Free 2-rank of symmetry of products of Milnor manifolds (Q2444578)

For a prime \(p\), the free \(p\)-rank of symmetry of a topological space \(X\) is defined as: \[ \mathrm{frk}_p(X)=\max \{r;(\mathbb{Z}/2)^r \mathrm{acts\; freely\; and\; continuously\; on\;} X\}. \] A real Milnor manifold \(\mathbb{R}H_{r,s}\) is a non-singular hypersurface of degree \((1,1)\) in the product of two real projective spaces \(\mathbb{R}P^r\times \mathbb{R} P^s\). Similarly one can define complex Milnor manifolds \(\mathbb{C}H_{r,s}\) as non-singular hypersurfaces of degree \((1,1)\) in \(\mathbb{C} P^r\times \mathbb{C} P^s\). In the paper under review the free \(2\)-rank of symmetry of products of real and complex Milnor manifolds are investigated. The main results are as follows: { Theorem 1.1} Let \((\mathbb{Z}/2)^r\) act freely on \(X=\prod_{i=1}^n \mathbb{R} H_{r_i,s_i}\) with \(1\leq s_i\leq r_i\) for each \(1\leq i\leq n\). Suppose that the induced action on the mod \(2\) cohomology of \(X\) is trivial. Then: 1. \(r\leq 2\sum_{i=1}^n(\eta(s_i)+\eta(r_i))\) 2. \(r\leq \sum_{i=1}^n(\eta(s_i)+\eta(r_i))\) if \(s_i,r_i\not\equiv 3\mod 4\) for each \(1\leq i \leq n\). { Theorem 1.2} Let \((\mathbb{Z}/2)^r\) act freely on \(X=\prod_{i=1}^n \mathbb{C} H_{r_i,s_i}\) with \(1\leq s_i\leq r_i\) for each \(1\leq i\leq n\). Suppose that the induced action on the mod \(2\) cohomology of \(X\) is trivial. Then: 1. \(r\leq 3\sum_{i=1}^n(\eta(s_i)+\eta(r_i))\) 2. \(r\leq \sum_{i=1}^n(\eta(s_i)+\eta(r_i))\) if \(s_i,r_i\not\equiv 3\mod 4\) for each \(1\leq i \leq n\). Here, for an integer \(n\), \(\eta(n)\) is defined to be one if \(n\) is odd and zero otherwise. The proofs of these results are based on an investigation of the Leray-Serre spectral sequence for the equivariant cohomology of \(X\) and some results of \textit{G. Carlsson} [Am. J. Math. 102, 1147--1157 (1980; Zbl 0454.57028)].