Thes-th higher topological complexity{\operatorname{TC}_{s}(X)}of a spaceXcan be estimated from above by homotopical methods, and from below by homological methods. We give a thorough analysis of the gap between such estimates when{X=\operatorname{\mathbb{R}P}^{m}}, the real projective space of dimensionm. In particular, we describe a number{r(m)}, which depends on the structure of zeros and ones in the binary expansion ofm, and with the property that{0\leq sm-\operatorname{TC}_{s}(\operatorname{\mathbb{R}P}^{m})\leq\delta_{s}(% m)}for{s\geq r(m)}, where{\delta_{s}(m)=(0,1,0)}for{m\equiv(0,1,2)\bmod 4}. Such an estimation for{\operatorname{TC}_{s}(\operatorname{\mathbb{R}P}^{m})}appears to be closely related to the determination of the Euclidean immersion dimension of{\operatorname{\mathbb{R}P}^{m}}. We illustrate the phenomenon in the case{m=3\cdot 2^{a}}. In addition, we show that, for large enoughsand evenm,{\operatorname{TC}_{s}(\operatorname{\mathbb{R}P}^{m})}is characterized as the smallest positive integer{t=t(m,s)}for which there is a suitable equivariant map from Davis’ projective product space{\mathrm{P}_{\mathbf{m}_{s}}}to the{(t+1)}-st join-power{((\mathbb{Z}_{2})^{s-1})^{\ast(t+1)}}. This is a (partial, but conjecturally complete) generalization of the work of Farber, Tabachnikov and Yuzvinsky relating{\operatorname{TC}_{2}}to the immersion dimension of real projective spaces.

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We introduce the effectual topological complexity (ETC) of a G-space X. This is a G-equivariant homotopy invariant sitting in between the effective topological complexity of the pair (X, G) and the (regular) topological complexity of the orbit space X/G. We study ETC for spheres and surfaces with antipodal involution, obtaining a full computation in the case of the torus. This allows us to prove the vanishing of twice the non-trivial obstruction responsible for the fact that the topological complexity of the Klein bottle is 4. In addition, this gives a counterexample to the possibility -suggested in Pavešić's work on the topological complexity of a map-that ETC of (X, G) would agree with Farber's TC(X) whenever the projection map X → X/G is finitely sheeted. We conjecture that ETC of spheres with antipodal action recasts the Hopf invariant one problem, and describe (conjecturally optimal) effectual motion planners.

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We introduce the effectual topological complexity (ETC) of a [Formula: see text]-space [Formula: see text]. This is a [Formula: see text]-equivariant homotopy invariant sitting in between the effective topological complexity of the pair [Formula: see text] and the (regular) topological complexity of the orbit space [Formula: see text]. We study ETC for spheres and surfaces with antipodal involution, obtaining a full computation in the case of the torus. This allows us to prove the vanishing of twice the nontrivial obstruction responsible for the fact that the topological complexity of the Klein bottle is [Formula: see text]. In addition, this gives a counterexample to the possibility — suggested in Pavešić’s work on the topological complexity of a map — that ETC of [Formula: see text] would agree with Farber’s [Formula: see text] whenever the projection map [Formula: see text] is finitely sheeted. We conjecture that ETC of spheres with antipodal action recasts the Hopf invariant one problem, and describe (conjecturally optimal) effectual motion planners.