The additivity of the \(\rho \)-invariant and periodicity in topological surgery (Q545860)

Let \(M\) be a closed, oriented, odd dimensional, topological manifold together with a map \(\lambda: M \to BG\), where \(G\) is a finite group. The \(\rho\)-invariant \(\rho(M,\lambda)\) is an element of a subquotient \(\mathbb{Q}R_{\widehat G}^{(-1)^d}\) of the rationalized complex representation ring of \(G\), where \(\dim M= 2d-1\). Assume \(\dim M\geq 5\) and let \(S(M)\) be the topological structure set of \(M\), studied in surgery theory, consisting of homotopy equivalences of closed manifolds to \(M\) modulo \(h\)-cobordism. The \(\rho\)-invariant induces a function \(\widetilde\rho: S(M)\to \mathbb{Q}R_{\widehat G}^{(-1)^d}\) taking a homotopy equivalence \(h: N\to M\) to \(\rho(N, \lambda\circ h)- \rho(M,\lambda)\). It is known that \(S(M)\) admits a natural abelian group structure; however, the group operation is not understood from a geometric point of view. The main theorem of this paper is that \(\widetilde \rho\) is a group homomorphism. The proof proceeds by using a geometric interpretation of the \(\rho\)-invariant; thus, the lack of a geometric understanding of the group structure on \(S(M)\) must be circumvented. This is done as follows. For the relative structure sets \(S_\partial(M\times D^k)\) of the manifold \(M\times D^k\) with boundary there is a simple geometric interpretation of the group operation (stacking). Siebenmann periodicity states that there is an algebraically defined injective homomorphism \(S(M)\to S_\partial(M\times D^4)\), \textit{S. Cappell} and \textit{S. Weinberger} [``A geometric interpretation of Siebenmann's periodicity phenomenon'', Geometry and topology, Proc. Conf., Athens/Ga. 1985, Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 105, 47--52 (1987; Zbl 0609.57010)] proposed a geometric description of this homomorphism, and \textit{S. Hutt} [``On Siebenmann periodicity'', Pac. J. Math. 183, No. 2, 291--303 (1998; Zbl 0930.57028)] provided an incomplete proof. A major portion of the present paper is devoted to giving a complete proof, using mapping cylinder neighborhoods and manifold approximate fibrations, that Hutt's description of the Cappell--Weinberger map does give an injective homomorphism \(S(M)\to S_\partial(M\times D^8)\). The other main ingredient is \textit{A. A. Ranicki}'s theory of algebraic surgery [Algebraic L-theory and topological manifolds. Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics. 102. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (1992; Zbl 0767.57002)].