Surgery on triples of manifolds (Q4658231)

Let \(X^n\) be a closed topological \(n\)-manifold with fundamental group \(\pi_1(X)\) and orientation homomorphism \(w : \pi_1(X) \to \{\pm 1\}\). The main question in Algebraic and Geometric Topology is the description of all possible closed topological (PL or smooth) manifolds which are (simply) homotopy equivalent to \(X\) [see for example \textit{A. A. Ranicki}, Algebraic L-theory and Topological Manifolds, (Cambridge Univ. Press) (1992; Zbl 0767.57002)]; [\textit{C. T. C. Wall}, Surgery on Compact Manifolds, Mathematical Surveys and Monographs. 69. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (1999; Zbl 0935.57003)]. Two simple homotopy equivalences \(f_i : M_i \to X\), \(i = 0, 1\), between closed topological manifolds are said to be \textsl{equivalent} if there exists an orientation-preserving homeomorphism \(g : M_0 \to M_1\) such that the composite map \(f_1 \circ g\) is simply homotopic to \(f_0\). Let \({\mathcal S}^{TOP}(X)\) be the set of such equivalence classes. Elements of this set are called \textsl{homotopy triangulations} (\textsl{s-triangulations}) of \(X\). There is the well-known algebraic exact sequence of \(X\) \[ \cdots \longrightarrow L_{m+1}(\pi_1(X)) \longrightarrow {\mathcal S}_{m+1}(X) \longrightarrow H_m(X; \mathbf L_{\bullet}) \xrightarrow{\sigma} L_m(\pi_1(X)) \longrightarrow \cdots \] where \(\sigma\) denotes the assembly map, \(H_{*}(X; {\mathbf L}_{\bullet})\) are the generalized homology groups of \(X\) with coefficients in the \(1\)-connective simply-connected surgery spectrum \({\mathbf L}_{\bullet}\), and \(L_{*}(\pi_1(X))\) are the Wall surgery obstruction groups. Let \(Y\subset X\) be a connected submanifold of codimension \(q\). In this case the assembly map factorizes in the composition \[ H_n(X; \mathbf L_\bullet) \xrightarrow{\sigma_1} LP_{n-q}(F) \longrightarrow L_n(\pi_1(X)) \,, \] where \(LP_{*}(F)\) are the surgery obstruction groups for the manifold pair \((X, Y)\). These groups depend functorially on the commutative square of fundamental groups with orientations \[ F = \begin{pmatrix} \begin{tikzcd} \pi_1(\partial U) \ar[r]\ar[d] & \pi_1(X\backslash Y)\ar[d]\\ \pi_1(Y)\ar[r] & \pi_1(X) \end{tikzcd} \end{pmatrix} \] where \(\partial U\) is the boundary of a tubular neighborhood of \(Y\) in \(X\). The groups \(LP_{*}(F)\) are closely related to other algebraic objects occurring in \(L\)-theory by means of various types of diagrams of exact sequences (see for example \textit{A. A. Ranicki}, Exact sequences in the algebraic theory of surgery, Mathematical Notes, 26. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, N.J. (1981; Zbl 0471.57012). In particular, these groups fit in the commutative diagram \[ \begin{tikzcd} \cdots \ar[r] & \mathcal S_{n+1}(X) \ar[r]\ar[d] & H_n(X; \mathbf L_\bullet) \ar[r,"\sigma"]\ar[d,"\sigma_1"] & L_n(\pi_1(X)) \ar[r]\ar[d, equal] & \cdots \\ \cdots \ar[r] & LS_{n-q}(F) \ar[r] & LP_{n-q}(F) \ar[r,"p" '] & L_n(\pi_1(X)) \ar[r] & \cdots \end{tikzcd} \] in which the rows are exact sequences, and \(LS_{*}(F)\) are the splitting obstruction groups, that is, the groups of obstructions for splitting a homotopy equivalence along the submanifold \(Y\). In the case of one-sided manifolds, there are a lot of results on the connection of the \(LS_{*}\)- and \(LP_{*}\)-groups to the classical Wall groups (see the references of the paper under review). The authors introduce the concept of surgery on a triple \(Z\subset Y\subset X\) of closed connected topological manifolds such that the dimension of \(X\) is \(n\), the codimension of \(Y\) in \(X\) is \(q\), and the codimension of \(Z\) in \(Y\) is \(q'\). Then they construct interesting groups \(LT_{n-q-q'}(X, Y, Z)\) which contain the obstructions to surgery on a triple of manifolds. If \(n-q-q' \geq 5\), then the authors prove that a normal map \((f, b) \in [X, G/TOP]\) is normally cobordant to an \(s\)-triangulation of the triple \((X, Y, Z)\) if and only if an obstruction \(\Theta_{*}(f, b)\in LT_{n-q-q'}(X, Y, Z)\) vanishes. The map \(\Theta_{*}\) fits in the following natural decomposition of the maps \(\sigma_1\) and \(\sigma\): \[ [X, G/TOP] \longrightarrow LT_{n-q-q'}(X, Y, Z)\longrightarrow LP_{n-q}(F)\longrightarrow L_n(\pi_1(X)). \] The authors study algebraic and geometric properties of the introduced groups \(LT_{*}(X, Y, Z)\), and show that such groups are closely related to the normal invariants and the classical splitting and surgery obstruction groups for the manifold pairs \(Y\subset X\) and \(Z\subset Y\). If \((X, Y)\) and \((Y, Z)\) are Browder-Livesay pairs, then the \(LT_{*}\)-groups are proved to be related with the iterated transfers and the \(LNS_{*}\)-groups, introduced by [\textit{T. Hambleton} and \textit{E. K. Pedersen}, Topological equivalences of linear representations for cyclic groups, MPI preprint (1997)].