Sectional category and the fixed point property

Abstract

For a Hausdorff space $X$, we exhibit an unexpected connection between the sectional number of the Fadell-Neuwirth fibration $\pi_{2,1}^X\colon F(X,2)\to X$, and the fixed point property (FPP) for self-maps on $X$. Explicitly, we demonstrate that a space $X$ has the FPP if and only if 2 is the minimal cardinality of open covers $\{U_i\}$ of $X$ such that each $U_i$ admits a continuous local section for $\pi_{2,1}^X$. This characterization connects a standard problem in fixed point theory to current research trends in topological robotics.