A NOTE ON MAXIMAL SYMMETRY RANK, QUASIPOSITIVE CURVATURE, AND LOW DIMENSIONAL MANIFOLDS 2 FERNANDOGALAZ-GARCIA∗ 1 0 2 ABSTRACT. Weshowthatanyeffectiveisometrictorusactionofmaximalrank n onacompactRiemannianmanifoldwithpositive(sectional)curvatureandmaxi- a malsymmetryrank,thatis,onapositivelycurvedsphere,lensspace,complexor J realprojectivespace,isequivariantalydiffeomorphictoalinearaction.Weshow 5 thatacompact,simplyconnectedRiemannian4-or5-manifoldofquasipositive curvature andmaximal symmetryrankmustbediffeomorphic tothe4-sphere, ] complexprojectiveplaneorthe5-sphere. G D . h t 1. INTRODUCTION AND MAIN RESULTS a m The topological classification of compact Riemannian n-manifolds with posi- [ tiveornonnegative (sectional) curvature isafundamental question inRiemannian geometry. The classification in dimension 2 is well-known and follows from the 1 v Gauss-Bonnettheorem. Indimension3,theclassificationfollowsfromHamilton’s 2 work [22]; in particular, a compact, simply connected 3-manifold of positive cur- 1 vature must be diffeomorphic to the 3-sphere. In dimension n ≥ 4, in contrast, 3 a complete solution to the classification problem remains elusive to this day, as 1 . evidenced by the relative scarcity of examples and techniques for the construc- 1 0 tion of compact manifolds with positive or nonnegative curvature. Given these 2 difficulties, ithas been helpful to firstconsider the classification ofthe most sym- 1 metric spaces in these classes, that is, those with a “large” group of isometries. : v This approach, proposed by Grove [16], allows for flexibility in deciding which i X isometry groups are to be considered “large”. The classification of simply con- r nectedpositively curvedhomogenenous spaces (cf.[3,46,1,2,48]),forexample, a may be framed in this program, which has led to other classification results and to new examples of positively and nonnegatively curved Riemannian manifolds (cf.[21,20,44,45,19,6]). Let(M,g) bea(compact) Riemannian manifold andand letIsom(M,g) beits isometry group, which is a (compact) Lie group (cf. [29, 27]). There are several possible measures for the size of Isom(M,g), e.g. the cohomogeneity, defined as the dimension of the orbit space of the action of Isom(M,g) on (M,g), the symmetry degree, defined as the dimension of Isom(M,g), or the symmetry rank, Date:January9,2012. 2000MathematicsSubjectClassification. 53C20. Keywordsandphrases. nonnegativecurvature,positivecurvature,quasipositivecurvature,torus action,symmetryrank,4-manifold,5-manifold. ∗TheauthorispartofSFB878:Groups,Geometry&Actions,attheUniversityofMu¨nster. 1 2 F.GALAZ-GARCIA definedastherankofIsom(M,g)anddenotedbysymrank(M,g). Inthisnotewe willfocusourattention onthislastinvariant inthecaseswhen(M,g)haspositive curvatureandwhen(M,g)hasquasipositive curvature,i.e.(M,g)hasnonngative curvatureandapointwithstrictly positivecurvature. The following three problems arise naturally in the study of Riemannian mani- foldsandtheirsymmetryrank: (a) Maximal symmetry rank: Given a class Mn of Riemannian n-manifolds, find an optimal upper bound K for the symmetry rank of the elements in Mn. (b) Topological classification: Classify, up to diffeomorphism, all manifolds inMn withsymmetryrankk ≤ K. (c) Equivariant classification: Let M ∈ Mn with symrank(M) = k. Clas- sify, up to equivariant diffeomorphism, all possible (effective) isometric actions of Tk on M and realize these actions via appropriate Riemannian metricsonM. TheseproblemshavereceivedparticularattentionwhenMnistheclassofcom- pact, positively curved n-manifolds or the class of compact, simply connected n- manifoldsofnonnegativecurvature (cf.