2-torus manifolds, cobordism and small covers (Q2270619)

Denote by \(I_n^k\) the group formed by equivariant cobordism classes of smooth \((\mathbb Z_2)^k\)-actions \(\Phi: (\mathbb Z_2)^k \times M \to M\), defined on \(n\)-dimensional and closed manifolds \(M\), with operation given by the disjoint union; here, \((\mathbb Z_2)^k\) is considered as the group generated by \(k\) commuting smooth involutions. One has the subgroup \({\mathcal M}_n \subset I_n^n\) formed by the classes represented by effective actions, which is the object of study of this paper; the objects of \({\mathcal M}_n \) are said to be represented by \textit{\(n\)-dimensional \(2\)-torus manifolds}. That is, an \(n\)-dimensional \(2\)-torus manifold is an \(n\)-dimensional smooth closed manifold equipped with an effective smooth action of \((\mathbb Z_2)^n\). In this case, the fixed point set is either empty or consists of a set of isolated points. From [\textit{R. E. Stong}, Duke Math. J. 37, 779--785 (1970; Zbl 0204.23603)], one has the \textit{Stong monomorphism,} which maps \(I_n^k\) into the simultaneous cobordism group of certain lists of vector bundles obtained from the fixed-point structure of the action, this object being an element of \({\mathcal N}_n(X)\), where \(X\) is a cartesian product of adequate classifying spaces. In particular, under the action of the Stong monomorphism, the \(n\)-dimensional \(2\)-torus manifolds are mapped into lists of bundles which are \(n\)-dimensional representations of \((\mathbb Z_2)^n\), obtained from the linear action of \((\mathbb Z_2)^n\) on the tangent space of each isolated fixed point of \((\mathbb Z_2)^n\). In other words, under the Stong monomorphism, \({\mathcal M}_n \) is realized as a subspace of \(R_n( (\mathbb Z_2)^n)\), the vector space over \(\mathbb Z_2\) generated by the representations classes of \((\mathbb Z_2)^n\) of dimension \(n\). Then the determination of the structure of \({\mathcal M}_n \) as a \(\mathbb Z_2\)-vector space reduces to the determination of this subspace of representations. In their famous book of 1964, [``Differentiable Periodic Maps''. Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete. Neue Folge. 33, Reihe: Moderne Topologie. Berlin-Göttingen-Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. (1964; Zbl 0125.40103)], \textit{P. Conner} and \textit{E. Floyd} showed that \({\mathcal M}_1 \;\cong \{0\} \) and \({\mathcal M} _2 \;\cong \mathbb Z_2. \) In this interesting paper, the author determines \({\mathcal M}_3\), showing that it has dimension \(13\) as a \(\mathbb Z_2\)-vector space. The method consists in introducing certain basic elements of \({\mathcal M}_n \) called \textit{essential generators} and using the \textit{moment graph} associated to a \((\mathbb Z_2)^n\)-action. In addition, the author shows that each class of \({\mathcal M}_3\) contains a \textit{small cover} as its representative; here, a small cover means a \(3\)-dimensional \(2\)-torus manifold whose orbit space is a simple convex polytope. This last question was solved for every \(n\) in the non-equivariant case in [\textit{V. M. Bukhshtaber} and \textit{N. Ray}, Russ. Math. Surv. 53, No.~2, 371--373 (1998; Zbl 0967.57030)].