Pontryagin classes of locally symmetric manifolds (Q894952)

Let \(G\) be a semisimple Lie group without compact factors, \(K\subset G\) a maximal compact subgroup and let \(\Gamma\subset G\) be a cocompact, torsion free lattice. The manifold \(G/K\) has a \(G\)-invariant Riemannian metric and is a symmetric space of noncompact type. The lattice \(\Gamma\) acts freely and properly on \(G/K\) and the closed manifold \(M= \Gamma\setminus G/K\) is a locally symmetric manifold of noncompact type. The main theorem in this paper determines all \(\Gamma\setminus G/K\) with at least one nonzero Pontryagin class. The paper offers two tables. Table 1 lists all eight complex noncompact simple Lie groups together with their maximal subgroups and Table 2 lists all nineteen real noncompact simple Lie groups. The main result in this paper asserts that if \(G\) is a real, simple noncompact Lie group and \(\Gamma\subset G\) is a cocompact lattice, then every Pontryagin class of positive degree of \(\Gamma\setminus G/K\) is zero if and only if \(G\) is one of the groups in Table 1 or \(G\) is one of four of the groups in Table 2, namely \(\text{SL}_n(\mathbb{R}),\text{SU}^*_{2n}, \text{SO}_{p,1}\), or \(E_{6(-26)}\).