On the group of homotopy equivalences of simply connected five manifolds (Q2365038)

The authors obtain partial results in the calculation of the group \({\mathcal E}(M)\) of homotopy self-equivalence classes in the case where \(M\) is a \(5\)-dimensional simply-connected Poincaré complex. Given a \(5\)-dimensional simply-connected Poincaré complex \(M\), we have \(M = \dot M \cup_{f}e^{5}\) where the \(4\)-skeleton \(\dot M = M(A, 2) \vee M(B',3)\) is a union of two Moore spaces. Here \(A = H_{2}(M)\) and \(B'= A/\hbox{Tor}A\). Since \(2f\neq 0,\) there is a fundamental group extension \[ 0 \rightarrow {\mathcal E}(M|\dot M) \rightarrow {\mathcal E}(M) \rightarrow {\mathcal E}(\dot M, \pm f) \rightarrow 1. \] Here \({\mathcal E}(M |\dot M)\), which is isomorphic to a quotient of \(\pi_{5}(\dot M)\), is the subgroup of \({\mathcal E}(M)\) consisting of classes which can be represented by the identity map on \(\dot M\), and \({\mathcal E}(\dot M, \pm f)\) consists of those homotopy self-equivalences \(\alpha\) of \(\dot M\) satisfying \(\alpha \circ f = \pm f\) where \(f:S^4\rightarrow \dot M\) is the attaching map. Barden has shown that any simply-connected \(5\)-manifold is a direct sum of indecomposable manifolds \(M_{q}\), where \(q=p^{i}\) is a prime power, \(M_{\infty} = S^{2} \times S^{3}\), the Wu manifold \(X_{-1}\), and manifolds \(X_{q}\) \((q = 2^{i} > 2)\) and \(X_{\infty}\). The authors calculate explicitly \({\mathcal E}(M|\dot M)\) for these indecomposable manifolds, and give a formula for calculating this group in the general case. The representation into the automorphism group of the homology \(H_{*}(M)\) induced an extension \[ 1 \rightarrow {\mathcal K}_{H}(M) \rightarrow {\mathcal E}(M) \rightarrow {\mathcal I}_{H}(M) \rightarrow 1. \] In case \(M\) is a simply-connected \(5\)-dimensional Poincaré complex, the authors show that \({\mathcal I}_{H(M)}S\) is isomorphic to the subgroup of \(\hbox{aut}H_{2}(M)\) compatible with the linking form or its inverse, the Stiefel-Whitney class, and the exotic characteristic class \(e(M)\) which vanishes if, and only if, \(M\) is a manifold. Finally they obtain a result relating \({\mathcal E}(M|\dot M)\) and \({\mathcal K}_{H}(M)\) in this case. The authors obtain some new results on the homotopy groups of Moore spaces \(M(A,2)\).