Obstructions to smooth group actions on 4-manifolds from families Seiberg-Witten theory (Q2324566)

Obstructions to the existence of certain group actions on a smooth compact oriented 4-manifold \(X\) by diffeomorphisms are obtained via considering a families version of Seiberg-Witten theory (Theorem 1.1, Theorem 2.10). As applications, existence and nonexistence results of certain diffeomorphisms which realize involutions or certain isometries of \(H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\) for \(X=\sharp a(S^2\times S^2)\sharp b(-E_8)\) and \(\sharp a\mathbb{CP}^2\sharp b\overline{\mathbb{CP}^2}\), where \(a,b\) are suitable constants, are derived (Propositions 1.2.--1.4. cf. \S7). Let \(G\) be a group whose elements act on \(X\) as diffeomorphisms. Then a family of \(X\) is a fiber bundle \(\mathbb{X}\to B\), \(B\) a homogeneous space of \(G\) and fibers are diffeomorphic to \(X\). Let \(S(X)\) be the space of \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\)-structures of \(X\). Then the associated \(S(X)\)-bundle of \(\mathbb{X}\) is a flat bundle. Hence it has monodromy. Then the main theorem of this paper (\S1. Theorem 1.1, \S2. Theorem 2.10) is Theorem. Assume \(b_1(X)=0\), \(b^+(X)=d>0\) and \(\dim B=d\). Let \(\Gamma\) be a monodromy invariant \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\)-structure on \(X\) such that \(c(\Gamma)^2>\sigma(X)\). \(\sigma(X)\) is the signature of \(X\) (Note that \(\mathrm{ind}_\mathbb{C}(D_A)=(c(\Gamma)^2-\sigma(X))/8\), \(D_A\) is the associated Dirac operator to a solution of \(F_A^+ +i\mu=0\), \(\mu\in \Omega^2_+(X)\)). Then either of \(c^2(\Gamma)-\sigma(X)=8 (\operatorname{mod} 16)\) or \(\Gamma\) is extends to a \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\)-structure on \(T(\mathbb{X}/B)\) (This holds if \(H^3(B, \mathbb{Z})=0\)), then the \(d\)-th Stiefel-Whitney class of \(H^+(\mathbb{X}/B)\) vanishes. This is proved in \S2 as Theorem 2.10. For this purpose, in \S2.1, \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\)-structures in families are considered and it is shown that if \(\Gamma\in S(X)\) is a monodromy invariant \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\) structure on \(X\) and \(b_1(X)=0, H^3(B,\mathbb{Z})=0\), then there exists a families \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\)-structure \(\bar{\Gamma}\) on \(\mathbb{X}/B\) whose restriction to \(X_0\cong X\) is \(\Gamma\) (Proposition 2.1), and if \(c\in H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\) is a monodromy invariant lift of \(w_2(TX)\), and \(H^1(\pi_1(B),H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})_2)=0\) (\(H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})_2\) is the 2-torsion subgroup of \(H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\)), then there exists a monodromy invariant \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\) structure \(\Gamma\) such that \(c=c(\Gamma)\) (Proposition 2.2). From these results, a family \(\mathbb{X}/B\) equipped with fibrewise metric and perturbation, and a \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\)-structure on \(T(\mathbb{X}/B)\) are given. By using these results, the moduli space of gauge equivalent classes of solutions to the Seiberg-Witten equations is constructed assuming \(b_1(X)=0\) and \(\Gamma\) is extended to a \(\mathrm{Spin}^c\)-structure on \(T(\mathbb{X}/B)\) for the convenience, in \S2.2. The structure of the families Seiberg-Witten moduli space can be analyzed in much the same way as the ordinary Seiberg-Witten moduli space (cf. [\textit{L. I. Nicolaescu}, Notes on Seiberg-Witten theory. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2000; Zbl 0978.57027)]). The local structure of the family moduli space around reducible solutions is studied by computing the tangent and obstruction spaces for the Kuranishi model in \S2.3. After these preparations, Theorem 2.10 is proved in \S2.4, with aid of Proposition 8.16 of [\textit{D. Salamon}, ``Spin geometry and Seiberg-Witten invariant'' (unpublished)]. In \S3--\S6, obstructions of the specific groups \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) (\S3), cyclic groups of even orders (\S4), free abelian groups (\S5) and \(\mathbb{Z}_2\times\mathbb{Z}_2\) (\S6) are given. These results are applied to specific examples; e.g. Proposition 1.2. Let \(X\) be \(\sharp a(S^2\times S^2)\sharp 2b(-E_8)\), \(a>3b, b\ge 1\). Then \(H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\) admits an involution \(f:H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\to H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})\) with the following properties \begin{itemize} \item[1.] \(f\) can be realized by the induced action of a continuous locally linear involution \(X\to X\). \item[2.] \(f\) can be realized by the induced action of a diffeomorphism \(X\to X\), where the smooth structure is obtained by viewing \(X\) as \(\sharp(a-3b)(S^2\times S^2)\sharp b(K3)\). \item[3.] \(f\) can not be realized by the induced action of an involutive diffeomorphism \(X\to X\) for any smooth structure on \(X\). \end{itemize} The author remarks that a similar non-smoothability result for \(\mathbb{Z}_2\times \mathbb{Z}_2\)-actions on \(\sharp(2(\ell_1+2\ell_2+1-6k)S^2\times S^2\sharp 2k(K3)\), \(\ell_1, \ell_2\ge 3k, k\ge 1\) was obtained in [\textit{Y. Kato}, ``Nonsmoothable actions of \(\mathbb{Z}_2\times \mathbb{Z}_2\) on spin four-manifolds'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1708.08030}]. It does not use families Seiberg-Witten theory but uses Furuta's 10/8 inequality (cf. [\textit{M. Furuta}, Math. Res. Lett. 8, No. 3, 279--291 (2001; Zbl 0984.57011)]).