On the second homotopy group of the classifying space for commutativity in Lie groups

Abstract

In this note we show that the second homotopy group of $B(2,G)$, the classifying space for commutativity for a compact Lie group $G$, contains a direct summand isomorphic to ${\pi }_1(G)\oplus {\pi }_1([G,G])$, where $[G,G]$ is the commutator subgroup of $G$. It follows from a similar statement for $E(2,G)$, the homotopy fiber of the canonical inclusion $B(2,G)\hookrightarrow BG$. As a consequence of our main result we obtain that if $E(2,G)$ is 2-connected, then $[G,G]$ is simply-connected. This last result completes how the higher connectivity of $E(2,G)$ resembles the higher connectivity of $[G,G]$ for a compact Lie group $G$.

14 pages. Comments welcome!