Related papers: Stably free modules and the unstable classificatio…

Brauer and Fowler noted restrictions on the structure of a finite group G in terms of the order of the centralizer of an involution t in G. We consider variants of these themes. We first note that for an arbitrary finite group G of even…

Let X be the moduli space of SL(n,C), SU(n), GL(n,C), or U(n)-valued representations of a rank r free group. We classify the algebraic singular stratification of X. This comes down to showing that the singular locus corresponds exactly to…

Let G be a Coxeter group of type A_n, B_n, D_n or I_2(N), or a complex reflection group of type G(de,e,n). Let V be its standard representation and let k be an integer greater than 2. Then G acts on S(V)^{\otimes k}. We show that the…

We study the behaviour on some nodal hyperplanes of the isomorphism, described in a paper of 2019 by Boissi\`ere, Camere and Sarti, between the moduli space of smooth cubic threefolds and the moduli space of hyperk\"ahler fourfolds of…

Let $\rho:\mathbb{Z}/k \mathbb{Z}\rightarrow \text{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ be a representation of a finite abelian group and let $\Theta^{\text{gen}}\subset \text{Hom}_\mathbb{Z}(R(\mathbb{Z}/k\mathbb{Z}),\mathbb{Q})$ be the space of generic…

We prove that manifolds of Lusternik-Schnirelmann category 2 necessarily have free fundamental group. We thus settle a 1992 conjecture of Gomez-Larranaga and Gonzalez-Acuna, by generalizing their result in dimension 3, to all higher…

Let $G=SL(2,5)$ be the special linear group of $2 \times 2$-matrices with coefficients in the field with $5$ elements. We show that the principal block over a splitting field $K$ of characteristic two of the group algebra $KG$ has a…

We compute the rational stable homology of the automorphism groups of free nilpotent groups. These groups interpolate between the general linear groups over the ring of integers and the automorphism groups of free groups, and we employ…

For any given finitely presented group G there exists a closed oriented 4-manifold with fundamental group G. What pairs of integers can occur as the signature and Euler characteristic of such a 4-manifold? The first part of this paper…

We define weak 2-categories of finite dimensional algebras with bimodules, along with collections of operators $\mathbb{O}_{(c,x)}$ on these 2-categories. We prove that special examples $\mathbb{O}_p$ of these operators control all…

A group has normal rank (or weight) greater than one if no single element normally generates the group. The Wiegold problem from 1976 asks about the existence of a finitely generated perfect group of normal rank greater than one. We show…

Let M be a 4-manifold with residually finite fundamental group G having b_1(G) > 0. Assume that M carries a symplectic structure with trivial canonical class K = 0 in H^2(M). Using a theorem of Bauer and Li, together with some classical…

In 1992, David Wright proved a remarkable theorem about which contractible open manifolds are covering spaces. He showed that if a one-ended open manifold M has pro-monomorphic fundamental group at infinity which is not pro-trivial and is…

Let $G$ be a real reductive algebraic group with maximal compact subgroup $K$, and let $F_r$ be a rank $r$ free group. We show that the space of closed orbits in $\mathrm{Hom}(F_r,G)/G$ admits a strong deformation retraction to the orbit…

For the cyclic group $C_2$ we give a complete description of the derived category of perfect complexes of modules over the constant Mackey ring $\underline{\mathbb{Z}/\ell}$, for $\ell$ a prime. This is fairly simple for $\ell$ odd, but for…

It is proved that the reduced group C*-algebra C*_{red}(G) has stable rank one (i.e. its group of invertible elements is a dense subset) if G is a discrete group arising as a free product G_1*G_2 where |G_1|>=2 and |G_2|>=3. This follows…

The variety of principal minors of $n\times n$ symmetric matrices, denoted $Z_{n}$, is invariant under the action of a group $G\subset \GL(2^{n})$ isomorphic to $\G$. We describe an irreducible $G$-module of degree $4$ polynomials…

Let $V$ be an elementary abelian $2$-group and $X$ be a finite $V$-CW-complex. In this memoir we study two cochain complexes of modules over the mod2 Steenrod algebra $\mathrm{A}$, equipped with an action of $\mathrm{H}^{*}V$, the mod2…

We study the moduli space of rank stable based instantons over a connected sum of q copies of CP^2. For c_2=1 we give the homotopy type of the moduli space. For c_2=2 we compute the cohomology of the moduli space.

Let $(X,\omega)$ be a compact symplectic manifold of dimension $2n$ and let $Ham(X,\omega)$ be its group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms. We prove the existence of a constant $C$, depending on $X$ but not on $\omega$, such that any finite…