Torus actions on homotopy complex projective spaces (Q5916116)

The main result of the paper is: {Theorem.} Let \(M\) be a homotopy \(\mathbb CP^m\) with smooth effective action by a torus \(T\) of rank \(r\). If \(m < 4r-1\), then the \(T\)-action is linear. By definition, the action is linear if the tangent representations at the fixed points are modelled on those of a linear action. The exact definition is given in the paper. The estimate is sharp. Petrie constructed nonlinear \(S^1\) actions on homotopy \(\mathbb CP^3\)'s, and they can be generalized to larger values of \(m\). Suppose that \(x\) denotes a generator of \(H^2(M, \mathbb Z)\). Under the assumptions in the theorem it also follows that the total Pontrjagin class of \(M\) is \((1+x^2)^{m+1}\). This follows from a theorem of Hattori.