Qd(p)-free rank two finite groups act freely on a homotopy product of two spheres
Michael A. Jackson
备注：
16 pages; renamed from "Most rank two finite groups act freely on a homotopy product of two spheres"; corrections to the proofs in sections 4 and 5; also more group theory background has been included
In this paper we show that most rank two groups act freely on a finite homotopy product of two spheres. This makes new progress on a conjecture by Benson and Carlson which states that a finite group G acts freely on a finite complex with the homotopy type of n spheres if the rank of G is less than or equal to n. Recalling that Qd(p) is the semidirect product of a rank two elementary abelian p-group with SL(2,p), we show that a rank two finite group acts freely on a finite CW-complex homotopic to the product of two spheres if, it does not contain any subquotient isomorphic to Qd(p) for any odd prime p.
We prove that if a finite group $G$ has a representation with fixity $f$, then it acts freely and homologically trivially on a finite CW-complex homotopy equivalent to a product of $f+1$ spheres. This shows, in particular, that every finite group acts freely and homologically trivially on some finite CW-complex homotopy equivalent to a product of spheres.
Let $X$ and $Y$ be spaces and $M$ be an abelian group. A homotopy invariant $f\colon [X,Y]\to M$ is called straight if there exists a homomorphism $F\colon L(X,Y)\to M$ such that $f([a])=F(\langle a\rangle)$ for all $a\in C(X,Y)$. Here $\langle a\rangle\colon\langle X\rangle\to\langle Y\rangle$ is the homomorphism induced by $a$ between the abelian groups freely generated by $X$ and $Y$ and $L(X,Y)$ is a certain group of `admissible' homomorphisms. We show that all straight invariants can be expressed through a `universal' straight invariant of homological nature.
Baez asks whether the Euler characteristic (defined for spaces with finite homology) can be reconciled with the homotopy cardinality (defined for spaces with finite homotopy). We consider the smallest infinity category $\text{Top}^\text{rx}$ containing both these classes of spaces and closed under homotopy pushout squares. In our main result, we compute the K-theory $K_0(\text{Top}^\text{rx})$, which is freely generated by equivalence classes of connected p-finite spaces, as p ranges over all primes. This provides a negative answer to Baez's question globally, but a positive answer when we res…
The main theorem is that if K is a finite CW complex with finite fundamental group G and universal cover homotopy equivalent to a product of spheres X, then G acts smoothly and freely on X x S^n for any n greater than or equal to the dimension of X. If the G-action on the universal cover of K is homologically trivial then so is the action on X x S^n. Unlu and Yalcin recently showed that for every finite group G, there is a finite CW complex K with fundamental group G which acts homologicially trivially on the universal cover of K. Thus every finite group acts smoothly, freely, and homologicall…
We study the left adjoint $\mathbb{D}$ to the forgetful functor from the $\infty$-category of symmetric monoidal $\infty$-categories with duals and finite colimits to the $\infty$-category of symmetric monoidal $\infty$-categories with finite colimits, and related free constructions. The main result is that $\mathbb{D} \mathcal C$ always splits as the product of 3 factors, each characterized by a certain universal property. As an application, we show that, for any compact Lie group $G$, the $\infty$-category of genuine $G$-spectra is obtained from the $\infty$-category of Bredon (\emph{a.k.a} …
Let $G$ be a group acting freely, properly discontinuously and cellularly on a finite dimensional $C$W-complex $Σ(2n)$ which has the homotopy type of the $2n$- sphere $\mathbb{S}^{2n}$. Then, this action induces an action of the group $G$ on the top cohomology of $Σ(2n)$. For the family of virtually cyclic groups, we classify all groups which act on $Σ(2n)$, the homotopy type of all possible orbit spaces and all actions on the top cohomology as well. \par Under the hypothesis that $\mbox{dim}\,Σ(2n)\leq 2n+1$, we study the groups with the virtual cohomological dimension $\mbox{vcd}\,G<\infty$ …
In this paper, we describe the homotopy type of the homotopy fixed point sets of $S^3$-actions on rational spheres and complex projective spaces, and provide some properties of $S^1$-actions on a general rational complex.
Let G be a finite group given in one of the forms listed in the title with period 2d and X(n) an n-dimensional CW-complex with the homotopy type of an n-sphere. We study the automorphism group Aut(G) to compute the number of distinct homotopy types of orbit spaces X(2dn-1)/μwith respect to free and cellular G-actions μon all CW-complexes X(2dn-1). At the end, the groups E(X(2dn-1)/μ) of self homotopy equivalences of orbit spaces X(2dn-1)/μassociated with free and cellular G-actions μon X(2dn-1) are determined.