[12,13,14,17,23,26,41,42,50,51]). In a curvature-free setting, analogs of problems (a), (b) and (c) for compact, simply connected smooth n-manifolds, 3 ≤ n ≤ 6, have also been extensively studied (cf.[10,11,28,30,31,32,33,34,35,40]). Themaximalsymmetryrankproblemandthetopological classificationofcom- pact,positivelycurvedmanifoldsofmaximalsymmetryrankwerefirstconsidered byGroveandSearle[17]: Theorem 1.1 (Grove, Searle [17]). Let (Mn,g) be a compact Riemannian n- manifoldofpositive curvature. Thenthefollowinghold: (1) symrank(Mn,g) ≤ ⌊(n+1)/2⌋. (2) Ifsymrank(Mn,g) = ⌊(n+1)/2⌋,thenMn isdiffeomorphic toasphere, alensspaceortoarealorcomplexprojective space. Let (M,g ) be isometric to any of the manifolds listed in Theorem 1.1-(2), 0 equipped withitsstandard Riemannian metric g . Aspointed outin [17],(M,g ) 0 0 has maximal symmetry rank. We will refer to the isometric torus actions on (M,g ) as linear torus actions. Our first result is the equivariant classification of 0 torusactionsofmaximalrankoncompact,positivelycurvedmanifoldsofmaximal symmetryrank: Theorem1.2. Anyeffective,isometrictorusactionofmaximalrankonacompact, positivelycurvedRiemannianmanifoldofmaximalsymmetryrankisequivariantly diffeomorphic toalinearaction. It is natural to ask to what extent the conclusions of Theorem 1.1 hold under weaker curvature conditions, e.g. nonnegative curvature. In this case, an upper SYMMETRYRANKANDQUASIPOSITIVECURVATURE 3 boundonthesymmetryranksmallerthanthedimensionofthemanifold,asinThe- orem 1.1, cannot be achieved in full generality, since the n-dimensional flat torus hasmaximalsymmetryrankn. Undertheadditional hypothesis ofsimpleconnec- tivity, it has been conjectured (cf. [12]) that if (Mn,g) is a compact, simply con- nected nonnegatively curved Riemannian n-manifold, then symrank(Mn,g) ≤ ⌊2n/3⌋ and that, if n = 3k and (Mn,g) has maximal symmetry rank, then Mn mustbediffeomorphic totheproduct ofk copies ofthe3-sphere S3. Thisconjec- tural bound on the symmetry rank has been verified in dimensions at most 9; the topological classification of compact, simply connected Riemannian manifolds of nonnegativecurvatureandmaximalsymmetryrankhasalsobeencompletedindi- mensions atmost6, verifying thediffeomorphism conjecture indimensions 3and 6(cf.[12]). Inaddition tononnegatively curved(Riemannian) manifolds, onemayconsider manifoldswithalmostpositivecurvature,i.e.nonnegativelycurvedmanifoldswith positivecurvatureonanopenanddenseset,ormanifoldswithquasipositivecurva- ture,i.e.nonnegativelycurvedmanifoldswithapointatwhichalltangent2-planes have positive curvature. These two families may be considered as intermediate classes between positively and nonnegatively curved manifolds, and may be used astestcasestodeterminetowhatextentthecollections ofpositivelyandnonnega- tivelycurved manifolds differfrom each other. Inthenoncompact case, itfollows from Perelman’s proof of the Soul Conjecture [37] that a complete, noncompact manifold with quasipositive curvature must be diffeomorphic to Rn; in particular, itadmitspositivecurvature. Inthecompactcase,RP2×RP3admitsametricwith quasipositivecurvature(cf.