We give a different and possibly more accessible proof of a general Borsuk--Ulam theorem for a product of spheres, originally due to Ramos. That is, we show the non-existence of certain $(\mathbb{Z}/2)^k$-equivariant maps from a product of $k$ spheres to the unit sphere in a real $(\mathbb{Z}/2)^k$-representation of the same dimension. Our proof method allows us to derive Borsuk--Ulam theorems for certain equivariant maps from Stiefel manifolds, from the corresponding results about products of spheres, leading to alternative proofs and extensions of some results of Fadell and Husseini.
This paper establishes a Borsuk-Ulam type theorem for PL-manifolds with a finite group action, depending on the free equivariant cobordism class of a manifold. In particular, necessary and sufficient conditions are considered for a manifold with a free involution to be a Borsuk-Ulam type.
In this paper we consider several generalizations of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem for G-spaces and apply these results to Tucker type lemmas for G-simplicial complexes and PL-manifolds.
In this paper some results on the topology of the space of $k$-flats in $\mathbb R^n$ are proved, similar to the Borsuk-Ulam theorem on coverings of sphere. Some corollaries on common transversals for families of compact sets in $\mathbb R^n$, and on measure partitions by hyperplanes, are deduced.
We consider spaces with free involutions that satisfy the Borsuk - Ulam theorems (BUT-spaces). There are several equivalent definitions for BUT-spaces that can be considered as their properties. Our main technical tool is Yang's cohomological index.
In this paper, we shall discuss the classical question of which compact Lie groups have the Borsuk-Ulam property and in particular we shall show that every extension group of a n-torus by a cyclic group of prime order does not have the Borsuk-Ulam property. This leads us that the only compact Lie groups with the Borsuk-Ulam property are an elementary abelian p-group and an n-torus, which is a final answer to the question.
We observe that the classical Borsuk-Ulam theorem has an easy generalization to maps from an n-manifold M^n to R^n. We point out a geometric corollary.
Let $M$ be a closed 3-manifold which admits the geometry $S^2\times \R$. In this work we determine all the free involutions $τ$ on $M$, and the Borsuk-Ulam index of $(M,τ)$.
A Chain-Level Borsuk--Ulam Obstruction Proof of Norine's Antipodal-Coloring Conjecture
Shanghai Center for Mathematical Sciences, Fudan University（复旦大学上海数学中心）；School of Mathematical Sciences, Fudan University（复旦大学数学科学学院）；Extremal Combinatorics and Probability Group (ECOPRO), Institute for Basic Science (IBS)（基础科学研究院极值组合与概率研究组）
In combinatorial problems it is sometimes possible to define a $G$-equivariant mapping from a space $X$ of configurations of a system to a Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^m$ for which a coincidence of the image of this mapping with an arrangement $\mathcal{A}$ of linear subspaces insures a desired set of linear conditions on a configuration. Borsuk-Ulam type theorems give conditions under which no $G$-equivariant mapping of $X$ to the complement of the arrangement exist. In this paper, precise conditions are presented which lead to such theorems through a spectral sequence argument. We introduce a…
We compute the Nielsen-Borsuk-Ulam number for any selfmap of $n-$torus, $\mathbb{T}^n$, as well as any free involution $τ$ in $\mathbb{T}^n$, with $n \leqslant 3$. Finally, we conclude that the tori, $\mathbb{T}^1$, $\mathbb{T}^2$ and $\mathbb{T}^3$, are Wecken spaces in Nielsen-Borsuk-Ulam theory. Such a number is a lower bound for the minimal number of pair of points such that $f(x)=f(τ(x))$ in a given homotopy class of maps.
For each sapphire Sol $3$-manifold, we classify the free involutions. For each triple $(M, τ; R^n)$ where $M$ is a sapphire Sol $3$-manifold and $τ$ is a free involution, we show if $(M, τ; R^n)$ has the Borsuk-Ulam property or not. It is known that for $n>3$ the Borsuk-Ulam property does not hold independent of the involution, so we provide a classification when $n=2$ and $3$.