William Browder in his paper "Surgery and the theory of differentiable transformation groups" developed surgery techniques to study semi-free actions of S1 on homotopy spheres, under the additional assumption that the fixed point set is a homotopy sphere. He used this surgery to show how to construct such actions. In this paper, I discussed a similar theory for semi-free actions of S3 on homotopy spheres. An open problem is raised at the end of the paper.
For any finite group $G$, we define the notion of a Bredon homotopy action of $G$, modelled on the diagram of fixed point sets $(X_H)_{H\leq G}$ for a $G$-space $X$, together with a pointed homotopy action of the group $N_{G}H/H$ on $X^{H}/(\bigcup_{H<K} X^{K})$. We then describe a procedure for constructing a suitable diagram $\underline{X}:O_G^{op}\to Top$ from this data, by solving a sequence of elementary lifting problems. If successful, we obtain a $G$-space $X'$ realizing the given homotopy information, determined up to Bredon $G$-homotopy type. Such lifting methods may also be used to u…
Let G be a closed subgroup of G_n, the extended Morava stabilizer group. Let E_n be the Lubin-Tate spectrum, let X be an arbitrary spectrum with trivial G-action, and define E^(X) to be L_K(n)(E_n ^ X). We prove that E^(X) is a continuous G-spectrum with a G-homotopy fixed point spectrum, defined with respect to the continuous action. Also, we construct a descent spectral sequence whose abutment is the homotopy groups of the G-homotopy fixed point spectrum of E^(X). We show that the homotopy fixed points of E^(X) come from the K(n)-localization of the homotopy fixed points of the spectrum (F_n…
In this paper we show that the cohomology of a connected CW complex is periodic if and only if it is the base space of an orientable spherical fibration with total space that is homotopically finite dimensional. As applications we characterize those discrete groups that act freely and properly on a cartesian product of euclidean space and a sphere; we construct non-standard free actions of rank two simple groups on finite complexes Y homotopy equivalent to a product of two spheres and we prove that a finite p-group P acts freely on such a complex if and only if it does not contain a subgroup i…
In the paper of Montgomery, D. and Yang, C.T. [5], they discuss the de-suspension of smooth free actions of S1 on (2n+1)-dimensional homotopy spheres. In this paper we discuss the de-suspension of smooth free actions of S3 on (4n + 3)-dimensional homotopy spheres.
A free action of the direct product of two copies of the symmetric group on 3 elements on the cartesian product of two copies of the 3-sphere is constructed. This nonlinear action is constructed using surgery. The action provides a counterexample to a conjecture of Lewis made in 1968.
Let $G$ be a compact connected Lie group, or more generally a path connected topological group of the homotopy type of a finite CW-complex, and let $X$ be a rational nilpotent $G$-space. In this paper we analyze the homotopy type of the homotopy fixed point set $X^{hG}$, and the natural injection $k\colon X^G\hookrightarrow X^{hG}$. We show that if $X$ is elliptic, that is, it has finite dimensional rational homotopy and cohomology, then each path component of $X^{hG}$ is also elliptic. We also give an explicit algebraic model of the inclusion $k$ based on which we can prove, for instance, tha…
We develop the basic theory of Maurer-Cartan simplicial sets associated to (shifted complete) $L_\infty$ algebras equipped with the action of a finite group. Our main result asserts that the inclusion of the fixed points of this equivariant simplicial set into the homotopy fixed points is a homotopy equivalence of Kan complexes, provided the $L_\infty$ algebra is concentrated in non-negative degrees. As an application, and under certain connectivity assumptions, we provide rational algebraic models of the fixed and homotopy fixed points of mapping spaces equipped with the action of a finite gr…
We define homotopy group actions in terms of families of $A_\infty$ algebras indexed by a manifold M. We give explicit formulae for the $A_\infty$ morphism induced by a path on the manifold and for the $A_\infty$ homotopy corresponding to a pair of homotopic paths. Finally, we compute examples for finite groups and finitely generated free nonabelian groups and determine that every homotopy group action by a finite group is homotopic to a strict group action.
In this paper author proposes a construction of a universal space of type $K(π,1)$ such that any action (up to homotopy conjugation) of a given finite group $G$ on spaces of the same homotopy type is presented on the constructed space. Moreover, any action of $G$ on any space of type $K(π,1)$ is covered by some action of $G$ on this universal space.
