On the homotopy types of closed 4-manifolds covered by \(S^ 2\times\mathbb{R}^ 2\) (Q675233)

In this nice paper, the author studies the problem of characterizing the homotopy type of closed 4-manifolds \(M\) having universal covering homeomorphic to \(\mathbb{S}^2\times \mathbb{R}^2\). In particular, the fundamental group of \(M\) is nontrivial, and the second homotopy group is isomorphic to \(\mathbb{Z}\). If the Euler characteristic of \(M\) is less than or equal to zero, then the main result is that there are only finitely many homotopy types of such manifolds with fundamental group \(\pi\) and orientation character \(w_1(M)\). If \(w_1(M)\) is not zero, there are at most two such homotopy types with given first \(k\)-invariant. Furthermore, the author determines the second Stiefel-Whitney class \(w_2(M)\) and gives strong restrictions on the possible \(k\)-invariants when the Euler characteristic of \(M\) is null. Finally, he proves that the Whitehead group vanishes for all groups \(\pi\) arising as fundamental groups of such manifolds.