Linear and smooth oriented equivalence of orthogonal representations of finite groups (Q6993575)

In the paper under review the authors prove that, if for a finite group two representations \(\rho, \,\rho':\Gamma\rightarrow O(4)\) are conjugate by an orientation-preserving diffeomorphism of \(S^3\) then they are conjugate by an element of \(SO(4)\). Along the way, they prove that for a finite subgroup \(G\subset O(4)\) exactly one of the following statements is true: the elements of \(G\) have a common invariant one dimensional subspace of \(\mathbb{R}^4\); or some element of \(G\) has no invariant one dimensional subspace; or \(G\) is conjugate to a specific subgroup of \( O(4)\) of order 16.\N\NLet \(\Gamma\) be a finite group and \(G\) and \(H\) be subgroups of \(\mathrm{Diff}(S^{n-1})\). Two homomorphisms \(\rho, \rho':\Gamma\rightarrow G\) are called \(H\)-equivalent if there exists some \(h\in H\) such that \(h^{-1}\rho(\gamma)h=\rho'(\gamma)\) for all \(\gamma\in\Gamma\). The authors conjecture that, if \(\rho, \rho':\Gamma\rightarrow O(n)\) are \(O(n)\)-equivalent and \(\mathrm{Diff}^+(S^{n-1})\)-equivalent, then they are \(SO(n)\) equivalent. When \( n\leq 5 \), \textit{S. Cappell} and \textit{J. Shaneson} in [Contemp. Math. 231, 59--66 (1999; Zbl 0935.15011)] proved that \(\rho, \rho':\Gamma\rightarrow O(n)\) are \(O(n)\)-equivalent if they are \(\mathrm{Diff}(S^{n-1})\)-equivalent. This is part of a larger literature on determining when topological and linear equivalence of representations of finite groups coincide. There are some homomorphisms \(\rho:\Gamma\rightarrow O(n)\) for which the \(O(n)\) and \(SO(n)\)-equivalence classes coincide. For these homomorphisms, the conjecture holds trivially. Otherwise, the \(O(n)\)-equivalence class of \(\rho\) splits into two \(SO(n)\)-equivalence classes. This paper proves the conjecture when \( n\leq 5 \). If \(n\) is odd, then the conjecture happens to be trivially true. Case \(n=2\) is settled by a simple argument given in the paper. The case \(n=4\) requires substantial work. A subgroup \( G\subset O(n) \) has the \textit{amphichiral linear centralizer property (has LCP)} if there exists some \( w\in O(n)\setminus SO(n) \) such that \( w^{-1}gw=w \) for all \( g\in G \). Similarly, we say that a subgroup \(G\subset \mathrm{Diff}(S^{n-1})\) has the \textit{amphichiral smooth centralizer property (has SCP)} if there exists some \(w\in \mathrm{Diff}(S^{n-1})\setminus \mathrm{Diff}^+(S^{n-1})\) such that \( w^{-1}gw=w \) for all \( g\in G \). Then the above conjecture can be restated as: For a finite subgroup \(G\) of \(O(n)\), if \(G\) has SCP, then it has LCP. Equivalently, if the centralizer of \(G\) in \(\mathrm{Diff}(S^{n-1})\) is not contained in \(\mathrm{Diff}^+(S^{n-1})\), then it contains an element in \( O(n)\setminus SO(n)\). They analyse case by case for all possible finite subgroups of \(O(n)\) for \(n=4\) and obtain the result.