arXiv research

New actions found on exotic spheres using group theory.

Hyperbolic groups act on spheres, and nearby actions are semi-conjugate.

The paper finds infinite families of exotic spheres with free actions.

Any continuous action of SL(n,Z), where n > 2, on a r-dimensional mod 2 homology sphere factors through a finite group action if r < n - 1. In particular, any continuous action of SL(n+2,Z) on the n-dimensional sphere factors through a finite group action.

It is a consequence of the classical Jordan bound for finite subgroups of linear groups that in each dimension n there are only finitely many finite simple groups which admit a faithful, linear action on the n-sphere. In the present paper we prove an analogue for smooth actions on arbitrary homology n-spheres: in each …

The standard actions of finite groups on spheres S^d are linear actions, i.e. by finite subgroups of the orthogonal group O(d+1). We prove that, in each dimension d>5, there is a finite group G which admits a faithful, topological action on a sphere S^d but is not isomorphic to a subgroup of O(d+1). The situation remai…

The group SL(n,Z) admits a smooth faithful action on the (n-1)-sphere S^(n-1), induced from its linear action on euclidean space R^n. We show that, if m < n-1 and n > 2, any smooth action of SL(n,Z) on a mod 2 homology m-sphere, and in particular on the m-sphere S^m, is trivial.

New tools prove smooth actions on exotic spheres.

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 finite nonabelian simple group does not admit a free action on a homology sphere, and the only finite simple group which acts on a homology sphere with at most 0-dimensional fixed point sets ("pseudofree action") is the alternating group A_5 acting on the 2-sphere. Our first main theorem is the finiteness result that…

Study shows exotic Dehn twists on certain 3-sphere fillings.

The paper identifies conditions for free circle actions on specific 7-manifolds.

The symplectic group Sp(2g,Z) is a subgroup of the linear group SL(2g,Z) and admits a faithful action on the sphere S^(2g-1), induced from its linear action on Euclidean space R^(2g). Generalizing corresponding results for linear groups, we show that, if m < 2g-1 and g > 2, any continuous action of Sp(2g,Z) on a homolo…

Survey on finite group actions on CW-complexes homotopy to spheres.

A free action of a finite group on an odd-dimensional sphere is said to be almost linear if the action restricted to each cyclic or 2-hyperelementary subgroup is conjugate to a free linear action. We begin this survey paper by reviewing the status of almost linear actions on the 3-sphere. We then discuss almost linear …

We consider quotients of spheres by linear actions of real tori. To each quotient we associate a matroid built out of a diagonalization of the torus action. We find the integral homology groups of the resulting quotient spaces in terms of the Tutte polynomial of the matroid. We also find the homotopy type and homology …

We investigate the existence of homotopy comoment maps (comoments) for high-dimensional spheres seen as multisymplectic manifolds. Especially, we solve the existence problem for compact effective group actions on spheres and provide explicit constructions for such comoments in interesting particular cases.

We classify representations of compact connected Lie groups whose induced action on the unit sphere has an orbit space isometric to a Riemannian orbifold.

We consider the following problem: for which classes of finite groups, and in particular finite simple groups, does the minimal dimension of a faithful, smooth action on a homology sphere coincide with the minimal dimension of a faithful, linear action on a sphere? We prove that the two minimal dimensions coincide for …

Classifies invariant spin structures on spheres.

We use the notion of fixity for representations of finite groups to construct free and smooth actions on products of spheres. In particular we show that a finite p-group (for p>3) will act freely and smoothly on a product of two spheres if and only if it does not contain a rank 3 elementary abelian subgroup. We show th…

In this paper we explore the geometry and topology of cohomogeneity one manifolds, i.e. manifolds with a group action whose principal orbits are hypersurfaces. We show that the principal group action of every principal SO(3) and SO(4) bundle over S^4 extends to a cohomogeneity one action. As a consequence we prove that…

In this paper, we provide a complete classification for all the isometric cohomogeneity one actions on unit spheres. Using this theory, we can very easily classify all the isometric cohomogeneity one actions on the Riemannian symmetric spaces $\mathbb{C}\mathrm{P}^{m-1}$ and $\mathbb{H}\mathrm{P}^{m-1}$.

