Cohomology of spaces of Hopf equivariant maps of spheres

Abstract

For any natural numbers $k \leq n$, the rational cohomology ring of the space of continuous maps $S^{2k-1} \to S^{2n-1}$ (respectively, $S^{4k-1} \to S^{4n-1}$) equivariant under the Hopf action of the circle (respectively, of the group $S^3$ of unit quaternions) is naturally isomorphic to that of the Stiefel manifold $V_k({\mathbb C}^n)$ (respectively, $V_k({\mathbb H}^n)$). The natural maps of integral cohomology groups of these spaces of equivariant maps to cohomology of Stiefel manifolds are surjective but not injective.