Local torus actions modeled on the standard representation (Q549216)

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Local torus actions modeled on the standard representation
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    Local torus actions modeled on the standard representation (English)
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    7 July 2011
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    An action of the \(n\)-dimensional compact torus \(T^n\) on a \(2n\)-dimensional manifold \(X\) is locally standard if each point of \(X\) is contained in a \(T^n\)-invariant open subset which is weakly (i.e., up to an automorphism of \(T^n\)) equivariantly diffeomorphic to some \(T^n\)-invariant subset of \({\mathbb C}^n\), equipped with the standard \(T^n\)-representation. Main examples of locally standard torus actions are quasi-toric manifolds, i.e., those for which the orbit space is an \(n\)-dimensional simple convex polytope. In this paper the author generalizes this concept to that of a local \(T^n\)-action modeled on the standard representation; for brevity, it is also just called a local \(T^n\)-action. Here, instead of a global \(T^n\)-action only the existence of a special atlas which is compatible with the standard \(T^n\)-representation on \({\mathbb C}^n\) in the following sense is required: the charts are homeomorphisms onto \(T^n\)-invariant open sets, and the changes of coordinates are weakly equivariant diffeomorphisms. Such a local \(T^n\)-action is not necessarily induced from a global one. The main goal of the paper is to find a complete set of topological invariants for local \(T^n\)-actions. The first invariant the author introduces is a generalization of the characteristic function of a quasi-toric manifold, which is the function that associates to each facet of the orbit space a primitive integral vector in the Lie algebra of its (one-dimensional) isotropy group. This invariant was introduced by \textit{M. W. Davis} and \textit{T. Januszkiewicz} [Duke Math. J. 62, No~2, 417--451 (1991; Zbl 0733.52006)] and shown to uniquely determine the quasi-toric manifold up to equivariant homeomorphism. To a local \(T^n\)-action on \(X\) one can still associate an orbit space \(B_X\), which carries the structure of an \(n\)-dimensional \(C^0\)-manifold with corners. In particular, it comes with a natural stratification, and one can consider the codimension-one part of this stratification (which in the quasi-toric case corresponds to the facets of the orbit space). The characteristic pair now consists of a certain principal \(\text{Aut}(T^n)\)-bundle over \(B_X\), together with a certain rank-one subbundle over the codimension-one part. Different from the quasi-toric case, this invariant does not distinguish all local \(T^n\)-actions. The second invariant of a local \(T^n\)-action the author intruduces is its Euler class; it is shown to vanish if and only if the projection \(X\to B_X\) admits a \(C^0\)-section. The main theorem of the paper is that for any choice of characteristic pair and Euler class there exists exactly one local \(T^n\)-action up to \(C^0\)-isomorphism (i.e., up to a homeomorphism which is weakly equivariant on each coordinate domain). Locally toric Lagrangian fibrations as introduced by \textit{M. D. Hamilton} [Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 971, i--v, 60 p. (2010, Zbl 1201.53088)] also induce a local \(T^n\)-action; the author investigates the question when a local \(T^n\)-action comes from a locally toric Lagrangian fibration, and proves a version of the classification theorem above for locally toric Lagrangian fibrations. In the final section, several topological invariants (fundamental group, cohomology, Euler characteristic and, in the oriented four-dimensional case, the signature) of spaces with a local \(T^n\)-action with vanishing Euler class are studied.
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    local torus actions
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    locally standard torus actions
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    quasi-toric manifolds
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    locally toric Lagrangian fibrations
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