The finite group action and the equivariant determinant of elliptic operators. III (Q2280153)

The paper gives a new method to study effective and orientation-preserving periodic automorphisms of closed oriented manifolds. Let \(M\) be an even-dimensional closed oriented manifold and \(g\) a periodic automorphism of \(M\) of order \(p\). In Part I of this paper [J. Math. Soc. Japan 57, 95--113, (2005; Zbl 1088.58016)], the author introduced a group homomorphism \(I_D:{\mathbb Z}_p\to{\mathbb R}/{\mathbb Z}\) by using an equivariant twisted signature operator \(D\) adapted to a geometric structure of \(M\), which was subsequently used in Part II of this paper [J. Math. Soc. Japan 65, 797--827 (2013; Zbl 1276.58011)] to the existence problem of finite group actions on almost complex manifolds. In this paper, the author gives a formula to calculate the precise value of \(I_D(g)\) under the assumption that the fixed points of \(g^k\), \(1\le k\le p-1\), on \(M\) are isolated. This is used to examine the existence of finite group actions on manifolds. For example, the author obtain some results about existence of actions of cyclic groups for 2,4 and 6-dimensional closed oriented manifolds.