Fundamental groups, homology equivalences and one-sided \(h\)-cobordisms (Q887382)

A one-sided \(h\)-cobordism \((W;X,Y)\) is a compact cobordism between closed manifolds such that the inclusion \(Y \hookrightarrow W\) is a homotopy equivalence. If \((W;X,Y)\) is a compact cobordism between closed manifolds and \(R\) is a \({\mathbb Z}[\pi_{1}(W)]\)-module then \((W;X,Y)\) is a one sided \(R\)-homology cobordism if the inclusion \(Y \hookrightarrow W\) induces isomorphisms \(\pi_{1}(Y) \cong \pi_{1}(W)\) and \(H_{q}(Y;R) \cong H_{q}(W;R)\) for all \(q \geq 0\). The main result of the paper is the following: Let \(X\) be a CW-complex and \(R\) a subring of the rationals or the finite ring \({\mathbb Z}/p\) for some prime \(P\). Suppose that \(\alpha: \pi_{1}(X) \rightarrow G\) is a group homomorphism from the fundamental group of \(X\) to a group \(G\). Then the following are equivalent: {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[1.] \(\alpha\) induces an epimorphism \(H_{2}(\alpha): H_{2}(\pi_{1}(X); R) \rightarrow H_{2}(G;R)\). \item[2.] There exists a CW-complex \(Y\) and a cellular map \(f : X \rightarrow Y\) such that \(\pi_{1}(Y) = G\), \(\pi_{1}(f) = \alpha: \pi_{1}(X) \rightarrow \pi_{1}(Y)\) and for any integer \(q \geq 2\), \(f\) induces an isomorphism \(f_{q}: H_{q}(X;R) \rightarrow H_{q}(Y;R)\). \end{itemize}} A similar result is shown for manifolds with a corollary that gives a characterization of the fundamental groups of a one-sided \(\mathbb Z\)-homology cobordism.