The observer moduli space of Riemannian metrics is the quotient of the space $\mathcal{R}(M)$ of all Riemannian metrics on a manifold $M$ by the group of diffeomorphisms $\mathrm{Diff}_{x_0}(M)$ which fix both a basepoint $x_0$ and the tangent space at $x_0$. The group $\mathrm{Diff}_{x_0}(M)$ acts freely on $\mathcal{R}(M)$ providing $M$ is connected. This offers certain advantages over the classic moduli space, which is the quotient by the full diffeomorphism group. Results due to Botvinnik, Hanke, Schick and Walsh, and to Hanke, Schick and Steimle have demonstrated that the higher homotopy …
We define an unstable equivariant motivic homotopy category for an algebraic group over a Noetherian base scheme. We show that equivariant algebraic $K$-theory is representable in the resulting homotopy category. Additionally, we establish homotopical purity and blow-up theorems for finite abelian groups.
A well known conjecture in the theory of transformation groups states that if p is a prime and (Z/p)^r acts freely on a product of k spheres, then r is less than or equal to k. We prove this assertion if p is large compared to the dimension of the product of spheres. The argument builds on tame homotopy theory for non simply connected spaces.
We show that the symmetric track group, which is an extension of the symmetric group associated to the second Stiefel- Withney class, acts as a crossed module on the secondary homotopy group of a pointed space. An application is given to cup-one products in unstable homotopy groups of spheres, generalizing a formula of Barratt-Jones-Mahowald.
We construct a stable model structure on profinite symmetric spectra with a continuous action of an arbitrary profinite group. This provides a natural framework for a new construction of homotopy fixed point spectra and of homotopy fixed point spectral sequences for the action of the extended Morava stabilizer group on Lubin-Tate spectra. These continuous homotopy fixed points are canonically equivalent to the homotopy fixed points of Devinatz and Hopkins but have a drastically simplified construction.
In this paper we study the global structure of the stable homotopy theory of spectra. We establish criteria for when the homotopy theory associated to a given stable model category agrees with the classical stable homotopy theory of spectra. One sufficient condition is that the associated homotopy category is equivalent to the stable homotopy category as a triangulated category with an action of the ring of stable homotopy groups of spheres. In other words, the classical stable homotopy theory, with all of its higher order information, is determined by the homotopy category as a triangulated c…
We give a general method that may be effectively applied to the question of whether two components of a function space have the same homotopy type. We describe certain group-like actions on function spaces. Our basic results assert that if two maps are in the same orbit under such an action, then the components of the function space that contain these maps have the same homotopy type.
We study the Galois actions on the l-adic schematic and Artin-Mazur homotopy groups of algebraic varieties. For proper varieties of good reduction over a local field K, we show that the l-adic schematic homotopy groups are mixed representations explicitly determined by the Galois action on cohomology of Weil sheaves, whenever l is not equal to the residue characteristic p of K. For quasi-projective varieties of good reduction, there is a similar characterisation involving the Gysin spectral sequence. When l=p, a slightly weaker result is proved by comparing the crystalline and p-adic schematic…
In this paper we study the nilpotency of certain groups of self homotopy equivalences. Our main goal is to extend, to localized homotopy groups and/or homotopy groups with coefficients, the general principle of Dror and Zabrodsky by which a group of self homotopy equivalences of a finite space which acts nilpotently on the homotopy groups is itself nilpotent.
For a profinite group, we construct a model structure on profinite spaces and profinite spectra with a continuous action. This yields descent spectral sequences for the homotopy groups of homotopy fixed point space and for stable homotopy groups of homotopy orbit spaces. Our main example is the Galois action on profinite étale topological types of varieties over a field. One motivation is to understand Grothendieck's section conjecture in terms of homotopy fixed points.
The symmetric spectra introduced by Hovey, Shipley and Smith are a convenient model for the stable homotopy category with a nice associative and commutative smash product on the point set level and a compatible Quillen closed model structure. About the only disadvantage of this model is that the stable equivalences cannot be defined by inverting those morphisms which induce isomorphisms on homotopy groups, because this would leave too many homotopy types. In this sense the naively defined homotopy groups are often `wrong`, and then their precise relationship to the `true` homotopy groups (i.e.…
Let G be a finite group acting freely on a finitistic space X having cohomology type (0, b) (for example, S^n x S^{2n} is a space of type (0, 1) and the one-point union S^n V S^{2n} V S^{3n} is a space of type (0, 0)). It is known that a finite group G which contains Zp + Zp + Zp, p a prime, can not act freely on S^n x S^{2n}. In this paper, we show that if a finite group G acts freely on a space of type (0, 1), where n is odd, then G can not contain Zp + Zp, p an odd prime. For spaces of cohomology type (0, 0), we show that every p-subgroup of G is either cyclic or a generalized quaternion gr…
Using the machinery of etale homotopy theory a' la Artin-Mazur we determine the etale homotopy types of moduli stacks over $\bar{\Q}$ parametrizing families of algebraic curves of genus g greater than 1 endowed with an action of a finite group G of automorphisms, which comes with a fixed embedding in the mapping class group, such that in the associated complex analytic situation the action of G is precisely the differentiable action induced by this specified embedding of G in the mapping class group.
