Some finiteness results for groups of automorphisms of manifolds (Q2331018)

A path-connected space \(X\) is of finite type provided that \(\pi_1(X)\) is finite and each \(\pi_i(X)\) is finitely generated when \(i>1\), and of homologically finite type if \(H_*(X;R)\) is finitely generated in each degree for all \(\mathbb Z[\pi_1(X)]\)-modules \(R\) that are finitely generated as abelian groups. The main result is that \(B\mathrm{Diff}_\partial(D^n)\) is of finite type when \(n\not=4,5,7\). Here Diff\((M)\) is the group of diffeomorphisms of the smooth manifold \(M\) (diffeomorphisms that are the identity on the boundary with subscript \(\partial\) and diffeomorphisms that fix orientation with superscript \(+\)). As corollaries it is deduced, when \(n\not=4,5,7\), that \(B\mathrm{Diff}(S^n)\) is of finite type and that \(B\mathrm{Diff}^+(M)\) is of homologically finite type when \(M\) is a closed, 2-connected, oriented smooth \(n\)-manifold. Related results are deduced in the PL and TOP categories.