A fixed-point theorem and relative asphericity (Q865262)

The authors give a direct elementary proof of the following global fixed point theorem: Suppose that a finite group \(G\) acts cellularly on a CW-complex \(Q\) freely away from the 0-skeleton such that for each prime factor \(p\) of \(| G| \), \(Q\) is \(\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\)-acyclic, and for each element \(g\) of \(G\) of prime order \(p\) the quotient \(Q/\langle g\rangle\) has finite \(\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}\)-homological dimension. Then \(G\) has a global fixed point, i.e., a point \(x\in Q\) which is the unique fixed point of each element in \(G\). They use this theorem to give short geometric proofs of the \textit{W. A. Bogley} and \textit{S. J. Pride} theorem [Proc. Edinb. Math. Soc. 35, 1--39 (1992; Zbl 0802.20029)] and Serre's theorem on groups where some subgroups carry all the high dimensional cohomology (cf., \textit{J. Huebschmann} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 14, 137--143 (1979; Zbl 0396.20021)]).