Our main result asserts that for any given numbers C and D the class of simply connected closed smooth manifolds of dimension m<7 which admit a Riemannian metric with sectional curvature bounded in absolute value by C and diameter uniformly bounded from above by D contains only finitely many diffeomorphism types. Thus in these dimensions the lower positive bound on volume in Cheeger's Finiteness Theorem can be replaced by a purely topological condition, simply-connectedness. In dimension 4 instead of simply-connectedness here only non-vanishing of the Euler characteristic has to be required.
As a topological corollary we obtain that for k+l<7 there are over a given smooth closed l-manifold only finitely many principal $T^k$ bundles with simply connected and non-diffeomorphic total spaces.
Furthermore, for any given numbers C and D and any dimension m it is shown that for each natural number i there are up to isomorphism always only finitely many possibilities for the i-th homotopy group of a simply connected closed m-manifold which admits a metric with sectional curvature bounded in absolute value by C and diameter bounded from above by D.
The aim of this paper is to show the rigidity of homologically trivial actions of prime order on K3 surfaces. To be precise, we show that homotopy K3 surfaces do not admit a periodic diffeomorphism of odd prime order 3 acting trivially on cohomology. Moreover, we give an obstruction in terms of the rationality and sign of the spin numbers to the existence of a periodic diffeomorphism of odd prime order acting trivially on cohomology of homotopy K3 surfaces.
The $π_2$-diffeomorphism finiteness result (\cite{FR1,2}, \cite{PT}) asserts that the diffeomorphic types of compact $n$-manifolds $M$ with vanishing first and second homotopy groups can be bounded above in terms of $n$, and upper bounds on the absolute value of sectional curvature and diameter of $M$. In this paper, we will generalize this $π_2$-diffeomorphism finiteness by removing the condition that $π_1(M)=0$ and asserting the diffeomorphism finiteness on the Riemannian universal cover of $M$.
Suppose M is a noncompact connected smooth 2-manifold without boundary and let D(M)_0 denote the identity component of the diffeomorphism group of M with the compact-open C^infty-topology. In this paper we investigate the topological type of D(M)_0 and show that D(M)_0 is a topological ell_2-manifold and it has the homotopy type of the circle if M is the plane, the open annulus or the open M"obius band, and it is contractible in all other cases. When M admits a volume form w, we also discuss the topological type of the group of w-preserving diffeomorphisms of M. To obtain these results we stud…
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 give a finiteness result on the diffeomorphism types of curvature-adapted equifocal hypersurfaces in a simply connected compact symmetric space. Furthermore, the condition curvature-adapted can be dropped if the symmetric space is of rank one.
We give constraints on smooth families of 4-manifolds with boundary using Manolescu's Seiberg-Witten Floer stable homotopy type, provided that the fiberwise restrictions of the families to the boundaries are trivial families of 3-manifolds. As an application, we show that, for a simply-connected oriented compact smooth 4-manifold $X$ with boundary with an assumption on the Frøyshov invariant or the Manolescu invariants $α, β, γ$ of $\partial X$, the inclusion map $\mathrm{Diff}(X,\partial) \hookrightarrow \mathrm{Homeo}(X,\partial)$ between the groups of diffeomorphisms and homeomorphisms whic…
We prove that for any $k\in \mathbb{R},$ $v>0,$ and $D>0$ there are only finitely many diffeomorphism types of closed Riemannian $4$-manifolds with sectional curvature $\geq k,$ volume $\geq v,$ and diameter $\leq D.$
We prove that for many degrees in a stable range the homotopy groups of the moduli space of metrics of positive scalar curvature on S^n and on other manifolds are non-trivial. This is achieved by further developing and then applying a family version of the surgery construction of Gromov-Lawson to an exotic smooth families of spheres due to Hatcher. As described, this works for all manifolds of suitable dimension and for the quotient of the space of metrics of positive scalar curvature by the (free) action of the subgroup of diffeomorphisms which fix a point and its tangent space. We also const…
In this paper, we are concerned with interactions between isoparametric theory and differential topology. Two foliations are called equivalent if there exists a diffeomorphism between the foliated manifolds mapping leaves to leaves. Using differential topology, we obtain several results towards the classification problem of isoparametric foliations up to equivalence. In particular, we show that each homotopy $n$-sphere has the "same" isoparametric foliations as the standard sphere $S^n$ has except for $n=4$, reducing the classification problem on homotopy spheres to that on the standard sphere…
We prove the existence of elements of infinite order in the homotopy groups of the spaces $\mathcal{R}_{Ric>0}(M)$ and $\mathcal{R}_{sec>0}(M)$ of positive Ricci and positive sectional curvature, provided that $M$ is high-dimensional and Spin, admits such a metric and has a non-vanishing rational Pontryagin class.
We complete the proof of the Generalized Smale Conjecture, apart from the case of $RP^3$, and give a new proof of Gabai's theorem for hyperbolic 3-manifolds. We use an approach based on Ricci flow through singularities, which applies uniformly to spherical space forms other than $S^3$ and $RP^3$ and hyperbolic manifolds, to prove that the moduli space of metrics of constant sectional curvature is contractible. As a corollary, for such a 3-manifold $X$, the inclusion $\text{Isom} (X,g)\to \text{Diff}(X)$ is a homotopy equivalence for any Riemannian metric $g$ of constant sectional curvature.
Banyaga has shown that the group of symplectomorphisms Symp(N) of a compact symplectic manifold (N,w) determines the symplectic structure. This motivates the study of the homotopy properties of Symp(N). Gromov has shown that the group of symplectomorphisms of N is homotopic to SO(3)\times SO(3) when N is the product of two spheres endowed with the standard symplectic form. This result generalizes the study of the homotopy type of the group of diffeomorphisms of closed surfaces, by replacing the space of complex structures by pseudo-complex structures adapted to w. A complex structure on a surf…
Suppose M is a non-compact connected n-manifold without boundary, DD(M) is the group of C^\infty-diffeomorphisms of M endowed with the Whitney C^\infty-topology and DD_0(M) is the identity connected component of DD(M), which is an open subgroup in the group DD_c(M) \subset DD(M) of compactly supported diffeomorphisms of M. It is shown that DD_0(M) is homeomorphic to N \times IR^\infty for an l_2-manifold N whose topological type is uniquely determined by the homotopy type of DD_0(M). For instance, DD_0(M) is homeomorphic to l_2 \times IR^\infty if n = 1, 2 or n = 3 and M is orientable and irre…
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 …
Let M be the cotangent bundle of S^2, with the standard symplectic structure. By adapting an argument of Gromov we determine the weak homotopy type of the group S of those symplectic automorphisms of M which are trivial at infinity. It turns out that S is weakly homotopy equivalent to \Z. π_0(S) is generated by the class of the standard "generalized Dehn twist". As a consequence, we show that there are different connected components of S which lie in the same connected component of the corresponding group of diffeomorphisms.
