Nonmanifold monodromy spaces of branched coverings between manifolds (Q2171868)

A map \(f:X\rightarrow Y\) between topological spaces \(X\) and \(Y\) is a \textit{branched cover} if \(f\) is a continuous, open, discrete map. The \textit{branch set} \(B_f\subset X\) is the set of all points in \(X\) at which \(f\) fails to be a local homeomorphism. The map \(f\) is \textit{proper}, if the pre-image of every compact \(K \subset Y\) is compact in \(X\). The deck transformation group \(\mathrm{Deck}(f)\) is the group of homeomorphisms \(g:X\rightarrow X\) such that \(f = f \circ g\). The function \(f\) is an \textit{orbit} map if the induced map \(h:X/\mathrm{Deck}(f) \rightarrow Y\) given by \(h([x])=f(x)\), \([x]\) the orbit of \(x\) under Deck\((f)\), is a homeomorphism. A covering map is a \textit{normal} or \textit{regular covering map} if it is also an orbit map. Classical results imply that if \(f:X \rightarrow Y\) is a proper branched cover between connected manifolds, then \(f\) is surjective, the branch set \(B_f\) is of codimension at least 2, and the restriction \(f'=_{def}f|X\setminus f^{-1}(f(B_f)) \rightarrow Y\setminus f(B_f)\) is a covering map between open connected manifolds. Consequently, for such a branched cover \(f\) there is a triple \(\left(X'_f,p',q'\right)\) where \(X'_f\) is an open connected manifold, \(p':X'_f \rightarrow X\setminus f^{-1}(f(B_f))\) and \(q'_f:X'\rightarrow Y\setminus f(B_f)\) are normal covering space maps with \(f \circ p' = q'\), and the deck transformation group of \(q'\) is isomorphic to the monodromy group of \(f'\). A triple \((X_f,p,\bar{f})\) is the \emph{monodromy representation for \(f\)} if the following hold: \(X_f\) is a locally connected, locally compact, second countable Hausdorff space so that there is an embedding \(\iota:X'_f\rightarrow X_f\) with (1) \(\iota(X'_f)\) an open dense subset of \(X_f\), (2) \(X_f \setminus \iota(X'_f)\) does not locally separate \(X_f\), (3) \(p:X_f\rightarrow X\) and \(\bar{f}:X_f \rightarrow Y\) are branched covering orbit maps with \(f \circ p = \bar{f}\), and (4) the covering maps \(p'\) and \(q'\) as above, factor as \(p'=\iota \circ p\) and \(q'=\iota \circ \bar{f}\). The space \(X_f\) in this triple is called the \textit{monodromy space}. Points in \(X_f\setminus B_{\bar{f}}\) are manifold points. Thus, it is natural to ask what \(X_f\) looks like around the branch set \(B_{\bar{f}}\) of \(\bar{f}\). In particular, one hopes that there are reasonable conditions on \(f\) under which the points in \(B_{\bar{f}}\) are also manifold points of \(X_f\). A version of this question was originally posed by \textit{R. H. Fox} [Princeton Math. Ser. 12, 243--257 (1957; Zbl 0079.16505)]. He asked whether or not the monodromy space \(X_f\) is a manifold when the original function \(f:X\rightarrow Y\) is a simplicial branched cover between piecewise linear manifolds. Fox answered this question for closed orientable 2 dimensional manifolds in the affirmative. By moving to up to dimension 3, the author is able to answer Fox's question in the negative. \textbf{Theorem 1.1.} There exists a simplicial branched cover \(f:S^3 \rightarrow S^3\) for which the monodromy space \(X_f\) is not a manifold. The author also constructs a branched covering which is piecewise linear in the complement of a point, but for which the monodromy space is not even locally contractible. The second major result in the paper is \textbf{Theorem 1.2.} There exists a branched cover \(f:S^3 \rightarrow S^3\) for which the monodromy space \(X_f\) is not a locally contractible space. A nice account of the historical context out of which the current results are developed is included in the paper. The paper also contains a good summary of much of the classical covering space theory and of the homological/cohomological methods used by the author.