Is there an easy algebraic characterisation of¶universal proper G-spaces?

We shall study properties of groups having finite cohomological dimension relative to the family of all finite subgroups. We also compare these groups with those satisfying various suggested algebraic analogues to group-actions on finite dimensional proper G-spaces. Received: 15 March 2000     

Equivariant evaluation on free loop spaces

There is a natural evaluation map on the free loop space which sends a loop to its values at the kth roots of unity. This map is equivariant with respect to the action of the cyclic group on k elements . We study the induced map in -equivariant cohomology with mod two coefficients in the cases where for . Received: 17 February 2000; in final form: 28 February 2001 / Published online: 18 January 2002     

On the super additivity of tunnel number of knots

Abstract. In the present paper, we show a necessary and sufficient condition for knots in (with some side condition) to have the super additivity of tunnel number under connected sum, i.e., . Received: 25 June 1999 / Revised: 24 October 1999 / Published online: 8 May 2000     

Higher dimensional isoperimetric functions in hyperbolic groups

We introduce the notion of an -combing and use it to show that hyperbolic groups satisfy linear isoperimetric inequalities for filling real cycles in each positive dimension. S. Gersten suggested the concept of metabolicity (over or ) for groups which implies hyperbolicity. Metabolicity admits several equivalent definitions: by vanishing of -cohomology, using combings, and others. We prove several criteria for a group to be hyperbolic, -metabolicity being among them. In particular, a finitely presented group G is hyperbolic iff for any normed vector space V and any . Received December 9, 1998     

The group of homotopy equivalences of products of spheres and of Lie groups

We investigate the group of self homotopy equivalences of a space X which induce the identity homomorphism on all homotopy groups. We obtain results on the structure of provided the p-localization of X has the homotopy type of a p-local product of odd-dimensional spheres. In particular, we show that is a semidirect product of certain homotopy groups . We also show that has a central series whose successive quotients are , which are direct sums of homotopy groups of p-local spheres. This leads to a determination of the order of the p-torsion subgroup of and an upper bound for its p-exponent. These results apply to any Lie group G at a regular prime p. We derive some general properties of and give numerous explicit calculations. Received: 14 April 2001; in final form: 10 September 2001 / Published online: 17 June 2002     

The solution to a conjecture of Tits on the subgroup generated by the squares of the generators of an Artin group

Let A be an Artin group with standard generating set {σ _s :s∈S}. Tits conjectured that the only relations in A amongst the squares of the generators are consequences of the obvious ones, namely that σ _s ² and σ _t ² commute whenever σ _s and σ _t commute, for s,t∈S. In this paper we prove Tits’ conjecture for all Artin groups. In fact, given a number m _s ≥2 for each s∈S, we show that the elements {T _s =σ _s ^ms :s∈S} generate a subgroup that has a finite presentation in which the only defining relations are that T _s and T _t commute if σ _s and σ _t commute. Oblatum 21-III-2000 & 1-XII-2000?Published online: 5 March 2001     

The Lyusternik–Shnirel'man category,¶vector bundles, and immersions of manifolds

One of our two main results exhibits for a vector bundle over a compact Hausdorff space X an interplay between its span, its possible splittings, and the Lyusternik–Shnirel'man category of X. The other main result, also on vector bundles and the Lyusternik–Shnirel'man category, enables us to derive certain inequalities connecting the immersion codimension, the stable span, and the Lyusternik–Shnirel'man category of a smooth closed manifold which is not stably parallelizable. Our results are applicable in various situations of general interest. Received: 4 September 1997     

Local constancy in families of non-abelian Galois representations

If is a a scheme of finite type over a local field F, and is a proper smooth family, then to each rational point one can assign an extension of the absolute Galois group of F by the geometric fundamental group G of the fibre . If F has uniformiser , and residue characteristic p, we show that the corresponding extension of the absolute Galois group of by the maximal prime to p quotient of G is locally constant in the -adic topology of . We give a similar result in the case of non-proper families, and families over -adic analytic spaces. Received August 14, 1998     

Chromatic weight systems and the corresponding knot invariants

We prove that chromatic weight systems, introduced by Chmutov, Duzhin and Lando, can be expressed in terms of weight systems associated with direct sums of the Lie algebras and . As a consequence the Vassiliev invariants of knots corresponding to the chromatic weight systems distinguish exactly the same knots as a one-variable specialization of the Homfly and Kauffman polynomial. Received: 22 December 1997 / Revised: 18 March 1999 / Published online: 8 May 2000     

Annuli in generalized Heegaard splittings and degeneration of tunnel number

Abstract. We analyze how a family of essential annuli in a compact 3-manifold will induce, from a strongly irreducible generalized Heegaard splitting of the ambient manifold, generalized Heegaard splittings of the complementary components. There are specific applications to the subadditivity of tunnel number of knots, improving somewhat bounds of Kowng [Kw]. For example, in the absence of 2-bridge summands, the tunnel number of the sum of n knots is no less than the sum of the tunnel numbers. Received: 10 November 1999 / Published online: 28 June 2000     

Cotorsion pairs, model category structures, and representation theory

We make a general study of Quillen model structures on abelian categories. We show that they are closely related to cotorsion pairs, which were introduced by Salce [Sal79] and have been much studied recently by Enochs and coauthors [EJ00]. This gives a method of constructing model structures on abelian categories, which we illustrate by building two model structures on the category of modules over a (possibly noncommutative) Gorenstein ring. The homotopy category of these model structures is a generalization of the stable module category much used in modular representation theory. This stable module category has also been studied by Benson [Ben97]. Received: 14 December 2000; in final form: 17 December 2001 / Published online: 5 September 2002     

Representing products of manifolds by edge-coloured graphs: the boundary case

In this paper we generalize the construction - introduced by Gagliardi and Grasselli in the closed case - of a coloured-graph representing the product of two manifolds, starting by two coloured graphs representing the manifolds themselves, to the boundary case. In particular we study the genus of the graph product of low dimensional manifold ( resp. n-spheres ) with m-disks. Received September 28, 1998; in final form January 5, 2000 / Published online October 11, 2000     

The η-form and a generalized Maslov index

Given a family of pairs of transverse Lagrangian subspaces of a hermitean symplectic vector space we define a family of Dirac operators on the unit interval and consider its η-form . To a family of pairwise transverse Lagrangian subspaces we associate the cocycle which is a closed form. We identify its cohomology class with a generalization to families of the triple Maslov index. Received: 6 March 1997     

Kauffman bracket skein module of a connected sum of 3-manifolds

We show that for the Kauffman bracket skein module over the field of rational functions in variable A, the module of a connected sum of 3-manifolds is the tensor product of modules of the individual manifolds. Received: 12 January 1998 / Revised version: 15 September 1999