EZ-structures and topological applications (Q1772472)

A \(Z\) structure on a discrete group, \(\Gamma\), is a pair of spaces \((\overline X,Z)\) satisfying four axioms including ``\(\overline X-Z\) admits a free, properly discontinuous, cocompact action by the group \(\Gamma\)''. An \(EZ\)-structure \((E\) for ``equivariant'') on \(\Gamma\) is a \(Z\)-structure for which this action extends to an action on \(\overline X\). \(\Gamma\) satisfies condition \((*\Delta)\) if there is an \(EZ\)-structure of the form \((\mathbb{D}^n,\Delta)\) where \(\Delta\) is a closed subset of \(\partial\Delta^n=S^{n-1}\). The first theorem in the paper under review shows that if \(\Gamma\) has an \(EZ\)-structure, then it satisfies condition \((*\Delta)\). The \(EZ\)-structure on \((\overline X,Z)\) is used to construct an \(EZ\)-structure on \((\widetilde K\cup Z,Z)\), where \(\widetilde K\) is the universal cover of a finite symplicial complex. That is used to construct an \(EZ\)-structure \(({\mathcal W}\cup Z,Z)\), where \({\mathcal W}\cup Z\) is a topological manifold. Finally an \(EZ\)-structure \((\mathbb{W}\cup Z,Z)\) is constructed with \(\mathbb{W}={\mathcal W}\times I/\equiv\) where the equivalence relation collapses \(p\times I\) to a point for some \(p\in \partial{\mathcal W}\). It is then shown that \(\mathbb{W}\cup Z\) is a disk, completing the proof. It is then shown that if \(\Gamma\) is a torsion-free discrete group satisfying condition \((*\Delta)\) then the Novikov conjecture holds for \(\Gamma\). The last section applies the result to study the homotopy groups \(\pi_n({\mathcal P}(B\Gamma))\) for torsion-free \(\delta\)-hyperbolic groups \(\Gamma\) where \({\mathcal P}(\bullet)\) is the stable topological pseudo-isotopy functor.