Group actions on disks

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Contents

1 Topological actions

2 Smooth actions

2.1 Fixed point free

2.1.1 History

Floyd and Richardson [Floyd&Richardson1959] have constructed for the first time a smooth fixed point free action of G on a disk for G=A_5, the alternating group on five letters (see [Bredon1972, pp. 55-58] for a transparent description of the construction). Next, Greever [Greever1960] has described plenty of finite solvable groups G which can act smoothly on disks without fixed points. Then, Oliver [Oliver1975], [Oliver1976] has answered completely the question of which compact Lie groups admit smooth fixed point free actions on disks.

2.1.2 Oliver number

Let G be a finite group not of prime power order. Oliver [Oliver1975] has proven that the set

\displaystyle \mathcal{Z}_G := \{\chi(X^G)-1 \ | \ X\textup{ is a finite contractible }G\textup{-CW-complex}\} \ \subseteq \ \mathbb{Z}
is a subgroup of the group of integers \mathbb{Z}. Therefore, \mathcal{Z}_G = n_G\cdot \mathbb{Z} for a unique integer n_G\geq 0, which we refer to as the Oliver number of G.

In the papers [Oliver1975], [Oliver1977], and [Oliver1978], Oliver has computed the integer n_G. In particular, the following lemma holds.

Lemma 2.1 (Oliver Lemma). For a finite group G not of prime power order, n_G=1 if and only if there does not exist a sequence P\trianglelefteq H\trianglelefteq G of normal subgroups such that P is a p-group, G/H is a q-group, and H/P is cyclic for two (possibly the same) primes p and q.

Moreover, the work [Oliver1977, Theorem 7] yields the following proposition.

Proposition 2.2. For a finite nilpotent group G not of prime power order, the following conclusions hold:

  • n_G=0 if G has at most one non-cyclic Sylow subgroup.
  • n_G=pq for two distinct primes p and q, if G has just one non-cyclic p-Sylow and q-Sylow subgroups.
  • n_G=1 if G has three or more non-cyclic Sylow subgroups.

The notion of the Oliver number n_G extends to compact Lie groups G as follows.

  • n_G=n_{G/G_0} if G_0 is abelian and G/G_0 is not of prime power order.
  • n_G=1 if G_0 is non-abelian (see [Oliver1976]).


2.1.3 Oliver group

The notion of Oliver group has been introduced by Laitinen and Morimoto [Laitinen&Morimoto1998] in connection with the work on smooth one fixed point actions on spheres.

Definition 2.3. A finite group G not of prime power order is called an Oliver group if n_G=1 (cf. Oliver Lemma).

Examples of finite Oliver groups include:

  • \mathbb{Z}_{pqr}\times \mathbb{Z}_{pqr} for three distinct primes p, q, and r.
  • the solvable groups S_4\oplus \mathbb{Z}_3 and A_4\oplus S_3 of order 72.
  • all non-solvable groups, e.g., A_n and S_n for n\geq 5.

2.1.4 Results

The results of Oliver [Oliver1975], [Oliver1976] can be summarized as follows.

Theorem 2.4. A compact Lie group G has a smooth fixed point free action on some disk if and only if the identity connected component G_0 of G is non-abelian, or the quotient group G/G_0 is not of prime power order and n_{G/G_0}=1.


Theorem 2.5 ([Oliver1975], [Oliver1976]). Let G be a compact Lie group such that the identity connected component G_0 of G is non-abelian, or the quotient group G/G_0 is not of prime power order. Let F be a CW-complex. Then the following three statements are equivalent.

  • F is compact and the Euler-Poincaré characteristic \chi(F)\equiv 1 \pmod{n_G}.
  • There exist a finite contractible G-CW-complex X such that the fixed point set X^G is homeomorphic to F.
  • There exists a smooth action of G on a disk D such that the fixed point set D^G is homotopy equivalent to F.

2.2 Fixed point sets

2.2.1 History

2.2.2 Definitions

Let G be a finite group. For two distinct primes p and q, a pq-element of G is an element of order pq. One says that G has pq-dihedral subquotient if G contains two subgroups H and K\trianglelefteq H such that H/K is isomorphic to the dihedral group of order 2pq. Denote by G_2 a 2-Sylow subgroup of G.

The class of finite groups G not of prime power order divides into the following six mutually disjoint classes.

  • \mathcal{A}=\{G\;\colon\; G has a pq-dihedral subquotient \}.
  • \mathcal{B}=\{G\;\colon\; G has no pq-dihedral subquotient, G has a pq-element conjugate to its inverse \}.
  • \mathcal{C}=\{G\;\colon\; G has no pq-element conjugate to its inverse, G has a pq-element, G_2\ntrianglelefteq G \}.
  • \mathcal{D}=\{G\;\colon\; G has no pq-element conjugate to its inverse, G has a pq-element, G_2\trianglelefteq G \}.
  • \mathcal{E}=\{G\;\colon\; G has no pq-element, G_2\ntrianglelefteq G \}.
  • \mathcal{F}=\{G\;\colon\; G has no pq-element, G_2\trianglelefteq G \}.

Let F be a compact smooth manifold. Between the reduced real, complex, and quaternion K-theory groups \widetilde{K}O(F), \widetilde{K}U(F), and \widetilde{K}Sp(F), respectively, consider the induction (complexification and quaternization) homomorphisms c_\mathbb{R} and q_\mathbb{C}:

\displaystyle \widetilde{K}O(F)\xrightarrow{c_\mathbb{R}}\widetilde{K}U(F)\xrightarrow{q_\mathbb{C}}\widetilde{K}Sp(F)
and the forgetful (complexification and realification) homomorphisms c_\mathbb{H} and r_\mathbb{C}:
\displaystyle \widetilde{K}Sp(F)\xrightarrow{c_\mathbb{H}}\widetilde{K}U(F)\xrightarrow{r_\mathbb{C}}\widetilde{K}O(F)

For a finitely generated abelian group A, denote by \operatorname{Tor}(A) the torsion part of A.

2.2.3 Results

Theorem 2.6 ([Oliver1996]). Let G be a finite group not of prime power order. Let F be a smooth manifold. Then there exists a smooth action of G on some disk D such that the fixed point D^G is diffeomorphic to F if and only if F is compact, \chi(F)\equiv 1\pmod{n_G}, and the class [\tau_F]\in \widetilde{K}O(F) satisfies the following condition depending on G.

  • If G\in \mathcal{A}, then there is no restriction on [\tau_F].
  • If G\in \mathcal{B}, then c_{\mathbb{R}}([\tau_F])\in c_{\mathbb{H}}(\widetilde{K}Sp(F))+\text{Tor}(\widetilde{K}U(F)).
  • If G\in\mathcal{C}, then [\tau_F]\in r_{\mathbb{C}}(\widetilde{K}U(F))+\text{Tor}(\widetilde{K}O(F)).
  • If G\in\mathcal{D}, then [\tau_F]\in r_{\mathbb{C}}(\widetilde{K}U(F)), i.e., F is stably complex.
  • If G\in\mathcal{E}, then [\tau_F]\in\text{Tor}(\widetilde{K}O(F)).
  • If G\in\mathcal{F}, then [\tau_F]\in r_{\mathbb{C}}(\text{Tor}(\widetilde{K}U(F))).

3 References

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