A landmark result of Erdős, Ginzburg, and Ziv (EGZ) states that any sequence of $2n-1$ elements in ${\mathbb {Z}}/n$ contains a zero-sum subsequence of length n. While algebraic techniques have predominated in deriving many deep generalizations of this theorem over the past sixty years, here we introduce topological approaches to zero-sum problems which have proven fruitful in other combinatorial contexts. Our main result is a topological criterion for determining when any ${\mathbb {Z}}/n$-coloring of an n-uniform hypergraph contains a zero-sum hyperedge. In addition to applications for Kneser hypergraphs, for complete hypergraphs our methods recover Olson’s generalization of the EGZ theorem for arbitrary finite groups. Furthermore, we give a fractional generalization of the EGZ theorem with applications to balanced set families and provide a constrained EGZ theorem which imposes combinatorial restrictions on zero-sum sequences in the original result.

Let $h : \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}^2$ be an orientation preserving homeomorphism of the plane. For any bounded orbit $\mathcal{O}(x)=\{h^n(x):n\in\mathbb{Z}\}$ there exists a fixed point $p\in\mathbb{R}^2$ of h linked to $\mathcal{O}(x)$ in the sense of Gambaudo: one cannot find a Jordan curve $C\subseteq\mathbb{R}^2$ around $\mathcal{O}(x)$, separating it from p, that is isotopic to h(C) in $\mathbb{R}^2\setminus\left(\mathcal{O}(x)\cup\{p\}\right)$.

Given maps $f_1,\ldots ,f_n:X\to Y$ between (finite and connected) graphs, with $n\geq 3$ (the case $n=2$ is well known), we say that they are loose if they can be deformed by homotopy to coincidence free maps, and totally loose if they can be deformed by homotopy to maps which are two by two coincidence free. We prove that: (i) if Y is not homeomorphic to the circle, then any maps are totally loose; (ii) otherwise, any maps are loose and they are totally loose if and only if they are homotopic.

Let W be a real vector space and let V be an orthogonal representation of a group G such that $V^{G} = \{0\}$ (for the set of fixed points of G). Let $S(V)$ be the sphere of V and suppose that $f: S(V) \to W$ is a continuous map. We estimate the size of the $(H, G)$-coincidences set if G is a cyclic group of prime power order $\mathbb {Z}_{p^k}$ or a p-torus $\mathbb {Z}_p^k$.

We show that provided that n is a power of two, any nD measures in ℝn can be bisected by an arrangement of D hyperplanes.

An isotopic to the identity map of the 2-torus, that has zero rotation vector with respect to an invariant ergodic probability measure, has a fixed point by a theorem of Franks. We give a version of this result for nilpotent subgroups of isotopic to the identity diffeomorphisms of the 2-torus. In such a context we guarantee the existence of global fixed points for nilpotent groups of irrotational diffeomorphisms. In particular, we show that the derived group of a nilpotent group of isotopic to the identity diffeomorphisms of the 2-torus has a global fixed point.

In this paper, we investigate free actions of some compact groups on cohomology real and complex Milnor manifolds. More precisely, we compute the mod 2 cohomology algebra of the orbit space of an arbitrary free ℤ2 and $\mathbb{S}^1$-action on a compact Hausdorff space with mod 2 cohomology algebra of a real or a complex Milnor manifold. As applications, we deduce some Borsuk–Ulam type results for equivariant maps between spheres and these spaces. For the complex case, we obtain a lower bound on the Schwarz genus, which further establishes the existence of coincidence points for maps to the Euclidean plane.

Let G be a finite group acting freely on a finitistic space X having cohomology type (0, b) (for example, $\mathbb S$n × $\mathbb S$2n is a space of type (0, 1) and the one-point union $\mathbb S$n ∨ $\mathbb S$2n ∨ $\mathbb S$3n is a space of type (0, 0)). It is known that a finite group G that contains ℤp ⊕ ℤp ⊕ ℤp, p a prime, cannot act freely on $\mathbb S$n × $\mathbb S$2n. In this paper, we show that if a finite group G acts freely on a space of type (0, 1), where n is odd, then G cannot contain ℤp ⊕ ℤp, p an odd prime. For spaces of cohomology type (0, 0), we show that every p-subgroup of G is either cyclic or a generalized quaternion group. Moreover, for n even, it is shown that ℤ2 is the only group that can act freely on X.

