It is proved that an arbitrary finite group acting locally linearly, homologically trivially, and pseudofreely on a closed, simply connected 4-manifold must in fact be cyclic and act semifreely, provided the second betti number of the manifold is at least three.
There is one generalization of fibered links in 3-manifolds, called homologically fibered links. It is known that the existence of homologically fibered links whose fiber surface has a given homeomorphic type is determined by the first homology group and its torsion linking form of the ambient 3-manifold. In this paper, we interpret the existence of homologically fibered links with that of a solution of some equation, in terms of the first homology group and its torsion linking form or a surgery diagram of the ambient manifold. As an application, we compute the ${\rm hc}(\cdot)$, defined throu…
Bredon has constructed a 2-dimensional compact cohomology manifold which is not homologically locally connected, with respect to the singular homology. In the present paper we construct infinitely many such examples (which are in addition metrizable spaces) in all remaining dimensions $n \ge 3$.
We show that the classical example $X$ of a 3-dimensional generalized manifold constructed by van Kampen is another example of not homologically locally connected (i.e. not HLC) space. This space $X$ is not locally homeomorphic to any of the compact metrizable 3-dimensional manifolds constructed in our earlier paper which are not HLC spaces either.
Sutured manifolds defined by Gabai are useful in the geometrical study of knots and 3-dimensional manifolds. On the other hand, homology cylinders are in an important position in the recent theory of homology cobordisms of surfaces and finite-type invariants. We study a relationship between them by focusing on sutured manifolds associated with a special class of knots which we call {\it homologically fibered knots}. Then we use invariants of homology cylinders to give applications to knot theory such as fibering obstructions, Reidemeister torsions and handle numbers of homologically fibered kn…
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…
Aramayona and Leininger have provided a "finite rigid subset" $\mathfrak{X}(Σ)$ of the curve complex $\mathscr{C}(Σ)$ of a surface $Σ= Σ^n_g$, characterized by the fact that any simplicial injection $\mathfrak{X}(Σ) \to \mathscr{C}(Σ)$ is induced by a unique element of the mapping class group $\mathrm{Mod}(Σ)$. In this paper we prove that, in the case of the sphere with $n\geq 5$ marked points, the reduced homology class of the finite rigid set of Aramayona and Leininger is a $\mathrm{Mod}(Σ)$-module generator for the reduced homology of the curve complex $\mathscr{C}(Σ)$, answering in the aff…
We show that the only finite nonabelian simple groups which admit a locally linear, homologically trivial action on a closed simply connected 4-manifold $M$ (or on a 4-manifold with trivial first homology) are the alternating groups $A_5$, $A_6$ and the linear fractional group PSL(2,7) (we note that for homologically nontrivial actions all finite groups occur). The situation depends strongly on the second Betti number $b_2(M)$ of $M$ and has been known before if $b_2(M)$ is different from two, so the main new result of the paper concerns the case $b_2(M)=2$. We prove that the only simple group…
The Tait conjecture states that reduced alternating diagrams of links in S^3 have the minimal number of crossings. It has been proved in 1987 by M. Thistlethwaite, L.H. Kauffman and K. Murasugi studying the Jones polynomial. In this paper we prove an analogous result for alternating links in S^1xS^2 giving a complete answer to this problem. In S^1xS^2 we find a dichotomy: the appropriate version of the statement is true for \Z_2-homologically trivial links, and our proof also uses the Jones polynomial. On the other hand, the statement is false for \Z_2-homologically non trivial links, for whic…
We give an affirmative answer to the Halperin-Carlsson conjecture for the homologically injective torus actions on closed manifolds. This class contains holomorphic torus actions on compact Kahler manifolds, torus actions on compact Riemannian flat manifolds.
We show that every closed, simply connected, spin topological 4-manifold except $S^4$ and $S^2\times S^2$ admits a homologically trivial, pseudofree, locally linear action of $\mathbb{Z}_p$ for any sufficiently large prime number $p$ which is nonsmoothable for any possible smooth structure.
Let $M$ be a simply connected closed $4$-manifold. It is proved that any (possibly finite) compact Lie group acting effectively and homologically trivially on $M$ by homeomorphisms is an abelian group of rank at most two. As applications, let $\mathrm{Aut}(F_{n})$ be the automorphism group of the free group of rank $n.$ We prove that any group action of $\mathrm{Aut}% (F_{n})$ $(n\geq 4)$ on $M\neq S^{4}$ by homologically trivial homeomorphisms factors through $\mathbb{Z}/2.$ Moreover, any action of $% \mathrm{SL}_{n}(\mathbb{Q})$ $(n\geq 4)$ on $M\neq S^{4}$ by homeomorphisms is trivial.
