Homotopy types of \(m\)-twisted \(\mathbb C P^4\)'s (Q2488031)

Let \(n \geq 2\) be an integer. A simply connected complex \(M\) of dimension \(2n\) with integral homology isomorphic to that of \(\mathbb{C}P^n\) is called an {\(m\)-twisted \(\mathbb{C}P^n\)} if it is a Poincaré duality complex and also satisfies the single cup product identity \(x_2 \cdot x_2 = m x_4\), where \(x_{2i}\) denotes a generator of \(H^{2i}(M; \mathbb{Q})\) for \(k = 1\) and \(2\). Let \(\mathcal{M}^n_m\) denote the (possibly empty) set of homotopy types of \(m\)-twisted \(\mathbb{C}P^n\)s. For \(n = 2\) and \(3\), the set of homotopy types \(\mathcal{M}^n_m\) is completely understood. For example, \(\mathcal{M}^2_m\) is empty unless \(m=1\), in which case it consists of the single element represented by the homotopy type of \(\mathbb{C}P^2\) itself. Unlike these first two cases, the nature of the set \(\mathcal{M}^n_m\) in general is not known. In this paper, the author studies the case \(n=4\) closely. The set of homotopy types \(\mathcal{M}^4_m\) is completely determined in the case in which \(m\) is odd: Theorem 1.3 asserts that if \(m\) is a multiple of \(3\), then \(\mathcal{M}^4_m\) consists of \(3\) elements, each of which is represented by an explicitly described complex; otherwise, it consists of the single element represented by the homotopy type of \(\mathbb{C}P^4\) itself. This sharpens one result of [\textit{J.~Mukai} and \textit{K.~Yamaguchi}, J.~Math.~Soc.~Japan 57, 461--489 (2005; Zbl 1074.55002)], the results of which typically provide upper and lower bounds on the cardinality of \(\mathcal{M}^4_m\). The proofs here consist of detailed computations with classical ingredients such as Whitehead products, homotopy groups of cofibre and fibre sequences, groups of self-homotopy equivalences, and Steenrod operations.