HigherG-signatures for Lipschitz manifolds

Using the Teleman signature operator and Kasparov'sKK-theory, we prove a strong De Rham theorem and a higherG-signature theorem for Lipschitz manifolds. These give in particular a substitute for the usualG-signature theorem that applies to certain nonsmooth actions on topological manifolds. Then we present a number of applications. Among the most striking are a proof that nonlinear similarities preserve renormalized Atiyah-Bott numbers, and a proof that under suitable gap, local flatness, and simple connectivity hypotheses, a compact (topological)G-manifoldM is determined up to finite ambiguity by its isovariant homotopy type and by the classes of the equivariant signature operators on all the fixed sets . These could also be proved using joint work of Cappell, Shaneson, and the second author on topological characteristic classes.Partially supported by NSF Grants DMS-87-00551 and DMS-90-02642 (J.R.) and by NSF Grants, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, and a Presidential Young Investigator award (S.W.).     

Equivariant–Bivariant Chern Character for Profinite Groups

For the action of a locally compact and totally disconnected group G on a pair of locally compact spaces X and Y we construct, by sheaf theoretic means, a new equivariant and bivariant cohomology theory. If we take for the first space Y an universal proper G-action then we obtain for the second space its delocalized equivariant homology. This is in exact formal analogy to the definition of equivariant K-homology by Baum, Connes, Higson starting from the bivariant equivariant Kasparov KK-theory. Under certain basic finiteness conditions on the first space Y we conjecture the existence of a Chern character from the equivariant Kasparov KK-theory of Y and X into our cohomology theory made two-periodic which becomes an isomorphism upon tensoring the KK-theory with the complex numbers. This conjecture is proved for profinite groups G. An essential role in our construction is played by a bivariant version of Segal localization which we establish for KK-theory.     

Mackey structures on equivariant algebraic K-theory

We study the Mackey structure of the G-spectrum K _G C associated to a monoidal G-category C. It is proved that the coefficient system of K _G C coincides, as a (graded) Mackey functor, with the system of equivariant K-groups in the sense of Fröhlich and Wall. It is also shown that for any exact category U, there exists a G-spectrum Q _G U representing the equivariant K-theory of U in the sense of Dress and Kuku, and that Q _G U is naturally G-homotopy equivalent to K _G IsoU if every short exact sequence in U splits.     

Applications of Klee’s Dehn–Sommerville Relations

We use Klee’s Dehn–Sommerville relations and other results on face numbers of homology manifolds without boundary to (i) prove Kalai’s conjecture providing lower bounds on the f-vectors of an even-dimensional manifold with all but the middle Betti number vanishing, (ii) verify Kühnel’s conjecture that gives an upper bound on the middle Betti number of a 2k-dimensional manifold in terms of k and the number of vertices, and (iii) partially prove Kühnel’s conjecture providing upper bounds on other Betti numbers of odd- and even-dimensional manifolds. For manifolds with boundary, we derive an extension of Klee’s Dehn–Sommerville relations and strengthen Kalai’s result on the number of their edges. I. Novik research partially supported by Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and NSF grant DMS-0500748. E. Swartz research partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0600502.     

On equivariant Kasparov theory and Spanier-Whitehead duality

Suppose thatG is a second countable compact Lie group and thatA andB are commutativeG-C*-algebras. Then the Kasparov groupKK _* ^G (A, B) is a bifunctor onG-spaces. It is computed here in terms of equivariant stable homotopy theory. This result is a consequence of a more general study of equivariant Spanier-Whitehead duality and uses in an essential way the extension of the Kasparov machinery to the setting of -G-C*-algebras. As a consequence, we show that if (X, x ₀) is a based separable compact metricG-ENR (such as a smooth compactG-manifold) and (Y, y ₀) is a based countableG-CW-complex then there is a natural isomorphism

Representable K-Theory for σ-C*-algebras

We define a version of K-theory on the category of -C ^*-algebras (countable inverse limits of C ^*-algebras). Our theory is homotopy invariant, has long exact sequences and a Milnor sequence, and satisfies Bott periodicity. On C ^*-algebras it gives the ordinary K-theory, and on the space of continuous functions on a countable direct limit X of compact Hausdorff spaces, it gives the representable K-theory of X. (We do not claim that our theory is in general a representable functor.) We also define an equivariant version, and discuss several related groups.Partially supported by a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship.     

