On finite simple and nonsolvable groups acting on closed 4-manifolds (Q1036225)

The paper under review studies locally linear, faithful and orientation-preserving actions of finite groups on closed orientable 4-manifolds. The authors first prove that if \(G\) is a finite nonabelian simple group which admits a homologically trivial action on a closed 4-manifold \(M\) with trivial first homology, then it is isomorphic to the alternating groups \({\mathbb A}_5\), \({\mathbb A}_6\) or the linear fractional group \(\text{PSL}(2,7)\). The main theorems of the paper are the following Theorem 1. If \(G\) is a finite nonabelian simple group which admits an action on a closed 4-manifold \(M\) with trivial first homology and \(b_2(M)=2\), then \(G\) is only isomorphic to \({\mathbb A}_5\), and \(M\) has the intersection form of \(S^2\times S^2\). Theorem 2. If \(G\) is a finite nonsolvable group which admits a homologically trivial action on a closed 4-manifold \(M\) with trivial first homology and \(b_2(M)=2\), then \(G\) contains, of index at most two, a normal subgroup isomorphic to one of the following groups \[ {\mathbb A}_5\times C, {\mathbb A}^*_5\times_{{\mathbb Z}_2}C, {\mathbb A}_5\times{\mathbb A}_5, {\mathbb A}_5\times{\mathbb A}_4 \] where \(C\) is a cyclic group.