English

The classification of 2-connected 7-manifolds

Geometric Topology 2020-05-12 v3 Differential Geometry

Abstract

We present a classification theorem for closed smooth spin 2-connected 7-manifolds M. This builds on the almost-smooth classification from the first author's thesis. The main additional ingredient is an extension of the Eells-Kuiper invariant for any closed spin 7-manifold, regardless of whether the spin characteristic class p_M in the fourth integral cohomology of M is torsion. In addition we determine the inertia group of 2-connected M - equivalently the number of oriented smooth structures on the underlying topological manifold - in terms of p_M and the torsion linking form.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1406.2226,
  title  = {The classification of 2-connected 7-manifolds},
  author = {Diarmuid Crowley and Johannes Nordström},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.2226},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

Corrected the definition of pseudo-isotopy of almost diffeomorphisms, 56 pages. To appear in Proc. Lond. Math. Soc

R2 v1 2026-06-22T04:34:08.757Z