An HP^2-bundle over S^4 with nontrivial A-genus

DOI10.5802/CRMATH.156MaRDI QIDQ2658210zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Manuel Krannich, Alexander Kupers, Oscar Randal-Williams

Publication date 19 March 2021

Published in Comptes Rendus. Mathématique. Académie des Sciences, Paris (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.15062

zbMATH Keywords

manifolds of metricssmooth fiber bundlessurgery theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Homology of classifying spaces and characteristic classes in algebraic topology (55R40) Characteristic classes and numbers in differential topology (57R20) Topology of vector bundles and fiber bundles (57R22) Manifolds of metrics (especially Riemannian) (58D17)

Abstract: We explain the existence of a smooth $H{P}^2$-bundle over $S^4$ whose total space has nontrivial $hatA$-genus. Combined with an argument going back to Hitchin, this answers a question of Schick and implies that the space of Riemannian metrics of positive sectional curvature on a closed manifold can have nontrivial higher rational homotopy groups.

Review text

The seminal paper [\textit{B. Hanke} et al., Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 120, 335--367 (2014; Zbl 1321.58008)] on spaces of Riemannian metrics of positive scalar curvature relies on the existence of smooth fiber bundles over spheres whose total spaces are spin with non-vanishing \(\hat{A}\)-genus, and whose fiber supports a metric of positive scalar curvature. Remarkably, Hanke-Schick-Steimle prove rather abstractly that such bundles exist and give no concrete description of the fiber. They also note that it seems to be a difficult problem to determine if it is possible that the fiber even admits a metric of positive sectional or Ricci curvature. Krannich-Kupers-Randal-Williams solve this problem by explaining the existence of a bundle \(\mathrm{H} P^2 \to E\to S^4\) with \(\hat{A}(E) \neq 0\). The proof is based on deep results from surgery and pseudoisotopy theory. As a corollary, they show that the space of Riemannian metrics of positive sectional or Ricci curvature on \(\mathrm{H}P^2\) has a rationally non-trivial third homotopy group. In the final remarks, the authors insinuate that more general results can be proven using similar methods. For instance, the fiber can also be a quaternionic projective space \(\mathrm{H}P^n\) with \(n>2\) and the base a sphere of bigger dimension. It seems it was paramount for the authors to write a brief paper, potentially at the cost of generality and also accessibility to unexperienced readers, which is a bit unfortunate as the ideas contained in this work are truly interesting.

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Cited in

(7)

• On the topology of moduli spaces of non-negatively curved Riemannian metrics
• Spaces of positive intermediate curvature metrics
• Analysis, geometry and topology of positive scalar curvature metrics. Abstracts from the workshop held June 27 -- July 3, 2021 (hybrid meeting)
• Bundles with even-dimensional spherical space form as fibers and fiberwise quarter pinched Riemannian metrics
• H-space and loop space structures for intermediate curvatures
• Characteristic numbers of manifold bundles over spheres and positive curvature via block bundles (with an appendix by Georg Frenck and Jens Reinhold)
• Moduli spaces of metrics with lower or pinched curvature bounds and their compactifications

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