Toral rank conjecture for moment-angle complexes (Q764042)

The toral rank conjecture, formulated by \textit{S. Halperin} [in: Aspects of topology, Mem. H. Dowker, Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 93, 293--306 (1985; Zbl 0562.57015)], states that if a finite-dimensional CW-complex \(X\) admits an almost free (i.e., with only finite stabilizers) action of a torus \(T^k\), then the total dimension of the rational cohomology of \(X\) is bounded from below by \(2^k\). In this paper, the author investigates this conjecture for moment-angle complexes, which are certain subspaces of the polydisc \((D^2)^m\subset \mathbb C^m\) associated to simplicial complexes \(K\), where \(m\) is the number of vertices of \(K\). Such a moment-angle complex is invariant under the natural coordinate-wise action of \(T^m\) on \(\mathbb C^m\). The main result is that the toral rank conjecture holds for moment-angle complexes, if one considers only restrictions of this natural \(T^m\)-action. More precisely, it is shown that if \(K\) is an \((n-1)\)-dimensional simplicial complex with \(m\) vertices, then on the one hand the maximal dimension of a subtorus of \(T^m\) acting locally freely is \(m-n\), and on the other hand the total dimension of the rational cohomology is bounded from below by \(2^{m-n}\).