[49])andcannotsupportametricofpositivecurvature. In contrast to this, in the simply connected case there are no known obstructions distinguishing compact manifolds with positive, almost positive, quasipositive or nonnegativecurvature . Although there are many examples of manifolds with quasipositive or almost positivecurvature(cf.[15,38,47,49,43,9,24,8,7]),includinganexotic7-sphere, the topological classification of these spaces remains open and one may consider problems (a), (b) and (c) for these classes of Riemannian manifolds. Problem (a) was solved by Wilking [53], who showed that the bound for the symmetry rank in Theorem 1.1-(1) also holds for Riemannian manifolds with quasipositive curvature: Theorem1.3(Wilking[53]). If(Mn,g)isann-dimensionalRiemannianmanifold ofquasipositive curvature, thensymrank(Mn,g) ≤ ⌊(n+1)/2⌋. Oursecondresultisthetopologicalclassificationofcompact,simply-connected 4-and5-manifolds ofquasipositive curvature andmaximalsymmetryrank: Theorem 1.4. Let Mn be a compact, simply connected Riemannian n-manifold withquasipositivecurvatureandmaximalsymmetryrank. Thenthefollowinghold: (1) Ifn = 4,thenM4 isdiffeomorphic toS4 orCP2. (2) Ifn = 5,thenM5 isdiffeomorphic toS5. 4 F.GALAZ-GARCIA ItfollowsfromworkofOrlikandRaymond[34],indimension4,andofOh[31], indimension 5,that smooth, effective T2 actions onS4 and CP2,andsmooth, ef- fective T3 actions onS5, are equivalent to linear actions. Therefore, the isometric torus actions in Theorem 1.4 must be equivalent to linear actions; any such ac- tion can be realized via a standard metric that is (trivially) quasipositively cuved, whencetheequivariant classification follows. Recall that the known examples of simply connected 4- and 5-manifolds of nonnegative curvature that are not known to admit positively curved metrics are S2×S2, CP2#±CP2,S2 ×S3, thenon-trivial bundle S2טS3 and theWu man- ifold SU(3)/SO(3). Out of these manifolds, only S2 × S2 and CP2# ± CP2 admit metrics with nonnegative curvature and maximal symmetry rank 2, and the bundlesS2×S3andS2טS3aretheonlyonesadmittingmetricsofnonnegativecur- vature and maximal symmetry rank 3; the Wu manifold SU(3)/SO(3), equipped withitsstandard nonnegatively curvedhomgoeneous metric,hassymmetryrank2 (cf.[13,14]). Ontheotherhand,thetrivialspherebundleS3×S2carriesanalmost positively curvedmetricwithsymmetryrank1(cf.[49])anditisnotknownifthe remaining 4- and 5-manifolds listed in this paragraph admit metrics of quasipos- itive curvature. Theorem 1.4 implies that any such metric would have symmetry rankatmost1,indimension 4,andatmost2,indimension5. We conclude these remarks by recalling the so-called deformation conjecture (cf. [15, 49]), which states that if (M,g) is a complete Riemannian manifold of quasipositive curvature, then M admits a metric with positive curvature. As pointed out above, this conjecture is true if M is noncompact, false if M is com- pact and not simply connected, and remains open if M is compact and simply connected (see [39]for the construction ofametricwith positive curvature onthe Gromoll-Meyer sphere, an exotic 7-sphere with quasipositive curvature). Theo- rem1.4maybeseenassupportingthisconjecturewhen(M,g)iscompact,simply connected andhasmaximalsymmetryrank. Thecontents ofthisnoteareorganized asfollows. Insection2wecollectsome background material and recall the proof of Theorem 1.3. This result was not available in the literature; for the sake of reference, we have included Wilking’s proof as conveyed to us by M. Kerin. In section 3 we prove Theorem 1.2 and in section 4 we prove Theorem 1.4. The proofs follow