Roots of mappings on nonorientable surfaces¶and equations in free groups

Abstract:

Let f:M ₁→M ₂ be a continuous map and c:M ₁→M ₂ a constant map between closed (not necessarily orientable) surfaces. By definition the pair (f,c) has the Wecken property if f can be deformed into a map f' such that the number of coincidence points of (f',c) is the same as the number of essential coincidence classes of (f,c) and, hence, every essential coincidence class consists of exactly one point. When both surfaces are orientable the problem to determine all maps which have the Wecken property was solved in [14]. Let A(f) denote the absolute degree as defined in [6] or [15] and . Here we show that a map f has the Wecken property iff either the Euler characteristic or . In free groups there are solved certain quadratic equations closely related to the root problem.