English

Cone length and Lusternik-Schnirelmann category in rational homotopy

Algebraic Topology 2026-05-15 v2

Abstract

Lusternik-Schnirelmann category (LS-category) of a topological space is the least integer nn such that there is a covering of XX by n+1n+1 open sets, each of them being contractible in XX. The cone length is the minimum number of cofibations necessary to get a space in the homotopy type of XX, starting from a suspension and attaching suspensions. The LS-category of a space is always less than or equal to its cone length. Moreover, these two invariants differ by at most one. In 1981, J.-M. Lemaire and F. Sigrist conjectured that they are always equal for rational spaces. This conjecture is clearly true for spaces of LS-category 1 and, in 1986, Y. F\'elix and J-C. Thomas verify it for spaces of LS-category 2. But, in 1999, the general conjecture is invalidated by N. Dupont who built a rational space of cone-length 4 and LS-category 3. In this work, we provide examples of rational spaces of cone-length (k+1)(k+1) and LS-category kk for any k>2k>2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2510.12671,
  title  = {Cone length and Lusternik-Schnirelmann category in rational homotopy},
  author = {Paul-Eugène Parent and Daniel Tanré},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.12671},
  year   = {2026}
}

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