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I am trying to understand the topology (in terms of homology groups) of the free loop space $\Lambda M$ of nice spaces (Complete Riemannian connected finite dimensional manifolds $M$). I see the free loop space (of H^1 loops) as a Hilbert manifold, cf. Klingenbergs book. If the manifold $M$ has a non-trivial fundamental group, the free loop space has as many connected components as there are conjugacy classes in $\pi_1(M)$. How much do these components of $\Lambda M$ differ? Are these components all homotopy equivalent? For the circle the answer is yes, because all components of the free loop space are homotopy equivalent to the circle itself.

The following question is related to my question

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/34927/are-the-path-components-of-a-loop-space-homotopy-equivalent

However, I cannot seem to use the answer to this question directly, because I cannot concatenate two free loops, but maybe I am missing something obvious.

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# The connected components of the free loop space

I am trying to understand the topology (in terms of homology groups) of the free loop space $\Lambda M$ of nice spaces (Complete Riemannian connected finite dimensional manifolds $M$). I see the free loop space (of H^1 loops) as a Hilbert manifold, cf. Klingenbergs book. If the manifold $M$ has a non-trivial fundamental group, the free loop space has as many connected components as there are conjugacy classes in $\pi_1(M)$. How much do these components of $\Lambda M$ differ? Are these components all homotopy equivalent? For the circle the answer is yes, because all components of the free loop space are homotopy equivalent to the circle itself.

The following question is related to my question

http://mathoverflow.net/questions/34927/are-the-path-components-of-a-loop-space-homotopy-equivalent

However, I cannot seem to use the answer to this question directly, because I cannot concatenate two loops, but maybe I am missing something obvious.