Finite Abelian actions on surfaces

Edmonds showed that two free orientation preserving smooth actions φ₁ and φ₂ of a finite Abelian group G on a closed connected oriented smooth surface M are equivalent by an equivariant orientation preserving diffeomorphism iff they have the same bordism class [M,φ₁]=[M,φ₂] in the oriented bordism group Ω₂(G) of the group G. In this paper, we compute the bordism class [M,φ] for any such action of G on M and we determine for a given M, the bordism classes in Ω₂(G) that are representable by such actions of G on M. This will enable us to obtain a formula for the number of inequivalent such actions of G on M. We also determine the “weak” equivalence classes of such actions of G on M when all the p-Sylow subgroups of G are homocyclic (i.e. of the form n(Z/pαZ)).     

Normal forms for vector fields with respect to an arbitrary dilation

Homogenous vector fields of degree one with respect to an arbitrary dilation ^r may be regarded as a natural extension of the linear vector fields. This paper is concerned with the problem of computing normal forms for vector fields that can be expanded in terms of homogeneous fields of degree greater than or equal to one with respect to an arbitrary dilation ^r . In particular, necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the existence of a local coordinate change that transforms an analytic field into a homogeneous field of degree one with respect to an arbitrary dilation ^r .This research was partially supported by National Science Foundation (Grant DMS-9301039), and by Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica F. Severi.     

Complete nondegenerate locally standard CR manifolds

Abstract. Let M be a complete nondegenerate locally standard CR manifold. We show that a necessary and sufficient condition for M to be compact is that the Lie algebra of its infinitesimal CR automorphisms is semisimple. In general we realize M as a Mostow fibration over a compact CR manifoldB whose universal covering is a Cartesian product of Hermitian symmetric spaces and compact nondegenerate standard CR manifolds. Received: 22 July 1998 / Published online: 8 May 2000     

Cyclic actions and divisible polynomials

Let g:M²ⁿ?M²ⁿ be an orientation preserving PL map of period m>2. Suppose that the cyclic action defined by g is locally linear PL, fixing a locally flat submanifold F with components only of dimension 0 or 2n−2, and regular. Let ?(m) be Euler’s number and ρ(m)=?(m)−1 if m is a power of 2 and ρ(m)=?(m) otherwise. If is a rational integer, then . This congruence is used to show that a codimension-2 locally flat submanifold of cohomology complex projective n-space fixed by g must have degree one if m≠4 or 10 and n<?(m)+4.     

On finite simple and nonsolvable groups acting on homology 4-spheres

The only finite non-Abelian simple group acting on a homology 3-sphere—necessarily non-freely—is the dodecahedral group A₅≅PSL(2,5) (in analogy, the only finite perfect group acting freely on a homology 3-sphere is the binary dodecahedral group ). In the present paper we show that the only finite simple groups acting on a homology 4-sphere, and in particular on the 4-sphere, are the alternating or linear fractional groups A₅≅PSL(2,5) and A₆≅PSL(2,9). From this we deduce a short list of groups which contains all finite nonsolvable groups admitting an action on a homology 4-sphere.     

The G-homotopy type of proper locally linear G-manifolds. II

In this paper we study proper locally linear actions of Lie groups on topological manifolds and prove that such G-spaces have the G-homotopy type of a G-CW complex. Results on G-invariant metrics and equivariant embeddings into Banach G-spaces are also obtained. Received: 19 June 2000     

Homotopy decomposition of a group of symplectomorphisms of S×S

We continue the analysis started by Abreu, McDuff and Anjos of the topology of the group of symplectomorphisms of S²×S² when the ratio of the area of the two spheres lies in the interval (1,2]. We express the group, up to homotopy, as the pushout (or amalgam) of certain of its compact Lie subgroups. We use this to compute the homotopy type of the classifying space of the group of symplectomorphisms and the corresponding ring of characteristic classes for symplectic fibrations.     

Infra-solvmanifolds and rigidity of subgroups in solvable linear algebraic groups

We give a new proof that compact infra-solvmanifolds with isomorphic fundamental groups are smoothly diffeomorphic. More generally, we prove rigidity results for manifolds which are constructed using affine actions of virtually polycyclic groups on solvable Lie groups. Our results are derived from rigidity properties of subgroups in solvable linear algebraic groups.     

