Topological rigidity for non-aspherical manifolds (Q2390738)

A closed \(n\)-dimensional topological manifold \(M\) is aspherical if \(\pi_i(M)=0\) for \(n\geq 2\). Let \(f:M\to N\) be a homotopy equivalence between closed aspherical manifolds. The classical Borel Conjecture predicts that \(f\) is homotopic to a homeomorphism [\textit{F. T. Farrell}, Topology of high-dimensional manifolds. Proceedings of the school on high-dimen\-sional manifold topology, Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italy, May 21--June 8, 2001. Number 1. Trieste: The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. ICTP Lect. Notes 9, 225-298 (2002; Zbl 1042.57001)]. In the paper under review, the authors study the question when a non-aspherical oriented connected closed topological manifold is topologically rigid. For a manifold \(M\), this problem is closely connected with the computation of the structure set \(S^{top} (M)\). The structure set of a manifold \(M^n\) consists of equivalence classes of pairs \((N,f)\) with \(N\) an \(n\)-dimensional manifold and \(f: N\to M\) a homotopy equivalence, with \((N_1,f_1)=(N_2,f_2)\in S^{top} (M)\) if and only if \((f_1)^{-1}f_2: N_2\to N_1\) is homotopic to a homeomorphism. The main tool for computation of the structure set is the topological Browder-Novikov-Sullivan-Wall surgery exact sequence [\textit{C. T. C. Wall}, Surgery on compact manifolds. 2nd ed. Mathematical Surveys and Monographs. 69. Providence, RI: AMS. (1999; Zbl 0935.57003)]. By definition of the authors, a manifold \(M\) is called a \textit{strong Borel manifold } if every orientation preserving homotopy equivalence \(f:N\to M\) is homotopic to a homeomorphism, and it is called a {Borel manifold} if for any orientation preserving homotopy equivalence \(f:N\to M\), there exists an orientation preserving homeomorphism \(h:N\to M\) such that \(f\) and \(h\) induce the same map of fundamental groups up to conjugation. Thus a manifold \(M\) is strongly Borel if and only if \(S^{top} (M)\) consists of one element. A manifold \(M\) is Borel if and only if the group of homotopy classes of self equivalences inducing the identity on \(\pi_1\) up to conjugation acts transitively on \(S^{top} (M)\). The authors describe wide classes of Borel and strongly Borel manifolds and provide general results about rigidity. The authors also classify manifolds of dimension 5 or 6 whose fundamental group is the one of a surface and whose second homotopy group is trivial.