Pseudofree orbifolds (Q1081893)

The authors give an equivariant version of the work presented in their paper [J. Differ. Geom. 20, 523-539 (1984; Zbl 0562.53023)] applying the solution spaces of certain Yang-Mills equations to obtain non-existence results for certain 4-manifolds. In particular, they describe an invariant \(R(a_ 1,...,a_ n)\) of the Seifert homology 3-sphere \(\Sigma =\Sigma (a_ 1,...,a_ n)\) which must be non-positive if \(\Sigma\) bounds a positive definite 4-manifold M with no 2-torsion in \(H_ 1(M).\) (This invariant is described as a trigonometric sum, but has been given a simpler description in terms of a plumbing diagram for \(\Sigma\) by the reviewer and \textit{D. Zagier} [Lect. Notes Math. 1167, 241-244 (1985; Zbl 0589.57016)].) As one application they show that the Poincaré homology sphere \(\Sigma\) (2,3,5) has infinite order in the group \(\Theta^ H_ 3\) of homology bordism classes of homology 3-spheres - answering an old question - and, moreover, that this group contains \({\mathbb{Z}}\oplus {\mathbb{Z}}/2k\) for some \(k\geq 0\). Other consequences are Alexander polynomial 1 knots which are not slice, non-uniqueness of simplicial triangulations of manifolds up to concordance, and a new proof of \textit{K. Kuga}'s theorem [Topology 23, 133-137 (1984; Zbl 0551.57019)] on the non-representability of homology classes by smooth 2-spheres.