The possibilities for new or unusual kinds of topological, locally linear periodic maps of non-prime order on closed, simply connected 4-manifolds with positive definite intersection pairings are explored. On the one hand, certain permutation representations on homology are ruled out under appropriate hypotheses. On the other hand, an interesting homologically nontrivial, pseudofree, action of the cyclic group of order 25 on a connected sum of ten copies of the complex projective plane is constructed.
Let M be a closed, connected, orientable topological 4-manifold, and G be a finite group acting topologically and locally linearly on M. In this paper we investigate the Borel spectral sequence for the G-equivariant cohomology of M, and establish new bounds on the rank of G for homologically trivial actions with discrete singular set.
We use methods from the cohomology of groups to describe the finite groups which can act freely and homologically trivially on closed 3-manifolds which are rational homology spheres.
We show that every closed nonpositively curved manifold with non-trivial volume flux group has zero minimal volume, and admits a finite covering with circle actions whose orbits are homologically essential. This proves a conjecture of Kedra-Kotschick-Morita for this class of manifolds.
In this note we derive an upper bound on the number of 2-spheres in the fixed point set of a smooth and homologically trivial cyclic group action of prime order on a simply-connected 4-manifold. This improves the a priori bound which is given by one half of the Euler characteristic of the 4-manifold. The result also shows that in some cases the 4-manifold does not admit such actions of a certain order at all or that any such action has to be pseudofree.
We show that the simply-connected four-manifolds which admit locally linear, homologically trivial actions by rank two finite abelian groups are homeomorphic to connected sums of CP^2, -CP^2, and S^2 x S^2 (with one exception: pseudofree Z_3 x Z_3 actions on the Chern manifold), and also establish an equivariant decompostion theorem. This generalizes results from a 1970 paper by Orlik and Raymond, and complements more recent work of Fintushel, Yoshida, and Huck on S^1 actions. In each case, the simply-connected four-manifolds which support such actions are essentially the same.
We study the flux homomorphism for closed forms of arbitrary degree, with special emphasis on volume forms and on symplectic forms. The volume flux group is an invariant of the underlying manifold, whose non-vanishing implies that the manifold resembles one with a circle action with homologically essential orbits.
Let $X_0$ denote a compact, simply-connected smooth $4$-manifold with boundary the Poincaré homology $3$-sphere $Σ(2,3,5)$ and with even negative definite intersection form $Q_{X_0}=E_8$. We show that free $\mathbb{Z}/p$ actions on $Σ(2,3,5)$ do not extend to smooth actions on $X_0$ with isolated fixed points for any prime $p>7$. The approach is to study the equivariant version of the Yang-Mills instanton-one moduli space for $4$-manifolds with cylindrical ends. As an application we show that for $p>7$ a smooth $\mathbb{Z}/p$ action on $\#^8 S^2 \times S^2$ with isolated fixed points does not …
Let $M$ be a closed, connected, orientable topological four-manifold with $H_1(M)$ nontrivial and free abelian, $b_2(M)\ne 0, 2$, and $χ(M)\ne 0$. We show that if $G$ is a finite group of 2-rank $\le 1$ which admits a homologically trivial, locally linear, effective action on $M$, then $G$ must be cyclic. With additional assumptions to ensure orientability of some components of the singular set (e.g. if $G$ acts by symplectic symmetries, or preserving a spin structure), we also rule out $C_2 \times C_2$ actions. The proofs use equivariant cohomology, localization, and a careful study of the fi…
A study of symplectic actions of a finite group $G$ on smooth 4-manifolds is initiated. The central new idea is the use of $G$-equivariant Seiberg-Witten-Taubes theory in studying the structure of the fixed-point set of these symmetries. The main result in this paper is a complete description of the fixed-point set structure (and the action around it) of a symplectic cyclic action of prime order on a minimal symplectic 4-manifold with $c_1^2=0$. Comparison of this result with the case of locally linear topological actions is made. As an application of these considerations, the triviality of ma…
Based in the isomorphism between Lie algebroid cohomology and piecewise smooth cohomology, it is proved that the Rham cohomology of a locally trivial Lie groupoid $G$ on a smooth manifold $M$ is isomorphic to the piecewise Rham cohomology of $G$, in which $G$ and $M$ are manifolds without boundary and $M$ is smoothly triangulated by a finite simplicial complex $K$ such that, for each simplex $Δ$ of $K$, the inverse images of $Δ$ by the source and target mappings of $G$ are transverses submanifolds in the ambient space $G$. As a consequence, it is shown that the piecewise de Rham cohomology of …
This paper gives examples of hyperbolic 3-manifolds whose SL(2,C) character varieties have ideal points whose associated roots of unity are not 1 or -1. This answers a question of Cooper, Culler, Gillet, Long, and Shalen as to whether roots of unity other than 1 and -1 occur.