These informal notes, not intended for publication, provide an approach to the Borsuk--Ulam theorem via Stokes' theorem, in a similar spirit to Lima's proof of the Brouwer fixed point theorem. They are intended to be accessible to anyone with a knowledge of basic point-set topology and several variable calculus. Some of the argument relies upon previous ideas of Shchepin.
The purpose of this work is to classify, for given integers $m,\, n\geq 1$, the bordism class of a closed smooth $m$-manifold $X$ with a free smooth involution $τ$ with respect to the validity of the {\it Borsuk-Ulam property} that for every continuous map $ϕ: X \to R^n$ there exists a point $x\in X$ such that $ϕ(x)=ϕ(τ(x))$. We will classify a given free $Z_2$-bordism class $α$ according to the three possible cases that (a) all representatives $(X , τ)$ of $α$ satisfy the Borsuk-Ulam property; \ (b) there are representatives $(X_ 1, τ_1)$ and $(X_2, τ_2)$ of $α$ such that $(X_1, τ_1)$ satisfi…
In this note, we give a simple proof of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem for $Z_p$-actions. We prove that, if $S^n$ and $S^m$ are equipped with free $Z_p$-actions (p prime) and $f: S^n \to S^m$ is a $Z_p$-equivariant map, then $n \leq m$.
For finite connected graphs $Γ$ and $G$, with $Γ$ admitting a free involution $τ$, we characterize the based homotopy classes $α\in[Γ,G]$ for which the Borsuk-Ulam property holds in the sense of Gonçalves, Guaschi and Casteluber-Laass, i.e., the homotopy classes $α$ so that each of its representatives $f\inα$ satisfies $f(x) = f(τ\cdot x)$ for some $x\inΓ$. This is attained through a graph-braid-group perspective aided by the use of discrete Morse theory.
We study the Borsuk-Ulam theorem for triple (M;τ; \R^n), where M is a compact, connected, 3-manifold equipped with a fixed-point-free involution τ. The largest value of n for which the Borsuk-Ulam theorem holds is called the Z_2-index and in our case it takes value 1, 2 or 3. We fully discuss this index according to cohomological operations applied on the characteristic class x \in H^1(N; Z_2), where N = M/τis the orbit space. In oriented case, we obtain an expression of the index from the linking matrix of a surgery presentation of the orbit space. We illustrate our results with examples, inc…
The Intermediate Value Theorem is used to give an elementary proof of a Borsuk-Ulam theorem of Adams, Bush and Frick that, if $f: S^1\to R^{2k+1}$ is a continuous function on the unit circle $S^1$ in $C$ such that $f(-z)=-f(z)$ for all $z\in S^1$, then there is a finite subset $X$ of $S^1$ of diameter at most $π-π/(2k+1)$ (in the standard metric in which the circle has circumference of length $2π$) such the convex hull of $f(X)$ contains $0\in R^{2k+1}$.
Given a locally trivial fibre bundle $E \to B$ (with fibres and base finite complexes), an orthogonal real line bundle $λ$ over $E$ and a real vector bundle $ξ$ over $B$, we consider a fibrewise map $f : S(λ) \to ξ$ over $B$ defined on the unit sphere bundle of $λ$. Following the fundamental work of Jaworowski and Dold on the parametrized Borsuk-Ulam theorem, we investigate lower bounds on the cohomological dimension of the set of points $v$ in $S(λ)$ such that $f(v) = f(-v)$.
In this work we analysed the validity of a type of Borsuk-Ulam theorem for multimaps between surfaces. We developed an algebraic technique involving braid groups to study this problem for $n$-valued maps. As a first application we described when the Borsuk-Ulam theorem holds for splits and non-splits multimaps $ϕ\colon X \multimap Y$ in the following two cases: $(i)$ $X$ is the $2$-sphere eqquiped with the antipodal involution and $Y$ is either a closed surface or the Euclidean plane; $(ii)$ $X$ is a closed surface different of the $2$-sphere eqquiped with a free involution $τ$ and $Y$ is the …
Let $G$ be a compact Lie group and let $U$ and $V$ be finite-dimensional real $G$-modules with $V^G=0$. A theorem of Marzantowicz, de Mattos and dos Santos estimates the covering dimension of the zero-set of a $G$-map from the unit sphere in $U$ to $V$ when $G$ is an elementary elementary abelian $p$-group for some prime $p$ or a torus. In this note, the classical Borsuk--Ulam theorem will be used to give a refinement of their result estimating the dimension of that part of the zero-set on which an elementary abelian $p$-group $G$ acts freely or a torus $G$ acts with finite isotropy groups.
