The space of metrics of positive scalar curvature (Q483510)

This remarkable paper establishes that there are elements of infinite order in higher homotopy groups of the space of Riemannian metrics of positive scalar curvature on a closed manifold. More precisely, the main result is that for all \(k\geq0\) there exists \(N(k)\) such that, for all \(n\geq N(k)\) and each spin manifold \(M\) admitting a metric \(g_0\) with positive scalar curvature and of dimension \(4n-k-1\), the homotopy group \(\pi_k(\mathrm{Riem}^+(M),g_0)\) contains elements of infinite order if \(k\geq 1\) and infinitely many different elements if \(k=0\). Furthermore, their images under the Hurewicz homomorphism in \(H_k(\mathrm{Riem}^+(M))\) still have infinite order. The paper contains other similar results, regarding the cases of spheres and products of spin manifolds with \(8\)-dimensional Bott manifolds. All of these results are based on the construction of smooth fiber bundles over spheres whose total space is a spin manifold with nonvanishing \(\hat A\)-genus. In particular, this construction establishes that the \(\hat A\)-genus is not multiplicative on fiber bundles over a simply-connected base, even over a sphere.