In this paper, we show that for every nonnilpotent hyperbolic map $f$ on an infra-nilmanifold, the set $\operatorname{HPer}(f)$ is cofinite in $\mathbb{N}$. This is a generalization of a similar result for expanding maps in Lee and Zhao (J. Math. Soc. Japan 59(1) (2007), 179–184). Moreover, we prove that for every nilpotent map $f$ on an infra-nilmanifold, $\operatorname{HPer}(f)=\{1\}$.

First published online by Duke University Press 15 January 2010, subsequently published online by Cambridge University Press 11 January 2016, doi:10.1017/S0027763000009818

We prove that the averaging formula for Nielsen numbers holds for continuous maps on infra-solvmanifolds of type (R): Let M be such a manifold with holonomy group Ψ and let f: M → M be a continuous map. The averaging formula for Nielsen numbers

is proved. This is a workable formula for the difficult number N(f).

In this paper we study the averaging formula for Nielsen coincidence numbers of pairs of maps (f,g): M→N between closed smooth manifolds of the same dimension. Suppose that G is a normal subgroup of Π = π1(M) with finite index and H is a normal subgroup of Δ = π1(N) with finite index such that Then we investigate the conditions for which the following averaging formula holds

where is any pair of fixed liftings of (f, g). We prove that the averaging formula holds when M and N are orientable infra-nilmanifolds of the same dimension, and when M = N is a non-orientable infra-nilmanifold with holonomy group ℤ2 and (f, g) admits a pair of liftings on the nil-covering of M.

We prove that the averaging formula for Nielsen numbers holds for continuous maps on infra-nilmanifolds: Let M be an infra-nilmanifold and ƒ: M → M be a continuous map. Suppose MK is a regular covering of M which is a compact nilmanifold with π1(MK = K. Assume that f*(K) ⊂ K. Then ƒ has a lifting . We prove a question raised by McCord, which is for any with an essential fixed point class, fix =1. As a consequence, we obtain the following averaging formula for Nielsen numbers

A correspondence between the equivariant degree introduced by Ize, Massabó, and Vignoli and an unstable version of the equivariant fixed point index defined by Prieto and Ulrich is shown. With the help of conormal maps and properties of the unstable index, a sum decomposition formula is proved for the index and consequently also for the degree. As an application, equivariant homotopy groups are decomposed as direct sums of smaller groups of fixed orbit types, and a geometric interpretation of each summand is given in terms of conormal maps.

Let $\phi\,{:}\,G \to G$ be a group endomorphism where G is a finitely generated group of exponential growth, and denote by $R(\phi)$ the number of twisted ϕ-conjugacy classes. Fel'shtyn and Hill (K-theory 8 (1994) 367–393) conjectured that if ϕ is injective, then R(ϕ) is infinite. This paper shows that this conjecture does not hold in general. In fact, R(ϕ) can be finite for some automorphism ϕ. Furthermore, for a certain family of polycyclic groups, there is no injective endomorphism ϕ with $R({\phi}^n)\,{<}\,\infty$ for all n.

It is shown that a coincidence theorem which is a natural generalisation of Brouwer's fixed point theorem also gives a short and simple proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra.

Let p ≥ 3 be a prime number and m a positive integer, and let S be the sphere S (m-1)(p-1)-1 . Let f:S→S be a map without fixed points and with f p = idS . We show that there exists an h: S→ℝm with h(x) ≠ h(f(x)) for all x ∈ S. From this we conclude that there exists a closed cover U 1,…, U 4m of S with U i nf(U i ) = Ø for i = 1,…, 4m. We apply these results to Borsuk-Ulam and Ljusternik-Schnirelmann-Borsuk theorems in the framework of the sectional category and to a problem in asymptotic fixed point theory.