A quotient criterion for syzygies in equivariant cohomology (Q1697186)

For an action of a compact torus on a nice space (e.g. a compact manifold), the equivariant cohomology \(H^*_T(M)\) as a module over the polynomial ring \(H^*(BT)\) is an interesting object to study. A particularly well treatable situation is the case of an equivariantly formal action, in which \(H^*_T(M)\) is a free module. For such actions to understand the \(H^*(BT)\)-algebra structure of \(H^*_T(M)\) is within reach, as it becomes a subalgebra of the equivariant cohomology \(H^*_T(M^T)\) of the fixed point set \(M^T\), via the inclusion \(M^T\to M\). Recently, \textit{C. Allday} et al. [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 366, No. 12, 6567--6589 (2014; Zbl 1304.55005)] considered the more general situation of the equivariant cohomology being a syzygy of a certain order, thereby interpolating between equivariant formality and the injectivity of the natural map \(H^*_T(M) \to H^*_T(M^T)\). The first main result of this paper states that the property of being a \(j\)-th syzygy is invariant under blow-up and blow-down of the characteristic submanifolds, i.e., the fixed point sets of isotropy subcircles. After blowing up all the characteristic submanifolds one arrives at a locally standard action, in a broader sense than usual, allowing positive-dimensional fixed point sets. For the second main result of the paper the author therefore restricts to the locally standard case. He proves a criterion for the property of being a \(j\)-th syzygy which shows that in the locally standard case this property depends only on the orbit space of the action, stratified by orbit types. Finally, in the last two sections, the results of this paper are put into context with various other recent and not-so-recent results.