easily from restrictions on the structure of the manifolds and their orbit spaces imposed by the curvature hypotheses and the rank of the actions. As the reader may have already noticed, wehavestrivedtogiveextensivereferences totheliterature. Acknowledgements. This note originated from talks I gave at the Tercer Minien- cuentrodeGeometr´ıaDiferencialinDecemberof2010,atCIMAT,Me´xico. Itisa pleasuretothankRafaelHerrera,LuisHerna´ndez LamonedaandCIMATfortheir hospitality duringtheworkshop. IalsowishtothankMartinKerin,forsharinghis notes withthe proof of Theorem 1.3, and Xiaoyang Chen, for someconversations onquasipositively curvedmanifolds. SYMMETRYRANKANDQUASIPOSITIVECURVATURE 5 2. PRELIMINARIES 2.1. Basic setup and notation. Let G × M → M, m 7→ g(m), be a smooth actionofacompactLiegroupGonasmoothmanifoldM. TheorbitG(p)through a point p ∈ M is diffeomorphic to the quotient G/G , where G = {g ∈ G : p p g(p) = p} is the isotropy subgroup of G at p. If G acts trivially on the normal p space to the orbit at p, then G/G is called a principal orbit. The set of principal p orbits is open and dense in M. Since the isotropy groups of principal orbits are all conjugate in G, all principal orbits have the same dimension. The isotropy groupofprincipal orbitsistheprincipal isotropy subgroup. IfG/G hasthesame p dimension as a principal orbit and G acts non-trivially on the normal space at p, p then G/G is called an exceptional orbit. An orbit that is neither principal nor p exceptional iscalled asingular orbit. When G = G, the point p is called a fixed p point of the action. Recall that the ineffective kernel of the action is K := {g ∈ G : g(m) = m, forall m ∈ M}. The action iseffective ifthe ineffective kernel e istrivial. ThegroupG= G/K alwaysactseffectively onM. Given a subset X ⊂ M, we will denote its projection under the orbit map ∗ π : M → M/GbyX . Followingthisconvention, wewilldenote theorbitspace ∗ M/GbyM . Recall that a finite dimensional length space (X,dist) is an Alexandrov space if it has curvature bounded from below in the triangle comparison sense (cf. [5]). When (M,g) is a complete, connected Riemannian manifold and G is a compact ∗ Lie group acting on (M,g) by isometries, the orbit space M can be made into a ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ metricspace(M ,dist)bydefiningthedistancebetweenorbitsp andq inM as thedistancebetweentheorbitsG(p)andG(q)assubsetsof(M,g). If,inaddition, ∗ (M,g)hassectionalcurvatureboundedbelowbyk,thentheorbitspace(M ,dist) equipped with this so-called orbital metric is an Alexandrov space withcurvature bounded below by k. The space of directions of a general Alexandrov space at a pointxis,bydefinition,thecompletionofthespaceofgeodesicdirectionsatx. In ∗ ∗ the case of an orbit space M = M/G, the space of directions Σp∗M at a point ∗ ∗ p ∈ M consists ofgeodesic directions andisisometricto S⊥/G , p p whereS⊥ istheunitnormalspheretotheorbitG(p)atp ∈ M. p 2.2. ProofofTheorem1.3(Wilking[53]). Let(Mn,g)beann-dimensionalRie- mannian manifold of quasipositive curvature with an (effective) isometric Tk ac- tion. It suffices to show that if k > (n+1)/2, then (Mn,g) cannot have quasi- positive curvature. Throughout the proof we will let Ω = Tk(p) be a principal p orbit of the Tk action for some p ∈ M. Given q ∈ Ω , we let T (Ω )⊥ be the p q p orthogonal complement of T (Ω ) in T M. Recall that the second fundamental q p p formatq ∈Ω isgivenby p ⊥ α: T (Ω )×T (Ω ) → T (Ω ) . q p q p q p 6 F.GALAZ-GARCIA ⊥ Let u ∈ T (Ω ), |u| = 1, and let u be its orthogonal complement in T (Ω ). q p q p Notethat n−1 ⊥ dimu = dimΩ −1> , p 2 n−1 ⊥ dimT (Ω ) = dimM −dimΩ < . q p p 2 ⊥ ⊥ Consider α(u,·) : u → T (Ω ) . For dimension reasons there exists a unit q p ⊥ vectorw ∈ u suchthatα(u,w) = 0. Wewillnowshowthatthereexistsaunitvectorv ∈ T (Ω )suchthatα(v,v) = q p 0. Suppose that there is no such vector in T Ω . Then there exists u ∈ T (Ω ), q p q p |u| = 1, such that |α(u,u)| > 0 is minimal. By the preceding paragraph, there ⊥ existsw ∈ u ,|w| =1,suchthatα(u,w) = 0. Considerthefunction f(t) := |α((cost)u+(sint)w,(cost)u+(sint)w)|2 = |(cos2t)α(u,u)+(sin2t)α(w,w)|2. Sincef(0) = |α(u,u)|2 isminimal,f′(0) = 0and 0≤ f′′(0) = 4(hα(u,u),α(w,w)i −|α(u,u)|2). Inparticular, since|α(u,u)|2 > 0,wehavethat hα(u,u),α(w,w)i > 0. ItthenfollowsfromtheGaussformulathat sec (u,w) = sec (u,w)+hα(u,u),α(w,w)i > 0. Ωp M Thisyieldsacontradiction,sinceΩ isatorusequippedwithaleft-invariantmetric, p henceflat. Itfollows from the preceding paragraph that there exist orthogonal unit vectors u,v ∈T (Ω )suchthatα(u,u) = α(u,v) = 0. Then,bytheGaussformula, q p sec (u,v) = sec (u,v). Ωp M Since the choice of principal orbit Ω and q ∈ Ω was arbitrary, it follows that p p thereisanopenanddensesetofpointsp ∈ M withatangent planeΠ ⊂ T (Ω ) p p p suchthat 0 = sec (Π )= sec (Π ). Ωp p M p Therefore,(M,g)cannothavequasipositive curvature. (cid:3) 3. PROOF OF THEOREM 1.2 Let (Mn,g) be a compact, positively curved Riemannian n-manifold of maxi- mal symmetry rank with an (effective) isometric action of a torus Tk of maximal rank. We first recall some basic facts from [17]. There exists a circle subgroup T1 ≤ Tk withfixedpoint setatotally geodesic codimension 2submanifold Fn−2 of Mn such that Fn−2 = ∂(Mn/T1). The orbit space Mn/T1 is a positively ∗ curved Alexandrov space homeomorphic to the cone over an orbit p at maximal distancefrom∂(Mn/T1). Theisotropy subgroup ofp∗ iseitherT1,Z ,k ≥ 2,or k 1, the trivial subgroup of T1. Since Fn−2 is diffeomorphic to the space of direc- tionsofMn/T1 atp∗,Fn−2 isdiffeomorphic toasphere,ifp∗ isaprincipalorbit; SYMMETRYRANKANDQUASIPOSITIVECURVATURE 7 ∗ a lens space or an even-dimensional real projective space, if p is an exceptional ∗ orbit;ortoacomplexprojectivespace,ifp isafixedpoint. Moreover,thereexists aninvariant discbundle decomposition Mn = D(Fn−2)∪ D(G(p)), E where D(Fn−2) is a tubular neighborhood of Fn−2, D(G(p)) is a tubular neigh- ∗ borhoodoftheorbitG(p)corresponding tothevertexp oftheorbitspace,andE is the common boundary ∂D(Fn−2) = ∂D(G(p)). The manifold Mn is diffeo- ∗ morphictoasphereifp isaprincipalorbit;alensspaceorarealprojectivespace, ∗ ∗ ifp isanexceptional orbit;ortoacomplexprojectivespace,ifp isafixedpoint. We will now prove the theorem in the case where Mn is diffeomorphic to an n-sphere Sn. We proceed by induction on the dimension n. For n = 2, it is well knownthatanysmooth T1 action onS2 isequivalent toalinear action. Fixn > 2 andlet(Sn,g)beapositively curvedn-sphere ofmaximalsymmetryrank, sothat thereexists aneffective isometric Tk action on(Sn,g) withk = ⌊(n+1)/2⌋. As recalledinthepreceding paragraph, thereisacirclesubgroup T1 ≤ Tk withfixed point set a totally geodesic sphere Sn−2 ⊂ Sn of codimension 2. The invariant decompositionofSn intoaunionofdiscbundlesinducedbytheT1actionisgiven by Sn ≃ D(Sn−2)∪∂D(S1)D(S1) ≃ (Sn−2×D2)∪Sn−2×S1 (Dn−1×S1), where D(Sn−2) is