Nonsmoothable group actions on elliptic surfaces (Q924290)

It is well-known that any finite group action on a surface is equivalent to a smooth one. However, this is not the case in higher dimensions. In dimension 3, \textit{S. Kwasik} and \textit{K. B. Lee} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 104, No.~2, 253--260 (1988; Zbl 0672.57023)] characterized the smoothness of finite group actions, saying that a finite group action is smoothable if and only if it is locally linear. In dimension greater than 3, it is known that there exist many examples of nonsmoothable locally linear actions. The authors of the paper under review construct more such nonsmoothable locally linear actions, and they show that for \(G={\mathbb Z}_p\) with \(p=3,5,7\), and for \(X=E(n)\) the relatively minimal simply-connected elliptic surface with rational base which has the Euler characteristic \(12n\), if \(n\geq 2\) is even and \(c_{n-2}={{n-2}\choose {{n-2}\over 2}}\not\equiv 0\mod p\), then there exists a locally linear \(G\)-action on \(X\) which is nonsmoothable with respect to infinitely many smooth structures on \(X\).