The moduli space of planar polygons with generic side lengths is a closed, smooth manifold. Mapping a polygon to its reflected image across the $X$-axis defines a fixed-point-free involution on these moduli spaces, making them into free $\mathbb{Z}_2$-spaces. There are some important numerical parameters associated with free $\mathbb{Z}_2$-spaces, like index and coindex. In this paper, we compute these parameters for some moduli spaces of polygons. We also determine for which of these spaces a generalized version of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem hold. Moreover, we obtain a formula for the Stiefel-Wh…
We study the problem of finding an exact solution to the consensus halving problem. While recent work has shown that the approximate version of this problem is PPA-complete, we show that the exact version is much harder. Specifically, finding a solution with $n$ cuts is FIXP-hard, and deciding whether there exists a solution with fewer than $n$ cuts is ETR-complete. We also give a QPTAS for the case where each agent's valuation is a polynomial. Along the way, we define a new complexity class BU, which captures all problems that can be reduced to solving an instance of the Borsuk-Ulam problem e…
Thickenings of a metric space capture local geometric properties of the space. Here we exhibit applications of lower bounding the topology of thickenings of the circle and more generally the sphere. We explain interconnections with the geometry of circle actions on Euclidean space, the structure of zeros of trigonometric polynomials, and theorems of Borsuk-Ulam type. We use the combinatorial and geometric structure of the convex hull of orbits of circle actions on Euclidean space to give geometric proofs of the homotopy type of metric thickenings of the circle. Homotopical connectivity bounds …
We describe a connective $K$-theory Borsuk--Ulam/Bourgin--Yang theorem for cyclic groups of order a power of a prime $p$. Consider two finite dimensional complex representations $U$ and $V$ of the cyclic group $Z /p^{k+1}$ of order $p^{k+1}$, where $k\geq 0$. For $0\leq l\leq k$, we write $V_l$ for the subspace of $V$ fixed by the cyclic subgroup of order $p^l$, and require that the fixed subspace, $V_{k+1}$, be zero and that $V_k$ be non-zero. Put $δ(V)=\sum_{l=0}^k p^l dim_C (V_l/V_{l+1})-(p^k-1)$. Then the zero-set of any $Z /p^{k+1}$-map $S(U) \to V$ from the unit sphere in $U$ (for some i…
Bárány's "topological Tverberg conjecture" from 1976 states that any continuous map of an $N$-simplex $Δ_N$ to $\mathbb{R}^d$, for $N\ge(d+1)(r-1)$, maps points from $r$ disjoint faces in $Δ_N$ to the same point in $\mathbb{R}^d$. The proof of this result for the case when $r$ is a prime, as well as some colored version of the same result, using the results of Borsuk-Ulam and Dold on the non-existence of equivariant maps between spaces with a free group action, were main topics of Matoušek's 2003 book "Using the Borsuk-Ulam theorem." In this paper we show how advanced equivariant topology meth…
Let $π: E \to B$ be a fiber bundle with fiber having the mod 2 cohomology algebra of a real or a complex projective space and let $π^{'}: E^{'} \to B$ be vector bundle such that $\mathbb{Z}_2$ acts fiber preserving and freely on $E$ and $E^{'}-0$, where 0 stands for the zero section of the bundle $π^{'}:E^{'} \to B$. For a fiber preserving $\mathbb{Z}_2$-equivariant map $f:E \to E^{'}$, we estimate the cohomological dimension of the zero set $Z_f = \{x \in E | f(x)= 0\}.$ As an application, we also estimate the cohomological dimension of the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-coincidence set $A_f=\{x \in E | f(x)…
The main result of this note is a parametrized version of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem. We show that for a continuous family of Borsuk-Ulam situations, parameterized by points of a compact manifold W, its solution set also depends continuously on the parameter space W. Continuity here means that the solution set supports a homology class which maps onto the fundamental class of W. When W is a subset of Euclidean space, we also show how to construct such a continuous family starting from a family depending in the same way continuously on the points of the boundary of W. This solves a problem related…
Let $V$ and $W$ be orthogonal representations of $G$ with $V^G= W^G=\{0\}$. Let $S(V )$ be the sphere of $V$ and $f : S(V ) \to W$ be a $G$-equivariant mapping. We give an estimate for the dimension of the set $Z_f=f^{-1}\{0\}$ in terms of $ \dim V$ and $\dim W$, if $G$ is the torus $\mathbb T^k$, or the $p$-torus $\mathbb Z_p^k$. This extends the classical Bourgin-Yang theorem onto this class of groups. Finally, we show that for any $p$-toral group $G$ and a $G$-map $f:S(V) \to W$, with $\dim V=\infty$ and $\dim W<\infty$, we have $\dim Z_f= \infty$.
