On nonnegatively curved 4-manifolds with discrete symmetry (Q987591)

Let \(M\) be a closed, simply connected \(4\)-manifold with nonnegative sectional curvature and with an effective and isometric \(\mathbb{Z}_m\)-action for \(m\geq 61^7\). Assume that the \(\mathbb{Z}_m\)-action acts trivially on the homology of \(M\) and that the fixed point set of any nontrivial element \(\mathbb{Z}_m\) has at most one two-dimensional fixed point complement. Under these assumptions, the authors prove that \(M\) is homeomorphic to one of the following: \(S^4\), \(\#_{i=1}^{\ell}S^2\times S^2\), \(1\leq \ell \leq 2\), or \(\#_{j=1}^{k} \pm \mathbb{CP}^2\), \(1\leq k\leq 5\). Their result can be considered as a significant improvement of a previous one due to \textit{D. Yang} [Duke Math. J. 74, No.~2, 531--545 (1994; Zbl 0833.57006); Theorem 1]. The significance of the lower bound \(61^7\) is made obvious in the proof of this result. The authors' strategy for the proof is to give an upper bound of the Euler characteristic by using the Lefschetz fixed point formula, and to take into account the well-known topological classification of \textit{M. H. Freedman} [J. Differ. Geom. 17, 357--453 (1982; Zbl 0528.57011)] concerning simply connected \(4\)-manifolds.