Finiteness and realization theorems for Alexandrov spaces with bounded curvature (Q2189039)

The paper under review extends the finiteness and realization theorems in the Riemannian context to the more general Alexandrov spaces, and the main technique used in the proof is \textit{I. G. Nikolaev}'s approximation theorem [Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 24, No. 1, 171--177 (1991; Zbl 0726.53042)]. Denote by \(\mathcal{SA}(n)_{-K}^{K,D}\) the class of closed, simply connected, \(n\)-dimensional Alexandrov spaces with curvature bounded below by \(-K\) and above by \(K\) (in the triangle comparison sense), whose diameter are bounded by \(D\). The authors prove the following: \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] If \(2\leq n\leq 6\), then for any \(K, D>0\), the set \(\mathcal{SA}(n)_{-K}^{K,D}\) contains only finitely many diffeomorphism types. \item[(2)] For any \(n\) and for any \(K,D>0\), the set \(\mathcal{SA}(n)_{-K}^{K,D}\) contains only finitely many diffeomorphism types whose second homotopy group \(\pi_2\) is finite. \item[(3)] For any \(n\) and for any \(K,D>0\), there exist finitely many closed, simply connected smooth manifolds \(E_i\) with finite second homotopy group such that any \(X\in \mathcal{SA}(n)_{-K}^{K,D}\) is diffeomorphic to some \(E_i/T^{k_i}\), where \(k_i\) is the second Betti number of \(X\) and \(T^{k_i}\) is a \(k_i\)-dimensional torus acting freely on \(E_i\). \end{itemize} Note that (1) generalizes [\textit{F. Fang} and \textit{X. Rong}, Commun. Contemp. Math. 2, No. 1, 75--86 (2000; Zbl 1010.53032); \textit{W. Tuschmann}, Math. Ann. 322, No. 2, 413--420 (2002; Zbl 0998.53023)], and (2), (3) generalize [\textit{A. Petrunin} and \textit{W. Tuschmann}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 9, No. 4, 736--774 (1999; Zbl 0941.53026)].