The Kneser conjecture (1955) was proved by Lovász (1978) using the Borsuk-Ulam theorem; all subsequent proofs, extensions and generalizations also relied on Algebraic Topology results, namely the Borsuk-Ulam theorem and its extensions. Only in 2000, Matoušek provided the first combinatorial proof of the Kneser conjecture. Here we provide a hypergraph coloring theorem, with a combinatorial proof, which has as special cases the Kneser conjecture as well as its extensions and generalization by (hyper)graph coloring theorems of Dol'nikov, Alon-Frankl-Lovász, Sarkaria, and Kriz. We also give a comb…
It is proved that for a product action of $(\mathbb Z_p)^k$ on a product of (mod p) homology spheres $N^{n_1}\times...\times N^{n_k}$, where all $n_i$'s are assumed to be odd if $p$ is odd, and any continuous map $f\colon N^{n_1}\times...\times N^{n_k}\to \mathbb R^m$ the set $A(f)=\{x\in N^{n_1}\times...\times N^{n_k}| f(x)=f(gx) \forall g\in(\mathbb Z_p)^k\}$ has dimension at least $n_1+...+n_k-m(p^k-1)$, provided $n_i\ge mp^{i-1}(p-1)$ for all $i (1\le i\le k)$. Moreover, if $n_i\ge mp^{k-1}(p-1)$ for all $i(1\le i\le k)$ then the free action $μ$ can be assumed arbitrary.
Let $G=\mathbb{Z}_2$ act on a finite CW-complex $X$ having mod 2 cohomology isomorphic to the product of projective space and sphere $\mathbb{F}P^n\times \mathbb{S}^m,$ where $\mathbb{F}=\mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{C}.$ In this paper, we have determined the connected fixed point sets and the orbit spaces of free involutions on $X.$ As an application, we derive the Borsuk-Ulam type results.
We present the length, a numerical cohomological index theory, of $ G $-spaces which are cohomology spheres and $ G $ is a $p$-torus or a torus group, where $p$ is a prime. As a consequence, we obtain Borsuk-Ulam and Bourgin-Yang type theorems in this context. A sharper version of the Bourgin-Yang theorem for topological manifolds is also proved. Also, we give some general results regarding the upper and lower bound for the length.
Let $X$ be a finite CW-complex having mod $p$ cohomology isomorphic to a wedge of three spheres $\mathbb{S}^n\vee \mathbb{S}^m \vee \mathbb{S}^l,~ 1\leq n \leq m \leq l$. The aim of this paper is to determine the fixed point sets of actions of the cyclic group of prime order on $X.$ We also classify the orbit spaces of free actions of $G=\mathbb{Z}_p, p$ a prime or $G=\mathbb{S}^d,~d=1,3,$ on $X$ and derive the Borsuk-Ulam type results.
We work within the framework of a program aimed at exploring various extended versions for theorems from a class containing Borsuk-Ulam type theorems, some fixed point theorems, the KKM lemma, Radon, Tverberg, and Helly theorems. In this paper we study variations of the Hopf theorem concerning continuous maps of a compact Riemannian manifold $M$ of dimension $n$ to $\mathbb{R}^n$. We investigate the case of maps $f\colon M \to \mathbb{R}^m$ with $n < m$ and introduce several notions of varied types of $f$-neighbors, which is a pair of distinct points in $M$ such that $f$ takes it to a 'small' …