We investigate an extended version of the stable Andrews-Curtis transformations, referred to as EAC transformations, and compare it with a notion of equivalence in a family of $3$-manifolds with boundary, called the {\emph{simple balanced $3$-manifolds}}. A simple balanced $3$-manifold is a $3$-manifold with boundary, such that every connected component $N$ of it has unique positive and negative boundary components $\partial^+N$ and $\partial^-N$, such that $π_1(N)$ is the normalizer of the image of $π_1(\partial^\pm N)$ in $π_1(N)$. Associated with every simple balanced $3$-manifold $N$ is th…
For a manifold N embedded inside euclidean space R^{n+1}, we produce a coloured operad that acts on the space of maps from N to M, where M is a compact, oriented, smooth manifold. For N the unit sphere, we indicate how this gives homological actions, generalizing the action of the Cacti operad and retrieving the Chas-Sullivan product by taking N to be the unit-circle in R^2. We go on to show that for S^n the unit sphere in R^{n+1}, the operad constructed is a coloured E_{n+1}-operad. This E_{n+1}-structure is finally twisted by SO(n+1) to homologically give actions of the framed little (n+1)-d…
The paper deals with topologically trivial Legendrian knots in tight and overtwisted contact 3-manifolds. The first part contains a thorough exposition of the proof of the classification of topologically trivial Legendrian knots (i.e. Legendrian knots bounding embedded 2-disks) in tight contact 3-manifolds. This part was essentially written more than 10 years ago, but only a short version, without the detailed proofs, was published (in CRM Proc. Lecture Notes, Vol. 15, 1998). That paper also briefly discussed the overtwisted case. The final part of the present paper contains a more systematic …
We prove that the Stiefel-Whitney classes of a moment-angle manifold, not necessarily smooth, are trivial. We also consider Stiefel-Whitney classes of the partial quotient of a moment-angle manifold.
If a (possibly finite) compact Lie group acts effectively, locally linearly, and homologically trivially on a closed, simply-connected four-manifold with second Betti number at least three, then it must be isomorphic to a subgroup of S^1 x S^1, and the action must have nonempty fixed-point set. Our results strengthen and complement recent work by Edmonds, Hambleton and Lee, and Wilczynski, among others. Our tools include representation theory, finite group theory, and Borel equivariant cohomology.
In this article we present infinitely many 3-manifolds admitting infinitely many universally tight contact structures each with trivial Ozsvath-Szabo contact invariants. By known properties of these invariants the contact structures constructed here are non weakly symplectically fillable.
We construct (infinitely many) examples in all dimensions of contactomorphisms of closed overtwisted contact manifolds that are smoothly isotopic but not contact-isotopic to the identity.
Some generalizations and variations of the Fintushel-Stern rim surgery are known to produce smoothly knotted surfaces. We show that if the fundamental groups of their complements are cyclic, then these surfaces are topologically unknotted. Using a twist-spinning construction from high-dimensional knot theory, we construct examples of knotted surfaces whose complements have cyclic fundamental groups.
This paper shows that the Seifert volume of each closed non-trivial graph manifold is virtually positive. As a consequence, for each closed orientable prime 3-manifold $N$, the set of mapping degrees $cD(M,N)$ is finite for any 3-manifold $M$, unless $N$ is finitely covered by either a torus bundle, or a trivial circle bundle, or the 3-sphere.
For n at least 3, let SAut(F_n) denote the unique subgroup of index two in the automorphism group of a free group. The standard linear action of SL(n,Z) on R^n induces non-trivial actions of SAut(F_n) on R^n and on S^{n-1}. We prove that SAut(F_n) admits no non-trivial actions by homeomorphisms on acyclic manifolds or spheres of smaller dimension. Indeed, SAut(F_n) cannot act non-trivially on any generalized Z_2-homology sphere of dimension less than n-1, nor on any Z_2-acyclic Z_2-homology manifold of dimension less than n. It follows that SL(n,Z) cannot act non-trivially on such spaces eithe…