Strongly Hopfian manifolds as codimension-2 fibrators (Q1292730)

The notion of a codimension-2 fibrator was introduced by \textit{R. J. Daverman} [ibid. 33, No. 2, 173-184 (1989; Zbl 0684.57009)]. It states that a closed \(n\)-manifold \(N\) is a codimension-2 fibrator if whenever \(p:M\rightarrow B\) is a proper map from an arbitrary \((n+2)\)-manifold \(M\) to a 2-manifold \(B\) such that each fiber of \(p\) is shape equivalent to \(N\), then \(p\) is an approximate fibration [\textit{D. S. Coram} and \textit{P. F. Duvall jun.}, Rocky Mt. J. Math. 7, 275-288 (1977; Zbl 0367.55019)]. The main result is Theorem. Any strongly Hopfian \(n\)-manifold with residually finite fundamental \break group and nonzero Euler characteristic is a codimension-2 fibrator. A group \(\Gamma\) is called residually finite if for any nonidentity element \(x\) of \(\Gamma\), there is a homomorphism \(f\) of \(\Gamma\) onto a finite group such that \(f(x)\) is not the identity. To get at the definition of strongly Hopfian, first note that a closed manifold \(N\) is called Hopfian if it is orientable and every degree one map \(N\rightarrow N\) is a homotopy equivalence. Now let \(H\) be the intersection of all subgroups of \(\pi_1(N)\) which are of index 2. If there is at least one such subgroup, then put \(\widetilde N\) equal the covering space corresponding to \(H\). Otherwise let \(\widetilde N=N\). Then \(N\) is defined to be strongly Hopfian if \(\widetilde N\) is Hopfian. The reviewer suggests that the results in this paper can be understood best under the assumption that the manifold \(N\) in question is connected.