A trichotomy theorem for transformation groups of locally symmetric manifolds and topological rigidity (Q1701003)

A positive dimensional oriented compact manifold \(M\) has a very large group \(\mathsf{Homeo}^+ (M)\) of orientation preserving self-homeomorphisms. In fact, \(\mathsf{Homeo}^+ (M)\) is infinite dimensional. But its finite subgroups are quite restricted. \textit{A. Borel} showed in 1969 [Œuvres. Collected papers. Vol. I: 1948--1958. Vol. II: 1959--1968. Vol. III: 1969--1982. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1983; Zbl 0537.22001)] that if \(M\) is a \(K(\pi, 1)\)-manifold with fundamental group \(\Gamma = \pi_1(M)\), whose center is trivial, then every finite subgroup of \(\mathsf{Homeo}^+ (M)\) is mapped injectively into the group \(\mathsf{Out} (\Gamma)\) of outer automorphisms of \(\Gamma\) by the natural map, more precisely into a certain subgroup \(\mathsf{Out} ^+(\Gamma)\) of index at most 2 in \(\mathsf{Out} (\Gamma)\). Let now \(M\) be a locally symmetric manifold \(\Gamma \backslash H/K\), where \(H\) is a connected non-compact semisimple group with trivial center and with no compact factor and \(\Gamma\) is a torsion free uniform lattice in \(H\). In the situation with strong rigidity in the sense of \textit{G. D. Mostow} [Strong rigidity of locally symmetric spaces. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press and University of Tokyo Press (1973; Zbl 0265.53039)] (i.e. if \(H\) is not locally isomorphic to \(\mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb{R})\)), then \(\mathsf{Out} (\Gamma)\) is a finite group. In fact, \(\mathsf{Out} ^+(\Gamma) = N_H(\Gamma) / \Gamma = \mathsf{Isom}^+(M)\), where \(N_H(\Gamma)\) is the normalizer of \(\Gamma\) in \(H\) and \(\mathsf{Isom}^+(M)\) is the group of self-isometries of the Riemannian manifold \(M\). Borel asked in his paper if one can find such a \(\Gamma\) where \(\mathsf{Out} ^+(\Gamma)\) is trivial and if the finite subgroups of \(\mathsf{Homeo}^+ (M)\) form finitely many conjugacy classes. The authors answer these questions in the paper.The first main result is as follows: (1) For every finite group \(G\) and every natural number \(n \geq 3\) there exist infinitely many oriented compact hyperbolic manifolds \(M\) of dimension \(n\) with the following properties: \(G \) is isomorphic to \(\mathsf{Isom}^+(M)\) and, for \(n \neq 4\), every finite subgroup \(F\) of \(\mathsf{Homeo}^+ (M)\) is conjugate to a subgroup of \(\mathsf{Isom}^+(M)\). The proof uses the result of \textit{M. Belolipetsky} and the second author [Invent. Math. 162, No. 3, 459--472 (2005; Zbl 1113.57007)] that for a given finite group \(G\) there are infinitely many finite index subgroups \(\Gamma\) of a certain non-arithmetic lattice \(\Gamma_0\) in \(H = PO^+(n, 1)\) with \(N_H(\Gamma) / \Gamma\) isomorphic to \(G\). As to the second question of Borel the authors show that (2) the number of maximal finite subgroups of \(\mathsf{Homeo}^+ (M)\) up to conjugacy can be either one or countably infinite or continuum. The authors describe precisely when each of these cases occurs, supposing \(n \neq 2\) or 4. The third case occurs if and only if \(M\) admits a non-trivial isometry with positive dimensional fixed point set. The authors show that this dichotomy holds even if \(\mathsf{dim} M = 4\). The proofs of this dichotomy and the trichotomy (2) use deep results about the topology of manifolds. The analysis leading to the result (2) also gives, for \(\mathsf{dim}(M) \neq 4\), a complete characterization of local rigidity and topological strong rigidity of properly discontinuous actions of uniform lattices in semisimple Lie groups on the associated symmetric spaces.