Vanishing structure set of 3-manifolds (Q633029)

A topological space \(M\) is called aspherical if it is path connected and \(\pi_i(M)=0\) for \(n\geq 2\). A compact manifold \(M\) with boundary is called topologically rigid if any homotopy equivalence \(f:(N,\partial N)\to (M, \partial M)\) from another compact manifold with boundary so that \(f|_{\partial N}: \partial N\to \partial M\) is a homeomorphism is homotopic to a homeomorphism relative to boundary. Let \(M\) be a compact connected 3-manifold whose fundamental group is torsion free. The main result of the paper is Theorem 1.1. If \(M\) is aspherical then \(M\times \mathbb D^n\) is topologically rigid for \(n\geq 2\) where \(\mathbb D^n\) denotes the \(n\)-dimensional disc. This result completes the program of the author [Math. Ann. 318, No.~3, 609--620 (2000; Zbl 0959.57030)] proving triviality of structure sets for compact aspherical 3-manifolds.