On the isometry group of a compact flat orbifold. (Q2516417)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a crystallographic group acting on \(n\)-dimensional Euclidean space \(\mathbb E^n\). Then the orbit space \(\mathbb E^n/\Gamma\) is a compact flat orbifold (connected, geodesically complete). The authors generalize the structure theory of compact flat manifolds (where \(\Gamma\) is in addition torsion-free) to orbifolds. The first main theorem states that the isometry group \(\mathrm{Isom}(\mathbb E^n/\Gamma)\) of \(\mathbb E^n/\Gamma\) is a Lie group whose identity component is the torus group given by the \(\mathbb R\)-span of the center \(Z(\Gamma)\) of \(\Gamma\), modulo \(Z(\Gamma)\) itself. The dimension of the isometry group equals the first Betti number of \(\Gamma\). It follows a detailed study of the (Euclidean) outer automorphism group of \(\Gamma\). The authors prove that the Nielsen Realization Problem for a finite group \(G\) is solvable if a certain obstruction vanishes, that is, there exist homomorphisms \(\varphi\colon G\to\mathrm{Out}(\Gamma)\) and \(\psi\colon G\to\mathrm{Aff}(\mathbb E^n/\Gamma)\) such that \(\Omega\psi=\varphi\) for the natural epimorphism \(\Omega\colon\mathrm{Isom}(\mathbb E^n/\Gamma)\to\mathrm{Out}_{\mathbb E^n}(\Gamma)\). If this is the case, then even \(\psi(G)\subset\mathrm{Isom}(\mathbb E^n/\Gamma)\). (The obstruction in question is an element in \(H^3(G,Z(\Gamma))\) determined by a group extension \(1\to\Gamma\to E\to G\to 1\).)