Symmetry groups of four-manifolds (Q1601665)

The main result of this paper is the following: Theorem: Let \(G\) be a compact Lie group and \(M\) be a closed \(4\)-manifold with \(H_1(M;\mathbb{Z})=0\) and \(b_2(M)\geq 2\). Suppose that \(M\) admits an effective \(G\)-action that is locally linear and homologically trivial. Then \(G\) is isomorphic to a subgroup of \(S^1\times S^1\) if either \(b_2(M) = 2\) and the action has a fixed point, or \(b_2(M)\geq 3\). In the latter case, the action has a fixed point. From the main theorem, the author concludes the following two corollaries. Corollary \(1\): If a finite group \(G\) acts locally linearly, pesudofreely, and homologically trivially on a closed simply connected \(4\)-manifold \(X\) with \(b_2(X) \geq 3\), then \(G\) is cyclic, the action is semifree and the fixed-point set consists of \(b_2(X)+2\) points. Corollary \(2\): If \(G\) is a compact Lie group with a locally linear, homologically trivial action on a \(4\)-manifold whose integral cohomology is isomorphic to that of the connected sum of two complex projective planes, then \(G\) is isomorphic to a subgroup of \(S^1\times S^1\). Along the way of the proof, the author gives a classification of finite minimal nonabelian groups, the groups all of whose proper subgroups are abelian. It turns out that such a group is isomorphic to either a minimal nonabelian \(p\)-group or a semidirect product of an elementary abelian \(p\)-group and a cyclic group of order \(q^n\) for some distinct primes \(p\) and \(q\).