used in conjunction with techniques from the theory of mixed Hodge structures.

An almost-direct product of free groups is an iterated semidirect product of finitely generated free groups in which the action of the constituent free groups on the homology of one another is trivial. We determine the structure of the cohomology ring of such a group. This is used to analyze the topological complexity of the associated Eilenberg–MacLane space.

Let G be a finite group of even order, k be a field of characteristic 2, and M be a finitely generated kG-module. If M is realized by a compact G-Moore space X, then the Betti numbers of the fixed point set XCn and the multiplicities of indecomposable summands of M considered as a kCn-module are related via a localization theorem in equivariant cohomology, where Cn is a cyclic subgroup of G of order n. Explicit formulas are given for n = 2 and n = 4.

Let N be a closed s-Hopfian n-manifold with residually finite, torsion free π1 (N) and finite H1(N). Suppose that either πk(N) is finitely generated for all k ≥ 2, or πk(N) ≅ 0 for 1 < k < n – 1, or n ≤ 4. We show that if N fails to be a co-dimension 2 fibrator, then N cyclically covers itself, up to homotopy type.

By blending techniques from set theory and algebraic topology we investigate the order of any homeomorphism of the nth power of the long ray or long line L having finite order, finding all possible orders when n = 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the first case and when n = 1 or 2 in the second. We also show that all finite powers of L are acyclic with respect to Alexander-Spanier cohomology.

§1. Introduction. We study in this paper some properties of the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of isolated invariant sets of continuous dynamical systems. There are several different definitions of this coefficient, although most of them agree in the important case of ANR's (Absolute Neighbourhood Retracts). We refer to the review articles [10] by R. H. Fox and [15, 16] by I. M. James for general information about this topological invariant. We shall use in this paper the definition of the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category of a compactum introduced by K. Borsuk in [4].

Let X be a finite-dimensional separable metric space, presented as a disjoint union of subsets, X = A∪B. We prove the following theorem: For every prime p, c-dimZpX≦c-dimZpA + c–dimZpB + 1. This improves upon some of the earlier work by Dydak and Walsh.

Bo Ju Jiang introduced an invariant lying in the braid group which is the best lower bound of the number of fixed points in a homotopy class of a given pair of self maps of a surface. Here we modify this construction to get a lower bound of the number of coincidence points of a pair of maps between two closed surfaces.

We show that for every smooth curve in Rn, there is a quadrilateral with equal sides and equal diagonals whose vertices lie on the curve. In the case of a smooth plane curve, this implies that the curve admits an inscribed square, strengthening a theorem of Schnirelmann and Guggenheimer. “Smooth” means having a continuously turning tangent. We give a weaker condition which is still sufficient for the existence of an inscribed square in a plane curve, and which is satisfied if the curve is convex, if it is a polygon, or (with certain restrictions) if it is piecewise of class C1. For other curves, the question remains open.

An elementary proof is given of a theorem of Castro and Lazer that the degree of the gradient of a coercive functional on a large ball of Rn is one.