Free and free abelian Euler-Satake characteristics of nonorientable 2-orbifolds

We compute the Γ-sectors and Γ-Euler-Satake characteristic of a closed, effective 2-dimensional orbifold Q where Γ is a free or free abelian group. Using this information, we determine a family of orbifolds such that the complete collection of Γ-Euler-Satake characteristics associated to free and free abelian groups determines the number and type of singular points of Q as well as the Euler characteristic of the underlying space. Additionally, we show that any collection of these groups whose Euler-Satake characteristics determine this information contains both free and free abelian groups of arbitrarily large rank. It follows that the collection of Euler-Satake characteristics associated to free and free abelian groups constitute a finer orbifold invariant than the collection of Euler-Satake characteristics associated to free groups or free abelian groups alone.     

Global Euler obstruction and polar invariants

Let be a purely dimensional, complex algebraic singular space. We define a global Euler obstruction Eu(Y) which extends the Euler-Poincaré characteristic in case of a nonsingular Y. Using Lefschetz pencils, we express Eu(Y) as alternating sum of global polar invariants. Partially supported by CNRS-CONACYT (12409) Cooperation Program. The first and third named authors partially supported by CONACYT grant G36357-E and DGPA (UNAM) grant IN 101 401.     

A note on smooth toral reductions of spheres

In this paper we show that there exist mod 2 obstructions to the smoothness of 3-Sasakian reductions of spheres. Specifically, ifS is a smooth 3-Sasakian manifold obtained by reduction of the 3-Sasakian sphereS ⁴ⁿ⁻¹ by a torus, and if the second Betti numberb ₂(S)≥2 then dimS=7, 11, 15, whereas, ifb ₂ (S)≥5 then dimS=7. We also show that the above bounds are sharp, in that we construct explicit examples of 3-Sasakian manifolds in the cases not excluded by these bounds. During the preparation of this work the authors were partially supported by an NSF grant. This article was processed by the author using the L^AT_EX style file from Springer-Verlag.     

Cohomological rigidity and the number of homeomorphism types for small covers over prisms

In this paper, based upon the basic theory for glued manifolds in M.W. Hirsch (1976) [8, Chapter 8, §2 Gluing Manifolds Together], we give a method of constructing homeomorphisms between two small covers over simple convex polytopes. As a result we classify, up to homeomorphism, all small covers over a 3-dimensional prism P³(m) with m?3. We introduce two invariants from colored prisms and other two invariants from ordinary cohomology rings with Z₂-coefficients of small covers. These invariants can form a complete invariant system of homeomorphism types of all small covers over a prism in most cases. Then we show that the cohomological rigidity holds for all small covers over a prism P³(m) (i.e., cohomology rings with Z₂-coefficients of all small covers over a P³(m) determine their homeomorphism types). In addition, we also calculate the number of homeomorphism types of all small covers over P³(m).     

Diameters of 3-sphere quotients

Let G⊂O(4) act isometrically on S³. In this article we calculate a lower bound for the diameter of the quotient spaces S³/G. We find it to be , which is exactly the value of the lower bound for diameters of the spherical space forms. In the process, we are also able to find a lower bound for diameters for the spherical Aleksandrov spaces, Sn/G, of cohomogeneities 1 and 2, as well as for cohomogeneity 3 (with some restrictions on the group type). This leads us to conjecture that the diameter of Sn/G is increasing as the cohomogeneity of the group G increases.     

Orientation-reversing actions on lens spaces and Gaussian integers

A finite group action on a lens space L(p,q) has ‘type OR’ if it reverses orientation and has an invariant Heegaard torus whose sides are interchanged by the orientation-reversing elements. In this paper we enumerate the actions of type OR up to equivalence. This leads to a complete classification of geometric finite group actions on amphicheiral lens spaces L(p,q) with p>2. The family of actions of type OR is partially ordered by lifting actions via covering maps. We show that each connected component of this poset may be described in terms of a subset of the lattice of Gaussian integers ordered by divisibility. This results in a correspondence equating equivalence classes of actions of type OR with pairs of Gaussian integers.     

A topological minorization for the volume of vector fields on 5-manifolds

A vector field X on a Riemannian manifold determines a submanifold in the tangent bundle. The volume of X is the volume of this submanifold for the induced Sasaki metric. When M is compact, the volume is well defined and, usually, this functional is studied for unit fields. Parallel vector fields are trivial minima of this functional.For manifolds of dimension 5, we obtain an explicit result showing how the topology of a vector field with constant length influences its volume. We apply this result to the case of vector fields that define Riemannian foliations with all leaves compact.Received: 29 April 2004     

Factorial regular representation of groups in complete graphs

A necessary and sufficient condition for the group of isomorphisms involved in a factorization of a complete graph into isomorphic factors is established.     

Hyperbolic isometries versus symmetries of links

We prove that every finite group is the orientation-preserving isometry group of the complement of a hyperbolic link in the 3-sphere.