The space of metrics of positive scalar curvature (Q483510): Difference between revisions

This remarkable paper establishes that there are elements of infinite order in higher homotopy groups of the space of Riemannian metrics of positive scalar curvature on a closed manifold. More precisely, the main result is that for all \(k\geq0\) there exists \(N(k)\) such that, for all \(n\geq N(k)\) and each spin manifold \(M\) admitting a metric \(g_0\) with positive scalar curvature and of dimension \(4n-k-1\), the homotopy group \(\pi_k(\mathrm{Riem}^+(M),g_0)\) contains elements of infinite order if \(k\geq 1\) and infinitely many different elements if \(k=0\). Furthermore, their images under the Hurewicz homomorphism in \(H_k(\mathrm{Riem}^+(M))\) still have infinite order. The paper contains other similar results, regarding the cases of spheres and products of spin manifolds with \(8\)-dimensional Bott manifolds. All of these results are based on the construction of smooth fiber bundles over spheres whose total space is a spin manifold with nonvanishing \(\hat A\)-genus. In particular, this construction establishes that the \(\hat A\)-genus is not multiplicative on fiber bundles over a simply-connected base, even over a sphere.