On smooth Sp\((p,q)\)-actions on \(S^{4p+4q-1}\) (Q696150)

Let \(\text{Sp}(p, q)\) denote the group of complex matrices of degree \(2p+2q\) defined by the equations \(A^tJ_{p+q}A=J_{p+q}\), \(A^tK_{p, q}\overline{A}=K_{p, q}\), where \[ J_n=\left(\begin{matrix} 0& I_n\\ -I_n& 0\end{matrix}\right), \quad K_{p, q}= \text{diag}(-I_p, I_q, -I_p, I_q). \] The author studies smooth \(\text{Sp}(p, q)\)-actions on the sphere \(S^{4p+4q-1}\), each of which is an extension of the standard \(\text{SO}(p)\times \text{SO}(q)\)-action on \(S^{4p+4q-1}\). It is shown that such an action is characterized by a pair \((\phi, f)\) satisfying certain conditions, where \(\phi\) is a smooth \(\text{Sp}(1, 1)\)-action on \(S^7\), and \(f: S^7\rightarrow \mathbf{P}_1(\mathbf{H})\) is a smooth mapping.