Controls on the plus construction (Q1923905)

If \(M\) is a closed \(n\)-manifold \((n\geq 5)\), \(G\) a finitely presented group and \(\mu: \pi_i (M)\to G\) an epimorphism with perfect kernel, then Quillen's plus construction gives a cobordism \((W,M,N)\) where \(W\) is a compact manifold satisfying \(\partial W= M\cup N\), the inclusion \(N\to W\) is a homotopy equivalence and \(\pi_1(N) \cong G(\cong \pi_1(M)/ \ker\mu)\). The authors introduce the notion of a crumpled lamination on \((W,M,N)\), namely a continuous surjective map \(p: W \to[-1,1]\) such that \(p^{-1}(t)\) is a manifold for each \(t\in[-1,1]\) and \(M=p^{-1} (1)\), \(N=p^{-1} (-1)\). They then prove that if \(n\geq 6\), the cobordism \(W\) admits a crumpled lamination with \(p^{-1} ([-1,0)) \approx N \times [-1,0]\), \(p^{-1}((0,1]) \approx M \times (0,1]\), \(\pi_1(N) \cong G\), the inclusion \(N\to W\) is a homotopy equivalence, and inclusion \(M\to W\) induces the homomorphism \(\mu\) on fundamental groups. As a corollary, it is shown that if \((W,M,N)\) is a compact \((n+1)\)-dimensional cobordism, with \(n\geq 6\), then \(W\) admits a crumpled lamination if and only if there is a closed \(n\)-manifold \(P\subset\text{int} W\) with inclusion \(P\to W\) a homotopy equivalence. Various related considerations are developed, and certain classes of perfect normal subgroups of finitely presented groups are classified. They discuss the following question: Suppose \(f:M\to N\) is an acyclic map of closed manifolds. Must \(\ker (f\#: \pi_1(M) \to\pi_1 (N))\) equal the normal closure in \(\pi_1(M)\) of a finitely generated perfect group?