The group of homotopy self-equivalences of non-simply-connected spaces using Postnikov decompositions II

Abstract

SynopsisWe give here an abelian kernel (central) group extension sequence for calculating, for a non-simply-connected space X, the group of pointed self-homotopy-equivalence classes . This group extension sequence gives in terms of , where Xn is the nth stage of a Postnikov decomposition, and, in particular, determines up to extension for non-simplyconnected spaces X having at most two non-trivial homotopy groups in dimensions 1 and n. We give a simple geometric proof that the sequence splits in the case where is the generalised Eilenberg–McLane space corresponding to the action ϕ: π1 → aut πn, and give some information about the class of the extension in the general case.