Let E be an H-space acting on a based space X. Then we refer to ev: E -> X, the map obtained by acting on the base point of X, as a ``generalized evaluation map." We establish several fundamental results about the rational homotopy behaviour of a generalized evaluation map, all of which apply to the usual evaluation map Map(X,X;1)->X. With mild hypotheses on X, we show that a generalized evaluation map ev factors, up to rational homotopy, through a map Gamma_ev: S_ev -> X where S_ev is a (relatively small) finite product of odd-dimensional spheres and the map induced by Gamma_ev on rational ho…
We prove that, for nice classes of infinite-dimensional smooth groups G, natural constructions in smooth topology and symplectic topology yield homotopically coherent group actions of G. This yields a bridge between infinite-dimensional smooth groups and homotopy theory. The result relies on two computations: One showing that the diffeological homotopy groups of the Milnor classifying space BG are naturally equivalent to the (continuous) homotopy groups, and a second showing that a particular strict category localizes to yield the homotopy type of BG. We then prove a result in symplectic geome…
Methods are developed to relate the action of a principal fibration to relative Whitehead products in order to determine the homotopy type of certain spaces. The methods are applied to thoroughly analyze the homotopy type of the based loops on certain cell attachments. Key examples are (n-1)-connected Poincare Duality complexes of dimension 2n or 2n+1 with minor cohomological conditions.
This book introduces a new context for global homotopy theory, i.e., equivariant homotopy theory with universal symmetries. Many important equivariant theories naturally exist not just for a particular group, but in a uniform way for all groups in a specific class. Prominent examples are equivariant stable homotopy, equivariant $K$-theory or equivariant bordism. Global equivariant homotopy theory studies such uniform phenomena, i.e., the adjective `global' refers to simultaneous and compatible actions of all compact Lie groups. We give a self-contained treatment of unstable and stable global h…
We present a way of constructing and deforming diffeomorphisms of manifolds endowed with a Lie group action. This is applied to the study of exotic diffeomorphisms and involutions of spheres and to the equivariant homotopy of Lie groups.
In this paper we study the relationship between the homology and homotopy of a space at infinity and at its boundary. Firstly, we prove that if a locally connected, connected, $δ$-hyperbolic space that is acted upon geometrically by a group has trivial homotopy at infinity then the first Čech homotopy group is trivial. Secondly, we prove that if a hyperbolic group on a finite field has trivial $i^{th}$ homology at infinity then the boundary of the group has trivial $i^{th}$ Steenrod homology. This result turns out to be important in addressing an open problem related to Cannon's conjecture.
In this paper, we develop the theory of equivariant motivic homotopy theory, both unstable and stable. While our original interest was in the case of profinite group actions on smooth schemes, we discuss our results in as broad a setting as possible so as to be applicable in a variety of contexts, for example to the case of smooth group scheme actions on schemes that are not necessarily smooth. We also discuss how ${\mathbb A}^1$-localization behaves with respect to mod-$\ell$-completion, where $\ell$ is a fixed prime.
