Equivariant hyperbolic diffeomorphisms and representation coverings (Q902238)

The author gives a Morse theoretic counterpart of the result of Bialynicki-Birula about the decompositions of smooth complex projective algebraic varieties endowed with algebraic actions of \(\mathbb C^*\) (the multiplicative group of \(\mathbb C\)). Namely, let \(G\) be a compact Lie group and let \(X\) be a compact smooth \(G\)-manifold with finitely many \(G\)-fixed points. The author proves that if \(X\) admits a \(G\)-equivariant hyperbolic diffeomorphism having a certain convergence property, then there exists an open covering \(X=\bigcup_x U_x\) indexed by the \(G\)-fixed points \(x\in X\) such that every \(U_x\) is \(G\)-stable and \(G\)-equivariantly diffeomorphic to the tangential representation at \(x\). The author also shows that in the case of holomorphic torus actions, the converse is true.