Toral classes and the Gromov-Lawson-Rosenberg conjecture for elementary abelian 2-groups (Q1764448)

Let \(\pi\) be a finite Abelian 2-group with classifying space \(B\pi\). \(\Omega_n(B\pi)\) is the \(n\)-dimensional Spin cobordism group for \(B\pi\). Our interest is drawn to two subgroups. (1) \(\Omega^+_n(B\pi)\) is made up of bordism classes of singular \(n\)-dimensional Spin manifolds \(f: M\to B\pi\) where \(M\) can have a positive scalar curvature metric. (2) \(\Omega^{\text{toral}}_n(B\pi)\) is generated by elements represented by \(B\rho: B\mathbb{Z}^n\to B\pi\), where \(\rho: \mathbb{Z}^n\to\pi\) is a group homomorphism. The author shows that for \(n\geq 3\), \(\Omega^{\text{toral}}_n(B\pi)\subset \Omega^+_n(B\pi)\). This shows that a conjectured approach to a counterexample to the Gromov-Lawson-Rosenberg conjecture is fruitless in the case when \(\pi\) is a finite elementary abelian 2-group.