On Lusternik–Schnirelmann category and topological complexity of non-k-equal manifolds

Abstract

We compute the Lusternik–Schnirelmann category and all the higher topological complexities of non-k-equal manifolds \(M_d^{(k)}(n)\) for certain values of d, k and n. This includes instances where \(M_d^{(k)}(n)\) is known to be rationally non-formal. The key ingredient in our computations is the knowledge of the cohomology ring \(H^*(M_d^{(k)}(n))\) as described by Dobrinskaya and Turchin. A fine tuning comes from the use of obstruction theory techniques.