On the homology of low-dimensional cohomogeneity one manifolds (Q969615)

A cohomogeneity one manifold is a connected smooth manifold with a smooth action of a compact connected Lie group such that at least one orbit is of codimension one. Cohomogeneity one manifolds are important in the theory of group actions of manifolds as well as in several areas of geometry and mathematical physics. In this paper, the author gives a characterization of all the possible homology groups that can occur for compact simply connected cohomogeneity one manifolds in dimensions 7 and lower. In dimensions up to 6, it was already known which compact simply connected manifolds, up to diffeomorphism, can be cohomogeneity one manifolds. The author goes through all the different cases and finds the possible homology groups. Most of the paper is concerned with dimension 7 which is the most complicated case. The author classified 7-dimensional compact simply connected cohomogeneity one manifolds in an earlier paper [\textit{C. A. Hoelscher}, Pac. J. Math. 246, No.~1, 129--185 (2010; Zbl 1204.53029)]. The homology of some of those manifolds was computed earlier. In this paper, the author computes the homology of all the remaining manifolds, up to a group extension problem in a few cases.