An inverse to the Poincaré conjecture (Q5946023)

The author defines a manifold \(M\) as a Poincaré manifold if the following condition holds: each manifold \(N\) such that \(H_k(N;\mathbb{Z}) \cong H_k (M;\mathbb{Z})\) for all \(k\) is homeomorphic to \(M\). In the beginning the author studies Poincaré manifolds in low dimensions and proves the following results: Theorem 1. The only 4-dimensional Poincaré manifold is \(S^4\). Theorem 2. The 5-dimensional Poincaré manifolds are those with \(H_2\cong G\oplus G\) or \(H_2\cong (\mathbb{Z}_2)^{2k+1} \oplus G\oplus G\), where \(G\) is a finite group of odd order. Theorem 3. The 6-dimensional Poincaré manifolds are \(S^6\) and connected sums of copies of \(S^3\times S^3\). A problem is formulated. For which \(n\) are there \(n\)-dimensional non-spherical Poincaré manifolds? In the second part of the paper, the author studies another class of manifolds. A topological manifold \(M\) is called a \(I(H^*,ch)\)-Poincaré manifold if and only if each manifold \(N\) for which there are isomorphisms \(H^*(N;\mathbb{Z})\to H^*(M; \mathbb{Z})\) and \(H^*(N; \mathbb{Z}/2) \to H^*(M; \mathbb{Z}/2)\) which are compatible with the reduction from \(\mathbb{Z}\) to \(\mathbb{Z}/2\), commute with the cup products and preserve the rational Pontryagin classes and the Stiefel-Whitney classes, are homeomorphic to \(M\). Then the following results are proved: Theorem 4. The 2-connected 7-manifolds \(M\) with \(H_3(M) \cong\mathbb{Z}\) and first Pontryagin class trivial are \(I(H^*,ch)\)-Poincaré manifolds. Theorem 5. Suppose that \(n>2\) and \(M\) is a \(2n\)-dimensional smooth manifold satisfying the following conditions: (1) for \(\mathbb{Z}/2\)-cohomology it holds that the map \(\mathbb{Z}/2 [w_2, w_3, \dots,w_n] \to H^*(M;\mathbb{Z}/2)\) mapping \(w_i\) to \(w_i(M)\) is an isomorphism in degree \(<n\) and injective in degree \(n\) (here degree \(w_i=i)\), (2) for integral cohomology it holds that the map \(\mathbb{Z} [p_1,p_2, \dots,p_{n/2}] \to H_*(M;\mathbb{Z})/ \text{tor}\) mapping \(p_i\) to \(p_i(M)\) is an isomorphism in degree \(<n\) and injective with torsion free cokernel in dimension \(n\), where degree \(p_i= 4i\), (3) all torsion in \(H^*(M;Z)\) has order 2, (4) for \(n\) even \(M\) is of the form \(M'\# S^n\times S^n\). Then \(M\) is a smooth \(I(H^*,ch)\)-Poincaré manifold. Each closed smooth \(2n\)-manifold \(N\) is bordant to a 1-connected smooth manifold \(M\) fulfilling the conditions (1)--(4). Theorem 6. Suppose that \(n>2\) and \(M\) fulfils the conditions (1)--(4) and \(N\) fulfils the conditions (1)--(3). Then \(M\) and \(N\) are diffeomorphic if and only if the Euler characteristic and all characteristic numbers (Pontryagin and Stiefel-Whitney) agree. Corollary. A closed smooth 1-connected manifold \(M\) satisfying conditions (1)--(4) has a unique smooth structure. In the proof of the last results the author uses some results from his previous papers [Topology 23, 219-232 (1984; Zbl 0547.57025), Ann. Math. (2) 149, No. 3, 707-754 (1999; Zbl 0935.57039)]. Finally, in the last part of the paper, the author gives the following definition: Let \(C\) be a class of closed 1-connected topological manifolds. Then a manifold \(M\) is a Poincaré manifold with respect to \(C\) if and only if each manifold \(N\) in \(C\) is homeomorphic to \(M\) if and only if all homology groups are isomorphic. Theorem 7. For \(1<k\leq r\) the products of spheres \(S^k\times S^r\) are Poincaré manifolds with respect to \(C(S^{n+1})\), the class of closed 1-connected \(n\)-dimensional topological manifolds which are homeomorphic to a topological submanifold of \(S^{n+1}\).