Normal maps between discrete groups $N\rightarrow G$ were characterized [FS] as those which induce a compatible topological group structure on the homotopy quotient $EN\times_N G$. Here we deal with topological group (or loop) maps $N\rightarrow G$ being normal in the same sense as above and hence forming a homotopical analogue to the inclusion of a topological normal subgroup in a reasonable way. We characterize these maps by a compatible simplicial loop space structure on $Bar_\bullet(N,G)$, invariant under homotopy monoidal functors, e.g. Localizations and Completions. In the course of char…
Consider a Hamiltonian action of a compact Lie group H on a compact symplectic manifold (M,w) and let G be a subgroup of the diffeomorphism group Diff(M). We develop techniques to decide when the maps on rational homotopy and rational homology induced by the classifying map BH --> BG are injective. For example, we extend Reznikov's result for complex projective space CP^n to show that both in this case and the case of generalized flag manifolds the natural map H_*(BSU(n+1)) --> H_*(BG) is injective, where G denotes the group of all diffeomorphisms that act trivially on cohomology. We also show…
We formulate and prove a chain rule for the derivative, in the sense of Goodwillie, of compositions of weak homotopy functors from simplicial sets to simplicial sets. The derivative spectrum dF(X) of such a functor F at a simplicial set X can be equipped with a right action by the loop group of its domain X, and a free left action by the loop group of its codomain Y = F(X). The derivative spectrum d(E o F)(X)$ of a composite of such functors is then stably equivalent to the balanced smash product of the derivatives dE(Y) and dF(X), with respect to the two actions of the loop group of Y. As an …
We establish certain smash operations on spaces over operads which are general analogues of the Samelson product on single loop spaces, and obtain a conceptual description of the structure of the homotopy groups of spaces $Y$ over a symmetric $K(π,1)$ operad: $π_*Y$ is a module over the free algebraic symmetric operad generated by operations on homotopy groups induced by these smash operations. In particular the homotopy groups of double loop spaces is a module over the free algebraic symmetric operad generated by the conjugacy classes of Brunnian braids modulo the conjugation action of pure b…
Let M be a homogeneous space admitting a left translation by a connected Lie group G. The adjoint to the action gives rise to a map from G to the monoid of self-homotopy equivalences of M.The purpose of this paper is to investigate the injectivity of the homomorphism which is induced by the adjoint map on the rational homotopy. In particular, the visible degrees are determined explicitly for all the cases of simple Lie groups and their associated homogeneous spaces of rank one which are classified by Oniscik.
We study some properties of A^1-homotopy groups: geometric interpretations of connectivity, excision results, and a re-interpretation of quotients by free actions of connected solvable groups in terms of covering spaces in the sense of A^1-homotopy theory. These concepts and results are well-suited to the study of certain quotients via geometric invariant theory. As a case study in the geometry of solvable group quotients, we investigate A^1-homotopy groups of smooth toric varieties. We give simple combinatorial conditions (in terms of fans) guaranteeing vanishing of low degree A^1-homotopy gr…
An action of A on X is a map F: AxX to X such that F|_X = id: X to X. The restriction F|_A: A to X of an action is called a cyclic map. Special cases of these notions include group actions and the Gottlieb groups of a space, each of which has been studied extensively. We prove some general results about actions and their Eckmann-Hilton duals. For instance, we classify the actions on an H-space that are compatible with the H-structure. As a corollary, we prove that if any two actions F and F' of A on X have cyclic maps f and f' with Omega(f) = Omega(f'), then Omega(F) and Omega(F') give the sam…
Let $f$ be a real- or circle-valued Morse function on a compact surface M having exactly $n>0$ critical points. Denote by $O$ the orbit of $f$ with respect to the right action of the group of diffeomorphisms of $M$. We show that the connected components of $O$ have the homotopy type of a finite-dimensional CW-complex. Actually, these connected components are homotopy equivalent to a certain covering space of the $n$-th configuration space of the interior of $M$. As a consequence we obtain that the fundamental group of $O$ is a subgroup of the $n$-th braid group of $M$.
For $\Cc$ a $G$-category, we give a condition on a diagram of simplicial sets indexed on $\Cc$ that allows us to define a natural $G$-action on its homotopy colimit, and in some other simplicial sets and categories defined in terms of the diagram. Well-known theorems on homeomorphisms and homotopy equivalences are generalized to an equivariant version.
In homotopy theory, exact sequences and spectral sequences consist of groups and pointed sets, linked by actions. We prove that the theory of such exact and spectral sequences can be established in a categorical setting which is based on the existence of kernels and cokernels with respect to an assigned ideal of null morphisms, a generalisation of abelian categories and Puppe-exact categories.
We utilise the theory of crossed simplicial groups to introduce a collection of local Quillen model structures on the category of simplicial presheaves with a compact planar Lie group action on a small Grothendieck site. As an application, we give a characterisation of equivariant cohomology theories on a site as derived mapping spaces in these model categories.
In this paper we study a model structure on a category of schemes with a group action and the resulting unstable and stable equivariant motivic homotopy theories. The new model structure introduced here samples a comparison to the one by Voevodsky and Hu-Kriz-Ormsby. We show that it allows to detect equivariant motivic weak equivalences on fixed points and how this property leads to a topologically convenient behavior of stable equivalences. We also prove a negative result concerning descent for equivariant algebraic K-theory.
