A minimal Brieskorn 5-sphere in the Gromoll-Meyer sphere and its applications (Q2518797)

The paper links two important examples at the intersection of the fields of transformation groups, exotic spheres, and non-negative curvature. These two examples are the exotic Gromoll-Meyer sphere \(\Sigma^7\) and the Brieskorn sphere \(W^5_3\). In 1974, \textit{D. Gromoll} and \textit{W. Meyer} [Ann. Math. (2) 100, 401--406 (1974; Zbl 0293.53015)] constructed \(\Sigma^7\) as a biquotient of the compact group Sp(2) and thereby the first exotic sphere with nonegative sectional curvature. \(\Sigma^7\) can be regarded as the basic example of biquotient in Riemannian geometry and, simultaneously, as the basic example of an exotic sphere. It generates the group \(\Theta_7\approx \mathbb{Z}_{28}\) of homotopy spheres in dimension 7, the first dimension except possibly 4 where an exotic sphere can occur. Recently, it was shown that \(\Sigma ^7\) is actually the only exotic sphere that can be modeled by a biquotient of a compact Lie group [cf. \textit{V. Kapovitch} and \textit{W. Ziller}, Geom. Dedicata 104, 149--160 (2004; Zbl 1063.53055)]. In this paper the authors investigate \(\Sigma^7\) through the interaction between symmetry arguments, submanifold stratifications, and geodesic constructions. It is important to note that the authors consider not only the Gromoll-Meyer metric on \(\Sigma^7\) but also the entire 2-parameter family of metrics \(\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle_{\mu\nu}\) that are \(O(2)\times \text{SO}(3)\) invariant by construction. This family includes the Gromoll-Meyer metric (\(\mu=\nu=\frac{1}{2}\)) and the pointed Wiedersehen metric constructed by the first author [Geom. Dedicata 88, No.~1--3, 199--210 (2001; Zbl 1002.53026)] (\(\mu=\nu=1\)) but not metrics of almost positive sectional curvature obtained by \textit{J.-H. Eschenburg} and \textit{M. Kerin} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 136, No.~9, 3263--3270 (2008; Zbl 1153.53023)] and by \textit{F. Wilhelm} [J. Geom. Anal. 11, No.~3, 519--560 (2001; Zbl 1039.53037)]. Extending the construction of the first author (op. cit.), the authors obtain the following theorem. Theorem 1.1. The Gromoll-Meyer sphere \(\Sigma ^7\) is the join of a simple closed geodesic \(\Sigma^1\) and a minimal subsphere \(\Sigma^5\) that is \((O(2)\times O(3))\)-equivariantly diffeomorphic to the Brieskorn sphere \(W^5_3\). For \(\mu=1\) and \(\nu>0\), the distance between \(\Sigma^1\) and \(\Sigma^5\) is a constant \(\pi/2\), and the join structure is realized by distance-minimizing geodesics from \(\Sigma^1\) to \(\Sigma^5\). (The Brieskorn sphere is a submanifold of \(\mathbb{C}^4\) defined by \textit{E. Brieskorn} [Invent. Math. 2, 1--14 (1966; Zbl 0145.17804)]). As application the existence of an SO(3)-equivariant diffeomorphism \(\mathbb{S}^5\rightarrow W^5_3\) and a \(G_2\)-equivariant diffeomorphism \(\mathbb{S}^{13}\rightarrow W^{13}_3\) is proved (Theorem 1.2). Corollary 1.3. The equivariant diffeomorphism \(\Sigma^5\rightarrow W^5_3\) identifies the Hirsh-Milnor involution in dimension 5 with the Calabi involution of \(W^5_3\). Theorem 1.4. The group \(O(2)\times \text{SO}(3)\) is the full isometry group of the metrics \(\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle_{\mu,\nu}\) on \(\Sigma^7\) and on \(\Sigma^5\). any subgroup that acts freely on either \(\Sigma ^7\) or \(\Sigma^5\) is a finite cyclic group. Conversely, for \(m\in \mathbb{Z}\) the group \(\mathbb{Z}_m\) acts freely and isometrically on \(\Sigma ^7\) and on \(\Sigma ^5\), even in several nonconjugate ways for a fixed \(m>2\). Corollary 1.5 is an application to the study of the lens spaces.