Osserman conjecture in dimension \(n \not= 8, 16\) (Q1772081)

The problem whether the spectrum of the Jacobi operator \(R_X\) of a Riemannian manifold \(R^n\) with curvature tensor R depends on the choice of the unit vector \(X\) has been studied extensively since 1988, when Chi proved the Osserman conjecture for manifolds of dimension \(n \neq 4k, k \geq 2\). Further progress in studying the pointwise Osserman and global Osserman manifolds has been made by later authors, but generally the problem remained open. In this very well structured and elegant paper, the author proves the Osserman conjecture for Riemannian manifolds of dimension \(n\neq8,16\). He also proves that a pointwise Osserman manifold of dimension \( n \neq 2,4,8,16\) is two-point homogeneous. The key statement of the paper is that all algebraic curvature tensors with Clifford structure have Osserman property, and, in most cases, the converse is also true. It is shown that in dimension sixteen a (pointwise Osserman or globally) Osserman manifold is two-point homogeneous if the Jacobi operator has no eigenvalues of multiplicity \(m \in {7,8,9}\).