Cyclic Maps From Suspensions to Suspensions

Abstract

In [7] Varadarajan denned the notion of a cyclic map f : A → X. The collection of all homotopy classes of such cyclic maps forms the Gottlieb subset G(A, X) of [A, X]. If A = S1 this reduces to the group G(X, X0) of Gottlieb [5]. We show that a cyclic map f maps ΩA into the centre of ΩX in the sense of Ganea [4]. If A and X are both suspensions, we then show that if f : A → X maps ΩA into the centre of ΩX, then f is cyclic. Thus for maps from suspensions to suspensions, Varadarajan's cyclic maps are just those maps considered by Ganea. We also define G (Σ4, ΣX) in terms of the generalized Whitehead product [1], This gives the computations for G(Sn+k, Sn) in terms of Whitehead products in π2n+k(Sn).We work in the category of spaces with base points and having the homotopy type of countable CW-complexes. All maps and homotopies are with respect to base points. For simplicity, we shall frequently use the same symbol for a map and its homotopy class.