We show that a free period three action on the three-sphere is standard, i.e. the quotient is homeomorphic to a lens space. We use a minimax argument involving sweepouts.

Minimal sphere dimension for equivariant embedding of circles.

This paper extends widely the work in \cite{GT13}. Existence and non-existence results of isoparametric functions on exotic spheres and Eells-Kuiper projective planes are established. In particular, every homotopy $n$-sphere ($n>4$) carries an isoparametric function (with certain metric) with 2 points as the focal set,…

R. S. Kulkarni showed that a finite group acting pseudofreely, but not freely, preserving orientation, on an even-dimensional sphere (or suitable sphere-like space) is either a periodic group acting semifreely with two fixed points, a dihedral group acting with three singular orbits, or one of the polyhedral groups, oc…

The paper proves group actions on spheres with odd fixed points.

According to the work of Laitinen, Morimoto, Oliver and Pawałowski, a finite group $G$ has a smooth effective one fixed point action on some sphere if and only if $G$ is an Oliver group. For some finite Oliver groups $G$ of order up to $216$, and for $G=A_5\times C_n$ for $n=3,5,7$, we present a strategy of excluding o…

There are known infinite families of Brieskorn homology 3-spheres which can be realized as boundaries of smooth contractible 4-manifolds. In this paper we show that free periodic actions on these Brieskorn spheres do not extend smoothly over a contractible 4-manifold. We give a new infinite family of examples in which …

The paper proves limitations on actions of a specific group on spheres.

We survey some results concerning finite group actions on products of spheres.

Study automorphisms of pure braid groups on sphere homotopy groups.

Classifies finite orbits of mapping class group action on character varieties.

We show that standard cyclic actions on Brieskorn homology 3-spheres with non-empty fixed set do not extend smoothly to any contractible smooth 4-manifold it may bound. The quotient of any such extension would be an acyclic $4$-manifold with boundary a related Brieskorn homology sphere. We briefly discuss well known in…

The paper studies a special sphere in ALE spaces.

Study finite group actions on exotic aspherical space forms.

In this paper, we study the action of $\text{Homeo}_0(M)$, the identity component of the group of homeomorphisms of an $n$-dimensional manifold $M$ with an $\mathbb{F}_p$-free action, on another manifold $N$ of dimension $n+k<2n$. We prove that if $M$ is not an $\mathbb{F}_p$-homology sphere, then $N\cong M\times K$ fo…

Functional determinant for mixed signature sphere products depends on sphere dimensions and parity.

New Oliver groups confirm a conjecture about sphere actions.

Here we generalize the Gromoll-Meyer construction of an exotic 7-sphere by producing geometric models of exotic 8, 10 and Kervaire spheres as quotients of sphere bundles over spheres by free isometric actions. We give a geometric application at the end.

The paper proves new applications of knot invariants and smooth group actions on 3-spheres.

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 sh…

Paper distinguishes 2-knots with circle actions using fundamental groups.

Study extends symmetries of sphere points to surface mapping classes.

Classifies symmetries of knots using group actions and orthogonal representation theory.

We will first clarify the loop group formulations for both hyperbolic and elliptic definite affine spheres in R^3. Then we classify the rational elements with 3 poles or 6 poles in a real twisted loop group, and compute dressing actions of them on such surfaces. Some new examples with pictures will be produced at last.

We studied isometric stochastic flows of a Stratonovich stochastic differential equation on spheres, i.e. on the standard sphere and Gromoll-Meyer exotic sphere. The standard sphere $S^7_s$ can be constructed as the quotient manifold $\mathrm{Sp}(2, \mathbb{H})/S^3$ with the so-called ${\bullet}$-action of $S^3$, where…