Equivariant complex bundles, fixed points and equivariant unitary bordism (Q1713048)

Given an action of a compact Lie group $G$ on a compact space $X$ with a normal closed subgroup $A$ acting trivially, a $G$-equivariant complex vector bundle over $X$ decomposes as the direct sum of its isotypical components if we regard it as an $A$-equivariant complex vector bundle. The authors show that, up to isomorphism, the summands can be rearranged to obtain a splitting as a direct sum of $G$-equivariant complex vector bundles. \par A first consequence of this splitting is a natural isomorphism that expresses the $G$-equivariant $K$-theory of $X$ in terms of twisted equivariant $K$-theory, namely: \[K_G^*(X) \cong \bigoplus_{\rho \in \text{Irr}(A)/G} {^{\widetilde{Q}_{\rho}} K^*_{G_{\rho}/A}(X)} \] where Irr$(A)$ denotes the set of isomorphism classes of irreducible representations of $A$ with the conjugation action of $G$ and $G_{\rho}$ is the isotropy subgroup of $\rho$. Here $\widetilde{Q}_{\rho}$ is the $S^1$-central extension of $G_{\rho}/A$ that measures the obstruction to extending $\rho$ to $G_{\rho}$ and twisted equivariant $K$-theory is given by the Grothendieck group of twisted equivariant vector bundles. \par Next the paper contains a decomposition up to $N_G(A)/A$-equivariant homotopy of the fixed points under the action of a closed subgroup $A$ of $G$ on $B_G U(n)$, the classifying space for $G$-equivariant rank $n$ complex vector bundles. It describes $B_G U(n)^A$ as a product of disjoint unions of co-inductions to $N_G(A)/A$ of classifying spaces for twisted equivariant complex vector bundles. A similar decomposition holds in the stable case. \par Finally, the authors determine a splitting for the ``relative families'' version of the tangentially stably equivariant unitary bordism groups $\Omega_*^G$. Namely, given two families $\mathcal{F}' \subset \mathcal{F}$ of subgroups of $G$ which differ by a closed normal subgroup $A$, there is an isomorphism \[\Omega_n^G \{\mathcal{F},\mathcal{F}'\}(X) \cong \bigoplus_{0 \leq 2k \leq n-\text{dim}(G/A)} \Omega_{n-2k}^{G/A}\{\{1\}\} \left( X^A \times \coprod_{\bar{P}} B_{G/A}U(\bar{P}) \right)\] where $\{ 1 \}$ denotes the family which only contains the trivial subgroup and $B_{G/A}U(\bar{P})$ is a product of classifying spaces for twisted equivariant complex vector bundles. \par The article also contains two interesting applications of the latter isomorphism, an alternative proof of the main result in [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 246, 473--481 (1978; Zbl 0404.57026)] and a simpler proof of the fact that $\Omega_*^{D_{2p}}$ is a free $\Omega_*$-module on even-dimensional generators when $p$ is an odd prime.