The periodicity in stable equivariant surgery

The classical surgery theory (see 5] and 23]) computes the structure set S_m (M, rel ?) of manifolds homotopy equivalent to M relative to the boundary. Siebenmann showed that in topological category, the structure set is 4-periodic: S_m(M, rel ?) ? S_m+4(M × D⁴, rel ?) up to a copy of ?; see 12]. Cappell and Weinberger gave a geometric interpretation of this periodicity in 8]. By using Weinberger's stratified surgery theory (see 24]), we extend this to an equivariant periodicity result for topological manifolds with homotopically stratified actions by compact Lie groups, with D⁴ replaced by the unit ball of certain group representations. In particular, if G is an odd order group acting on a topological manifold M, then the equivariant stable structure sets satisfy S (M, rel ?) ? S(M × D(?⁴ ? ?G), rel ?) up to copies of ?. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.