On the signature of biquotients (Q2084283)

Let \(G\) be a compact, connected Lie group. Let \(H\) be a closed, connected subgroup of \(G\times G\) with \(\mathrm{rk}\, H=\mathrm{rk}\, G\). Assume \(H\) acts freely on \(G\) by \((h_1, h_2)\cdot g=h_1gh_2^{-1}\). The orbit space of this action is denoted by \(G / / H\) and called a biquotient. Biquotients were originally considered in Riemannian geometry, but they also appear naturally in symplectic and Sasakian geometries. The signature of equal rank homogeneous spaces has been computed by \textit{F. Hirzebruch} and \textit{P. Slodowy} [Geom. Dedicata 35, No. 1--3, 309--343 (1990; Zbl 0712.57010)]. They obtained the result as a corollary of a more general result for compact oriented manifolds having a circle action with finite fixed point set. In this paper, the authors generalize the computation of Hirzebruch and Slodowy to a large class of equal rank biquotients. The proof uses the fact that any Lie subgroup of \(G\times G\) that commutes with \(H\) acts naturally on \(G//H\), yielding circle actions on many such biquotients. The main difference to the homogeneous setting is that in the biquotient case one has to keep track of orientations.