On \(5\)-manifolds with free fundamental group and simple boundary links in \(S^5\) (Q2402861)

Challenged by the connection between classical links and closed 3-manifolds the authors consider the classification of some closed 5-manifolds and certain links of 3-spheres in \(S^5\). Restricted to simple boundary links (a disjoint union of 3-spheres in \(S^5\)) one obtains some conditions on the 5-manifold \(M\): the fundamental group \(\pi_1(M)\) is free and \(\pi_2(M)\) is a torsion free abelian group. So the considered 5-manifolds are compact oriented manifolds with free \(\pi_1(M)\) and \(\pi_2(M)\) a torsion free abelian group. What is the algebraic invariant? The classification is performed in terms of an invariant called ``generalized Milnor pairing'' (the definition of which is omitted here) since it is a generalization of the Milnor pairing for knots. The generalized Milnor pairing is a triple for spin manifolds, a quadruple for the above mentioned manifolds, and a quintuple in the topological case. So if \(M_0\) and \(M_1\) are two 5-manifolds as described above, then there is an orientation preserving diffeomorphism iff there is an isomorphism between their generalized Milnor pairings. The paper also considers compact manifolds with boundary that is a disjoint union of copies of \(S^1\times S^3\) and \(\pi_1(M)\) is freely generated by circles in the boundary.