Related papers: Symmetries of exotic aspherical space forms

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 establish lower bounds on the dimensions in which arithmetic groups with torsion can act on acyclic manifolds and homology spheres. The bounds rely on the existence of elementary p-groups in the groups concerned. In some cases, including…

Let $N$ be a smooth manifold that is homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to a closed hyperbolic manifold $M$. In this paper, we study the extent to which $N$ admits as much symmetry as $M$. Our main results are examples of $N$ that exhibit…

In this paper, we determine for which nonnegative integers $k$, $l$ and for which homotopy $7-$sphere $\Sigma$ the manifold $kS^{2}\times S^{5}\#lS^{3}\times S^{4}\#\Sigma$ admits a free smooth circle action.

Deformation spaces Hom($\pi$,G)/G of representations of the fundamental group $\pi$ of a surface $\Sigma$ in a Lie group $G$ admit natural actions of the mapping class group $Mod_\Sigma$, preserving a Poisson structure. When $G$ is compact,…

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…

In this paper we find all solvable subgroups of Diff^omega(S^1) and classify their actions. We also investigate the C^r local rigidity of actions of the solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups on the circle. The investigation leads to two novel…

We show that a finite group which admits a faithful, smooth, orientation-preserving action on a homology 4-sphere, and in particular on the 4-sphere, is isomorphic to a subgroup of the orthogonal group SO(5), by explicitly determining the…

Given a closed simply connected manifold $M$ of dimension $2n\ge6$, we compare the ring of characteristic classes of smooth oriented bundles with fibre $M$ to the analogous ring resulting from replacing $M$ by the connected sum…

Associated to every complete affine 3-manifold M with nonsolvable fundamental group is a noncompact hyperbolic surface S. We classify such complete affine structures when Sigma is homeomorphic to a three-holed sphere. In particular, for…

Let $M$ be a simply connected homogeneous three-manifold with isometry group of dimension $4$, and let $\Sigma$ be any compact surface of genus zero immersed in $M$ whose mean, extrinsic and Gauss curvatures satisfy a smooth elliptic…

We consider orientation-preserving actions of finite groups $G$ on pairs $(S^3, \Sigma)$, where $\Sigma$ denotes a compact connected surface embedded in $S^3$. In a previous paper, we considered the case of closed, necessarily orientable…

Let $M$ be a finite volume analytic pseudo-Riemannian manifold that admits an isometric $G$-action with a dense orbit, where $G$ is a connected non-compact simple Lie group. For low-dimensional $M$, i.e. $\dim(M) < 2\dim(G)$, when the…

We discuss questions by Mostow \cite{Mo1}, Bers \cite{B} and Krushkal \cite{Kr1, Kr2} about uniqueness of a conformal or spherical CR structure on the sphere at infinity $\partial H_\mathbb{F}^n$ of symmetric rank one space $H_\mathbb{F}^n$…

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…

A group is SimpHAtic if it acts geometrically on a simply connected simplicially hereditarily aspherical (SimpHAtic) complex. We show that finitely presented normal subgroups of the SimpHAtic groups are either: finite, or of finite index,…

Let $G$ be a noncompact real algebraic group and $\G<G$ a lattice. One purpose of this paper is to show that there is an smooth, volume preserving, mixing action of $G$ or $\G$ on a compact manifold which admits a smooth deformation. We…

This paper is concerned with fixed-point free $S^1$-actions (smooth or locally linear) on orientable 4-manifolds. We show that the fundamental group plays a predominant role in the equivariant classification of such 4-manifolds. In…

For a locally finite graph $\Gamma$, we consider its mapping class group $\text{Map}(\Gamma)$ as defined by Algom-Kfir-Bestvina. For these groups, we prove a generalization of the results of Laudenbach and Brendle-Broaddus-Putman, producing…

Mapping class groups of Haken 3-manifolds enjoy many of the homological finiteness properties of mapping class groups of 2-manifolds of finite type. For example, H(M) has a torsionfree subgroup of finite index, which is geometrically finite…