Related papers: Macroscopic dimension and duality groups

We give a short and simple proof, utilizing the pre-determinant of P. de la Harpe and G. Skandalis, that the universal covering group of the unitary group of a II$_1$ von Neumann algebra $\mathcal{M}$, when equipped with the norm topology,…

We study the finite generation of homotopy groups of closed manifolds and finite CW-complexes by relating it to the cohomology of their fundamental groups. Our main theorems are as follows: when $X$ is a finite CW-complex of dimension $n$…

Let $G$ be a non-compact simple Lie group with Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$. Denote with $m(\mathfrak{g})$ the dimension of the smallest non-trivial $\mathfrak{g}$-module with an invariant non-degenerate symmetric bilinear form. For an…

Understanding the relationships between geometry and topology is a central theme in Riemannian geometry. We establish two results on the fundamental groups of open (complete and noncompact) $n$-manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature and…

For any complete $n$-dim Riemannian manifold $M^n$ with nonnegative Ricci curvature, Kapovitch and Wilking proved that any finitely generated subgroup of the fundamental group $\pi_1(M^n)$ can be generated by $C(n)$ generators. Inspired by…

We study various covering spectra for complete noncompact length spaces with universal covers (including Riemannian manifolds and the pointed Gromov Hausdorff limits of Riemannian manifolds with lower bounds on their Ricci curvature). We…

A strongly zero-dimensional topological group containing a closed subgroup of positive covering dimension is constructed.

In this paper, we consider a connected orientable closed Riemannian manifold $M^{n+1}$ with positive Ricci curvature. Suppose $G$ is a compact Lie group acting by isometries on $M$ with $3\leq {\rm codim}(G\cdot p)\leq 7$ for all $p\in M$.…

We classify all closed, aspherical Riemannian manifolds M whose universal cover has indiscrete isometry group. One sample application is the theorem that any such M with word-hyperbolic fundamental group must be isometric to a negatively…

Suppose $M$ is a closed, connected, orientable, \irr\ \3m\ such that $G=\pi_1(M)$ is infinite. One consequence of Thurston's geometrization conjecture is that the universal covering space $\widetilde{M}$ of $M$ must be \homeo\ to $\RRR$.…

We show that if $g$ is a Riemannian metric on a closed piecewise locally symmetric manifold $M$, then the lift of $g$ to the universal cover $\widetilde{M}$ has a discrete isometry group. We also show that the index $[\Isom(\widetilde{M}):…

We prove that every finitely generated group with recursive aspherical presentation embeds into a group with finite aspherical presentation. This and several known facts about groups and manifolds imply that there exists a 4-dimensional…

Let M be a closed enlargeable spin manifold. We show non-triviality of the universal index obstruction in the K-theory of the maximal $C^*$-algebra of the fundamental group of M. Our proof is independent from the injectivity of the…

In this short note we show the following result: Let $(M^{2n+1},g)$ ($n \geq 2$) be a compact Sasaki manifold with positive transverse orthogonal bisectional curvature. Then $\pi_1(M)$ is finite, and the universal cover of $(M^{2n+1},g)$ is…

A Riemannian n-manifold M has k-dimensional Uryson width bounded by a constant c >0 if there exists a continuous map f from M to an k-dimensional polyhedral space P, such that the pullbacks f^{-1}(p) of all points p in P have diameters…

The requirement of ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry for M-theory backgrounds of the form of a warped product ${\cal M}\times_{w}X$, where $X$ is an eight-manifold and ${\cal M}$ is three-dimensional Minkowski or AdS space, implies the existence…

Gromov and Lawson conjectured that a closed spin manifold M of dimension n with fundamental group pi admits a metric with positive scalar curvature if and only if an associated element in KO_n(B pi) vanishes. In this note we present counter…

We prove a finiteness theorem for the class of complete finite volume Riemannian manifolds with pinched negative sectional curvature, fixed fundamental group, and of dimension $>2$. One of the key ingredients is that the fundamental group…

We show that for $n \neq 1,4$ the simplicial volume of an inward tame triangulable open $n$-manifold $M$ with amenable fundamental group at infinity at each end is finite; moreover, we show that if also $\pi_1(M)$ is amenable, then the…

We prove that the symmetric group $S_n$ has a unique minimal cover $\mathcal{M}$ by maximal nilpotent subgroups, and we obtain an explicit and easily computed formula for the order of $\mathcal{M}$. In addition, we prove that the order of…