Note making a <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript>4</Subscript>-free graph bipartite

We show that every K ₄-free graph G with n vertices can be made bipartite by deleting at most n ²/9 edges. Moreover, the only extremal graph which requires deletion of that many edges is a complete 3-partite graph with parts of size n/3. This proves an old conjecture of P. Erdős. Research supported in part by NSF CAREER award DMS-0546523, NSF grant DMS-0355497, USA-Israeli BSF grant, and by an Alfred P. Sloan fellowship.     

Equivariant Lefschetz maps for simplicial complexes and smooth manifolds

Let X be a locally compact space with a continuous proper action of a locally compact group G. Assuming that X satisfies a certain kind of duality in equivariant bivariant Kasparov theory, we can enrich the classical construction of Lefschetz numbers for self-maps to an equivariant K-homology class. We compute the Lefschetz invariants for self-maps of finite-dimensional simplicial complexes and smooth manifolds. The resulting invariants are independent of the extra structure used to compute them. Since smooth manifolds can be triangulated, we get two formulas for the same Lefschetz invariant in this case. The resulting identity is closely related to the equivariant Lefschetz Fixed Point Theorem of Lück and Rosenberg.     

Groups with small Dehn functions and bipartite chord diagrams

We introduce a new invariant of bipartite chord diagrams and use it to construct the first examples of groups with Dehn function n²log n. Some of these groups have undecidable conjugacy problem. Our groups are multiple HNN extensions of free groups. We show that n²log n is the smallest Dehn function of a multiple HNN extension of a free group with undecidable conjugacy problem. Both authors were supported in part by the NSF grants DMS 0245600 and DMS 0455881. In addition, the research of the first author was supported in part by the Russian Fund for Basic Research 05-01-00895, the research of the second author was supported in part by the NSF grant DMS 9978802 and the US-Israeli BSF grant 1999298. Received: February 2005; Revision: September 2005; Accepted: September 2005     

The degree of maps of free G-manifolds and the average

Suppose that G is a compact Lie group, M and N are orientable, free G-manifolds and f : M → N is an equivariant map. We show that the degree of f satisfies a formula involving data given by the classifying maps of the orbit spaces M/G and N/G. In particular, if the generator of the top dimensional cohomology of M/G with integer coefficients is in the image of the cohomology map induced by the classifying map for M, then the degree is one. The condition that the map be equivariant can be relaxed: it is enough to require that it be “nearly equivariant”, up to a positive constant. We will also discuss the G-average construction and show that the requirement that the map be equivariant can be replaced by a somewhat weaker condition involving the average of the map. These results are applied to maps into real, complex and quaternionic Stiefel manifolds. In particular, we show that a nearly equivariant map of a complex or quaternionic Stiefel manifold into itself has degree one. Dedicated to the memory of Jean Leray     

On the structure of pseudo-holomorphic discs with totally real boundary conditions

In this paper, we study the structure ofJ-holomorphic discs in relation to the Fredholm theory of pseudo-holomorphic discs with totally real boundary conditions in almost complex manifolds (M, J). We prove that anyJ-holomorphic disc with totally real boundary condition that is injective in the interior except at a discrete set of points, which we call a “normalized disc,” must either have some boundary point that is regular and has multiplicity one, or satisfy that its image forms a smooth immersed compact surface (without boundary) with a finite number of self-intersections and a finite number of branch points. In the course of proving this theorem, we also prove several theorems on the local structure of boundary points ofJ-holomorphic discs, and as an application we give a complete treatment of the transverslity result for Floer’s pseudo-holomorphic trajectories for Lagrangian intersections in symplectic geometry. This paper is supported in part by NSF Grant DMS 9215011.     

On the computation of the projective surgery obstruction groups

The computation of the projective surgery obstruction groupsL _n ^p (ZG), forG a hyperelementary finite group, is reduced to standard calculations in number theory, mostly involving class groups. Both the exponent of the torsion subgroup and the precise divisibility of the signatures are determined. ForG a 2-hyperelementary group, theL _n ^p (ZG) are detected by restriction to certain subquotients ofG, and a complete set of invariants is given for oriented surgery obstructions.Partially supported by NSERC grant A4000.Partially supported by NSF grant DMS-8610730(1) and the Danish Research Council.     