a tubular neighborhood of the fixed point set Sn−2 of T1 and D(S1) is a tubular neighborhood of the orbit T1(p) ≃ S1 whose projection p∗ is thevertexpointoftheorbitspaceSn/T1. Asin[17],theT1 actionon D(Sn−2) ≃ Sn−2×D2 is equivalent to the T1 action on Sn−2 × D2, the associated disc bundle to the T1 T1 actiononthe(trivial)normalbundle ofthefixedpointsetSn−2. WemaywriteTk = T1 ⊕Tk−1,where Tk−1 istheorthogonal complement of T1inTk. ObservenowthatTk−1actseffectivelyandisometricallyonSn−2 ⊂ Sn. By induction, the action of Tk−1 on Sn−2 is linear. It follows that the Tk action on Sn−2 × D2 is given by the product of a linear Tk−1 action on Sn−2 and a linear T1 action on D2. Consequently, on the boundary Sn−2 ×S1 the Tk action is the product of a linear Tk−1 action on Sn−2 and a linear T1 action on S1. On Dn−1×S1,theotherhalfofthediscbundledecomposition ofSn,theTk actionis givenbytheproductofalinearTk−1actiononDn−1andalinearactionT1action on S1. Observe that the linear Tk−1 action on Dn−1 is the cone over the linear action of Tk−1 on the Sn−2 factor of the boundary D(S1) ≃ Sn−2 ×S1. Hence, the Tk action on (Sn,g) is equivariantly diffeomorphic to the linear Tk action on Sn = S1 ∗ Sn−2 ⊂ R2 × Rn−2 given by letting T1 act orthogonally on R2 and Tk−1 actorthogonally onRn−2. 8 F.GALAZ-GARCIA When Mn is diffeomorphic to a lens space or to a real projective space, the conclusion follows by passing to the universal covering space and observing that thecovering torusactionmustbeequivalent toalinearactiononSn. TheproofwhenMn isdiffeomorphic toCPm isanalogous totothecaseofthe sphere. Form ≥ 2,theequivariant discbundledecomposition isgivenby CPm ≃ S2n−1×T1 D2∪S2n−1 D2n, whereT1 isthecirclesubgroupofTm fixingbothCPm−1 ⊂ CPm andthevertex of D2n, and S2m−1 × D2 is the normal disc bundle of CPm−1 in CPm. The T1 Tm action is equivalent to a linear Tm action on CPm induced by a linear Tm+1 actiononS2m+1 viatheprojection mapπ : S2m+1 → CPm oftheHopfaction. (cid:3) 4. PROOF OF THEOREM 1.4 Weproceedalongthelinesof[12]. Let(Mn,g)beacompact,simplyconnected Riemannian n-manifold, n = 4 or 5, with quasipositive curvature and maximal symmetryrank. Then(Mn,g)hasanisometrictorusactionwhoseorbitspaceM∗ is2-dimensional. Itfollows from work of several authors (cf. [4, 25, 31,34]) that ∗ ∗ theorbitspaceM oftheactionhasthefollowingproperties: M ishomeomorphic ∗ ∗ toa2-disk, theboundary ofM isthesetofsingular orbitsandtheinteriorofM consists of principal orbits. Moreover, when n = 4, there are atleast two isolated orbitswithisotropyT2and,whenn = 5,thereareatleastthreeisolatedorbitswith isotropy T2. In both cases, points in the the arcs in the boundary of M∗ joining orbits with isotropy T2 have isotropy conjugate to a circle T1; the angle between thesearcsisπ/2andisthelengthofthespaceofdirectionsatanorbitwithisotropy T2 inM∗ Since (Mn,g) is a quasipositively curved Riemannian manifold, M∗ is a non- negativelycurved2-manifoldwithnon-smoothboundaryandpositivecurvatureon anopensubset. AsimplecomparisonargumentusingToponogov’stheoremshows that there can be atmost 4points in M∗ corresponding to orbits with isotropy T2 ∗ and,ifthereare4suchpoints,thenM mustbeisometrictoaflatrectangle. Since ∗ ∗ M has positive curvature onanopen subset, there canbeatmost 3points inM with isotropy T2. Hence, for n = 4, the orbit space M∗ has 2 or 3 points with isotropy T2 and, forn = 5, M∗ hasexactly 3suchpoints. 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