\(\mathbb Z_2\)-cohomology and spectral properties of flat manifolds of diagonal type (Q967480)

Compact flat Riemannian manifolds form a very interesting class of manifolds which has been studied for years from many points of view. The authors are concerned with the properties of the cohomology of these manifolds; in fact, they are Eilenberg-MacLane spaces: \(H^{*}(M_{\Gamma},R) \cong H^{*}(\Gamma, R)\) where \(\Gamma\) is the Bieberbach group of the manifold \(M_{\Gamma}\). In studies of these cohomologies the Lyndon-Hochschild-Serre spectral sequence is of importance. The paper is divided into four sections, the first being devoted to the basics of compact flat manifolds and Bieberbach groups, particular attention being paid to diagonal Bieberbach groups. In the second section, the authors study the differentials in LHS spectral sequences following the approach of \textit{L. S. Charlap, A. T. Vasquez}, [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 124, 24--40 (1966; Zbl 0163.27401)]. The main result of the section is Theorem 2.7 which presents the first two cohomology groups of \(n\)-dimensional compact flat manifolds with diagonal holonomy \(\mathbb Z^k_2.\) Two examples of explicit computations complete the section. In section 3, the second Stiefel-Whitney class of these manifolds is investigated and a method of computing it for \(\mathbb Z_2^k\)-manifolds with diagonal holonomy via LHS spectral sequences is presented. Section 4 contains results about isospectral manifolds, in particular Hantzsche-Wendt manifolds.