Self-Maps of the Product of Two Spheres Fixing the Diagonal

Abstract

We compute the monoid of essential self-maps of of the product of two n-spheres fixing the diagonal. More generally, we consider products S x S, where S is a suspension. Essential self-maps of S x S demonstrate the interplay between the pinching action for a mapping cone and the fundamental action on homotopy classes under a space. We compute examples with non-trivial fundamental actions.