Groups acting on \(S^ n\times\mathbb{R}^ k\): generalizations of a construction of Hambleton and Pedersen (Q1187973)

The work of \textit{I. Hambleton} and \textit{E. K. Pedersen} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 4, No. 1, 105-126 (1991; Zbl 0727.57034)] constructs examples of free, cocompact, and properly discontinuous actions of twisted products \(D_ p\ltimes\mathbb{Z}^ k\) on Cartesian products \(S^ n\times \mathbb{R}^ k\), where \(D_ p\) is the dihedral group of order \(2p\) for an odd prime \(p\). The paper under review extends the construction to the effect that large families of nonlinear, free, properly discontinuous, cocompact actions of groups \(\pi\) on \(S^ n\times \mathbb{R}^ k\) are constructed, where the groups \(\pi\) contain dihedral subgroups. The tools and methods extend those presented by \textit{S. C. Ferry} and \textit{E. K. Pedersen} [Epsilon sugery I, SUNY, Binghamton (preprint)] and by Hambleton and Petersen [loc. cit.]. As a result, the author shows that in each dimension greater than or equal to 12, there are infinitely many commensurability classes of closed manifolds which are covered by the product of Euclidean space and a sphere and whose fundamental groups contain dihedral subgroups. As the author notes, his results together with the important related work of \textit{F. X. Connolly} and \textit{S. Prassidis} [Topology 28, No. 2, 133-148 (1989; Zbl 0703.57025)] still do not lead even to preliminary speculations on the nature of spherical- Euclidean space form groups.