Finite group actions on 4-manifolds with nonzero Euler characteristic (Q907917)

Let \(X\) be a compact, orientable, connected \(4\)-dimensional smooth manifold, possibly with boundary, satisfying \(\chi(X)\not=0\). In the paper under review, the author proves the following theorem: for such a manifold \(X\), there exists a natural number \(C\) such that any finite subgroup \(G\subset \mathrm{Diff}(X)\) has an abelian subgroup \(A\subset G\) satisfying \([G:A]\leq C\) and \(\chi(X^A)=\chi(X)\). Moreover, he also shows that if \(\chi(X)>0\) then \(A\) can be generated by \(2\) elements, and if \(\chi(X)<0\) then \(A\) is cyclic. This theorem gives a partial answer to a question asked by E. Ghys in the 1990's, namely whether the diffeomorphism group of any compact manifold \(M\) is Jordan. Here, a group \(\mathcal{G}\) is called Jordan if there is a constant \(C\) such that any finite subgroup \(G\subset \mathcal{G}\) has an abelian subgroup \(A\subset G\) with \([G:A]\leq C\). This definition is motivated by Camille Jordan's classical theorem which states that \(\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})\) is Jordan, published in 1878. Roughly speaking, that \(\mathcal{G}\) is Jordan means that all finite subgroups of \(\mathcal{G}\) are ``almost'' abelian in the sense that they are extensions of abelian groups by finite groups taken from a finite list (see [\textit{V. L. Popov}, Proc. Steklov Inst. Math. 289, 221--226 (2015; Zbl 1337.57066); translation from Tr. Mat. Inst. Steklova 289, 235--241 (2015)]). If the dimension of such a manifold \(M\) is less than four, then the question has been affirmatively solved. When \(\dim M=1\), i.e., \(M\) is the circle, then it is well-known that the finite group which acts on the circle can only be a cyclic group or a dihedral group. When \(\dim M=2\), by using classical results for surfaces, we know that \(\mathrm{Diff}(M)\) is Jordan (see e.g. the author's previous paper [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 138, No. 6, 2253--2262 (2010; Zbl 1201.57022)]). When \(\dim M=3\), \textit{B. P. Zimmermann} showed that \(\text{Diff}(M)\) is Jordan [Arch. Math. 103, No. 2, 195--200 (2014; Zbl 1300.57016)]. As a corollary of the author's theorem, \(\mathrm{Diff}(X)\) of a compact, orientable, connected \(4\)-dimensional manifold \(X\) with \(\chi(X)\not=0\) is Jordan. On the other hand, Csikós-Pyber-Szabó recently proved that \(\mathrm{Diff}(T^2\times S^2)\) is not Jordan in [\textit{B. Csikoś} et al., ``Diffeomorphism groups of compact \(4\)-manifolds are not always Jordan'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1411.7524}]. Note that \(\chi(T^2\times S^2)=0\).