Higher \(\hat A\)-genera on certain non-spin \(S^{1}\)-manifolds (Q972500)

The main result of the paper is the following: Theorem: If \(M\) is a smooth connected oriented manifold with \(\pi_2(M)=0\) and \(\pi_4(M)=0\) and with a non-trivial action of \(S^1\), then, for each \(x\in H^*(M/S^1;\mathbb{Q})\), one has \((\hat A(M)\cup p^*x)[M]=0\). The second main theorem states that under the same assumptions the equivariant elliptic genus is rigid. These results are variants of similar results for spin-manifolds. The spin condition here is replaced by the condition \(\pi_2(M)=0\) and \(\pi_4(M)=0\). By a result \textit{G. E. Bredon} [Ann. Math. (2) 89, 515--532 (1969; Zbl 0162.27404)] this implies strong restrictions on the fixed point sets and their normal bundles, which the authors then can use similar to the restrictions implied by a spin structure. Moreover, for the proof of the main theorem the authors use \(G\)-transversality results of Browder and Quinn to relate cohomology classes of \(M/S^1\) to compact framed \(G\)-submanifolds.