Related papers: The classification of smooth structures on a homot…
In this paper we study $\mathcal M(X)$, the set of diffeomorphism classes of smooth manifolds with the simple homotopy type of $X$, via a map $\Psi$ from $\mathcal M(X)$ into the quotient of $K(X)=[X,BSO]$ by the action of the group of…
The $\pi_2$-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…
We show that the category of N-complexes has a Str\om model structure, meaning the weak equivalences are the chain homotopy equivalences. This generalizes the analogous result for the category of chain complexes (N = 2). The trivial objects…
The set of all closed subgroups of a profinite carries a natural profinite topology. This space of subgroups can be classified up to homeomorphism in many cases, and tight bounds placed on its complexity as expressed by its scattered…
We classify cohomogeneity one actions on smooth, simply connected, closed manifolds with the rational cohomology of a sphere. In particular, we show that such a manifold is diffeomorphic to a sphere, a Brieskorn variety, the Wu manifold…
We establish that if a submanifold $M$ of $\mathbb{R}^n$ is definable in some o-minimal structure then any definable submanifold $N\subset \mathbb{R}^n$ which is $\mathscr{C}^\infty$ diffeomorphic to $M$, with a diffeomorphism $h:N\to M$…
Let M^3 be a compact, oriented, irreducible, and boundary incompressible 3-manifold. Assume that its fundamental group is without rank two abelian subgroups and its boundary is non-empty. We will show that every homomorphism from pi_1(M) to…
We study the classifying space B Diff(M) of the diffeomorphism group of a connected, compact, orientable 3-manifold M. In the case that M is reducible we build a contractible space parametrising the systems of reducing spheres. We use this…
We prove that for every natural number k there are simply connected topological four-manifolds which have at leat k distinct smooth structures supporting Einstein metrics, and also have infinitely many distinct smooth structures not…
The classifying spaces of cobordisms of singular maps have two fairly different constructions. We expose a homotopy theoretical connection between them. As a corollary we show that the classifying spaces in some cases have a simple product…
Following the argument for diffeomorphisms by Galatius and Randal-Williams, we prove that homeomorphisms of 1-connected manifolds of even dimension at least 6 exhibit homological stability. We deduce similar results for PL homeomorphisms…
Every closed orientable surface S has the following property: any two connected covers of S of the same degree are homeomorphic (as spaces). In this, paper we give a complete classification of compact 3-manifolds with empty or toroidal…
Let $M$ be a simply connected spin manifold of dimension at least six which admits a metric of positive scalar curvature. We show that the observer moduli space of positive scalar curvature metrics on $M$ has non-trivial higher homotopy…
Let $f,g:M \rightarrow N$ be two maps between simply-connected smooth manifolds $M$ and $N$, such that $M$ is compact and $N$ is of finite $\mathbb{R}$-type. The goal of this paper is to use integration of certain differential forms to…
We classify complex compact parallelizable manifolds which admit flat torsion free holomorphic affine connections. We exhibit complex compact manifolds admitting holomorphic affine connections, but no flat torsion free holomorphic affine…
For a non-compact n-manifold M let H(M) denote the group of homeomorphisms of M endowed with the Whitney topology and H_c(M) the subgroup of H(M) consisting of homeomorphisms with compact support. It is shown that the group H_c(M) is…
The singular set of a generic map $f: M\to F$ of a manifold $M$ of dimension $m\ge 2$ to an oriented surface $F$ is a closed smooth curve $\Sigma(f)$. We study the parity of the number of components of $\Sigma(f)$. The image $f(\Sigma)$ of…
Here we classify all topological spaces where all bijections to itself are homeomorphisms. As a consequence, we also classify all topological spaces where all maps to itself are continuous. Analogously, we classify all measurable spaces…
We are interested in contractible n-manifolds M which "split" as M = A union B where A,B, and A intersect B are all homeomorphic to Euclidean n-space (such M are called open n-splitters) or A,B, and A intersect B are all homeomorphic to the…
Simplicial presheaves on cartesian spaces provide a general notion of smooth spaces. There is a corresponding smooth version of the singular complex functor, which maps smooth spaces to simplicial sets. We consider the localisation of the…