A Zoll Counterexample to a Geodesic Length Conjecture

We construct a counterexample to a conjectured inequality L ≤ 2D, relating the diameter D and the least length L of a nontrivial closed geodesic, for a Riemannian metric on the 2-sphere. The construction relies on Guillemin’s theorem concerning the existence of Zoll surfaces integrating an arbitrary infinitesimal odd deformation of the round metric. Thus the round metric is not optimal for the ratio L/D. F.B. supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. C.C. supported by NSF grants DMS 02-02536 and DMS 07-04145. M.K. supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grants 84/03 and 1294/06)     

The Atiyah-Segal completion theorem for C*-algebras

We generalize the Atiyah-Segal completion theorem to C ^*-algebras as follows. Let A be a C ^*-algebra with a continuous action of the compact Lie group G. If K _* ^G (A) is finitely generated as an R(G)-module, or under other suitable restrictions, then the I(G)-adic completion K _* ^G (A) is isomorphic to RK _*([A C(EG)]^G), where RK _* is representable K-theory for - C ^*-algebras and EG is a classifying space for G. As a corollary, we show that if and are homotopic actions of G, and if K _*(C ^* (G,A,)) and K _*(C ^* (G,A,)) are finitely generated, then K _*(C ^*(G,A,))K_*(C ^* (G,A,)). We give examples to show that this isomorphism fails without the completions. However, we prove that this isomorphism does hold without the completions if the homotopy is required to be norm continuous.This work was partially supported by an NSF Graduate Fellowship and by an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship.     

Invariants of contact structures and transversally oriented foliations

We exhibit new invariants of the contact structure E(), the contact flow F and the transverse symplectic geometry of a contact manifold (M, ). The invariant of contact structures generalizes to transversally oriented foliations. We focus on the particular cases of orientations of smooth manifolds and transverse orientations of foliations. We define the transverse Calabi invariants and determine their kernels.Supported in part by NSF grants DMS 90-01861 and DMS 94-03196.     

On Injective and Cofibrant Equivariant Minimal Models

Let X be a G-connected nilpotent simplicial set, where G is a finite Hamiltonian group. We construct a cofibrant equivariant minimal model of X with the strong homotopy type of the injective minimal model of X defined by Triantafillou.     

On a graph packing conjecture by Bollobás,Eldridge and Catlin

Two graphs G ₁ and G ₂ of order n pack if there exist injective mappings of their vertex sets into [n], such that the images of the edge sets are disjoint. In 1978, Bollobás and Eldridge, and independently Catlin, conjectured that if (Δ(G ₁) + 1)(Δ(G ₂) + 1) ≤ n + 1, then G ₁ and G ₂ pack. Towards this conjecture, we show that for Δ(G ₁),Δ(G ₂) ≥ 300, if (Δ(G ₁) + 1)(Δ(G ₂) + 1) ≤ 0.6n + 1, then G ₁ and G ₂ pack. This is also an improvement, for large maximum degrees, over the classical result by Sauer and Spencer that G ₁ and G ₂ pack if Δ(G ₁)Δ(G ₂) < 0.5n. This work was supported in part by NSF grant DMS-0400498. The work of the second author was also partly supported by NSF grant DMS-0650784 and grant 05-01-00816 of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The work of the third author was supported in part by NSF grant DMS-0652306.     

Equivariant K-Theory of Compact Connected Lie Groups Dedicated to Daniel Quillen on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday

We compute the equivariant K-theory K _G ^* (G)for a compact connected Lie group Gsuch that ₁ (G)is torsion free (where Gacts on itself by conjugation). We prove that K _G ^* (G)is isomorphic to the algebra of Grothendieck differentials on the representation ring. We also study a special example of a compact connected Lie group Gwith ₁ (G)torsion, namely PSU(3), and compute the corresponding equivariant K-theory.     

Chern–Weil map for principal bundles over groupoids

The theory of principal G-bundles over a Lie groupoid is an important one unifying various types of principal G-bundles, including those over manifolds, those over orbifolds, as well as equivariant principal G-bundles. In this paper, we study differential geometry of these objects, including connections and holonomy maps. We also introduce a Chern–Weil map for these principal bundles and prove that the characteristic classes obtained coincide with the universal characteristic classes. As an application, we recover the equivariant Chern–Weil map of Bott–Tu. We also obtain an explicit chain map between the Weil model and the simplicial model of equivariant cohomology which reduces to the Bott–Shulman map when the manifold is a point. P. Xu Research partially supported by NSF grant DMS-03-06665.