Conjugations on 6-manifolds (Q943352)

Conjugation spaces were first defined by \textit{J.-C. Hausmann, T. Holm} and \textit{V. Puppe} in [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 5, 923--964 (2005; Zbl 1081.55006)]. They are spaces with an involution such that the fixed point set of the involution has \(\mathbb Z_2\)-cohomology ring isomorphic to the \(\mathbb Z_2\)-cohomology of the space itself, with the difference that all degrees are divided by two. The first purpose of the work under review is to give a characterization of conjugation spaces different from the one obtained in the paper mentioned above. This new characterization uses mainly relative cohomology. Most of the manuscript is devoted to the second purpose which is to show the following result: Theorem: Every closed orientable 3-dimensional manifold can be realized as a fixed point space of a smooth conjugation of a closed simply-connected spin 6-manifold. This result was known for some 3-manifolds like \(\mathbb RP^3\). Among other tools from homotopy theory, at the final stage the author uses surgery for the construction of the 6-manifolds.