Fundamental groups of closed manifolds with positive curvature and torus action (Q2572559)

In this paper the authors determine the fundamental group of a closed \(n\)-manifold of positive sectional curvature on which a torus \(T^k\) (\(k\) large) acts effectively and isometrically. The results are: (A) If \(k > (n-3)/4\) and \(n\geq 17\), then the fundamental group \(\pi_1(M)\) is isomorphic to the fundamental group of a spherical 3-space form. (B) If \(k\geq (n/6) + 1\) and \(n\neq 11,15,23\), then any abelian subgroup of \(\pi_1(M)\) is cyclic. Moreover, if the \(T^k\)-fixed point set is empty, then \(\pi_1(M)\) is isomorphic to the fundamental group of a spherical 3-space form. The basic tool to prove these results is the existence of a circle orbit of the action with corresponding circle subgroup \(T^1\subset T^k\) such that, for \(K>(n-3)4\), the dimension of the fixed-point set \(F\) is \(\geq(\dim M+1)/2\), and \(\pi_1(F)\cong\pi_1(M)\). Induction with respect to \(T^k/T^1\) and a detailed analysis of the initial cases form the essential part of the proof.