The smooth structure set of \(S^{p} \times S^{q}\) (Q711665)

Let \(M^n\) be a closed, \(n\)-dimensional, oriented Cat-manifold, where Cat = Diff for smooth manifolds or Cat = Top for topological manifolds. The Cat-structure set on \(M\), \({\mathcal S}^{\text{Cat}}(M)\), is the set of structure invariants \([N,f]\) which are equivalence classes of homotopy equivalences \(f: N\to M\) where \(N\) is a closed, oriented, \(n\)-dimensional Cat-manifold. Two such homotopy equivalences \(f_0: N_0\to M\) and \(f_1: N_1\to M\) are equivalent if and only if \((f_1)^{-1}f_0: N_0\to N_1\) is homotopic to an isomorphism. The main tool for computing the structure sets \({\mathcal S}^{\text{Diff}} (M)\) and \({\mathcal S}^{\text{Top}} (M)\) are the surgery exact sequence in the category Cat (see [\textit{C. T. C. Wall}, Surgery on compact manifolds. 2nd ed. Mathematical Surveys and Monographs. 69. Providence, RI: AMS (1999; Zbl 0935.57003)] for smooth manifolds and [\textit{A. A. Ranicki}, Algebraic L-theory and topological manifolds, Tracts in Mathematics 102, Cambridge (1992; Zbl 0767.57002)] for topological manifolds). In the paper under review, the author calculates the structure sets \({\mathcal S}^{\text{Diff}}(S^p\times S^q)\) for \(p,q\geq 2\) and \(p+q\geq 5\). As a consequence it is proved that in general \({\mathcal S}^{\text{Diff}}(S^{4j-1}\times S^{4k})\) cannot admit a group structure such that the smooth surgery exact sequence is a long exact sequence of groups and that the image of the forgetful map \({\mathcal S}^{\text{Diff}}(S^{4j}\times S^{4k})\to{\mathcal S}^{\text{Top}}(S^{4j}\times S^{4k})\) is not in general a subgroup of the topological structure set.