The equivariant cohomology ring of a cohomogeneity-one action (Q2334100)

Cohomogeneity-one Lie group actions -- that is, those whose orbit space is one-dimensional -- form an intensively-studied class of examples which are a next natural object of study after homogeneous actions. It is natural to wonder what can be said of their equivariant cohomology. Due to earlier work of the second author and the fourth author [Topology Appl. 167, 36--52 (2014; Zbl 1293.55006); ibid. 218, 93--96 (2017; Zbl 1356.55003)], it is known that the rational Borel equivariant cohomology ring is Cohen-Macaulay, and structure theorems for this ring have been worked out in special cases. The authors describe the equivariant cohomology rings of a certain broad class of cohomogeneity-one actions (delineated precisely in the discussion after Theorem 3.3), obtaining more explicit expressions in the case of actions on manifolds. Then, the rational Borel equivariant cohomology ring of a cohomogeneity-one action of a compact Lie group is computed. ``The unexpectedly great utility of the Mayer-Vietoris sequence in our situation results from an additional structural feature of the sequence that seems not to be frequently noted, namely the fact that the connecting map preserves a module structure over the cohomology ring of the whole space.''