Group representations in the homology of 3-manifolds (Q2416399)

The main result of the present paper states that, given a finite group $G$ and a $\mathbb Q[G]$-module $W$, there exists a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$ with a free $G$-action such that the $\mathbb Q[G]$-module $H_1(M,\mathbb Q)$ (the first homology of $M$ with rational coefficients) is isomorphic to $W$; this generalizes results of \textit{D. Cooper} and \textit{D. D. Long} [Topology Appl. 101, No. 2, 143--148 (2000; Zbl 0943.57014)] who proved in particular that every finite group $G$ admits a free action on a hyperbolic rational homology 3-sphere. As an application, relying on previous work of the two present authors on isospectral manifolds [J. Topol. 9, No. 4, 1237--1256 (2016; Zbl 1372.58018)], the authors prove that for every finite set of primes $p$ there exist strongly isospectral hyperbolic 3-manifolds $M$ and $M'$ such that the $p$-power torsion subgroups of $H_1(M,\mathbb Q)$ and $H_1(M',\mathbb Q)$ have different orders (here two Riemannian manifolds $M$ and $M'$ are \textit{strongly isospectral} if the spectra of every natural self-adjoint elliptic differential operator on $M$ and $M'$ agree); on the other hand it is known that (strongly) isospectral spherical (constant positive curvature) 3-manifolds are necessarily isometric [\textit{A. Ikeda}, Osaka J. Math. 17, 75--93 (1980; Zbl 0436.58025)]. ``The main geometric techniques are Dehn surgery and, for the spectral applications, the Cheeger-Müller formula, but we also make use of tools from different branches of algebra, most notably of regulator constants, a representation theoretic tool that was originally developed in the context of elliptic curves.''