Let X be a closed, oriented, smooth 4-manifold with a finite fundamental group and with a non-vanishing Seiberg-Witten invariant. Let G be a finite group. If G acts smoothly and freely on X, then the quotient X/G cannot be decomposed as X1#X2 with (Xi) > 0, i = 1, 2. In addition let X be symplectic and c1(X)2 > 0 and b+2(X) > 3. If σ is a free anti-symplectic involution on X then the Seiberg-Witten invariants on X/σ vanish for all spinc structures on X/σ, and if η is a free symplectic involution on X then the quotients X/σ and X/η are not diffeomorphic to each other.

This paper gives non-embeddings and non-immersions for the real flag manifolds RF(1, 1, n–2), n > 3 and shows that Lam's immersions for n = 4 and 5 and Stong's result for n = 6 are the best possible.

Let ξbe an SO(n)-bundle over a simple connected manifold M with a spin structure Q → M. The string class is an obstruction to h1 the structure group LSpin(n) of the loop group bundle LQ → LM to the universal central extension of LSpain(n) by the circle. We prove that the string class vanishes if and only if 1/2 the first Pontrjagin clsss of values when M is a compact simply connected homogeneous space of rank one, a simpiy connected 4 dimensional manifold or a finite product space of those manifolds. This result is deduced by using the Eclesberg spectral sequence converging to the mod p cohomology of LM whose E2-term to the Hochschild homology of the mod p cohomology algebra of M. The key to the consideration is existence of a morphism of algebras, which is injective below degree 3, from an important graded commutator algebra into the Hochschild homology of a certain graded commutative algebra.

In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of cylindrical ends in compact foliated 3-manifolds and give a sufficient condition for these ends to spiral onto a toral leaf.

The ordinary string class is an obstruction to lift the structure group LSpin(n) of a loop group bundle LQ → LM to the universal central extension of LSpin(n) by the circle. The vanishing problem of the ordinary string class and generalized string classes are considered from the viewpoint of the ring structure of the cohomology H*(M; R).

In this paper, we consider the relationship between the cohomologies of the basic differential forms and the transverse holonomy groupoid of a foliation. Applications to minimal models are given.

Bo Ju Jiang introduced an invariant lying in the braid group which is the best lower bound of the number of fixed points in a homotopy class of a given pair of self maps of a surface. Here we modify this construction to get a lower bound of the number of coincidence points of a pair of maps between two closed surfaces.

Kreck and Stolz recently exhibited exotic structures on a family of seven dimensional homogeneous spaces which are quotients of the compact Lie group SU3. We observe that there is an invariant obtained via the Pontrjagin–Thorn construction which detects these exotic structures in many cases.

In this paper, we construct from any given good (3,1)-dimensional manifold pair finitely many almost identical imitations of it whose exteriors are mutative hyperbolic 3-manifolds. The equivariant versions with the mutative reduction property on the isometry group are also established. As a corollary, we have finitely many hyperbolic 3-manifolds with the same volume and the same isometry group.

Let X be a compact affine real algebraic variety of dimension 4. We compute the Witt group of symplectic bilinear forms over the ring of regular functions from X to C. The Witt group is expressed in terms of some subgroups of the cohomology groups .

We give a simple proof, using only classical algebraic topology, of the following theorem of B. H. Li and F. P. Peterson. Any map from an N-manifold into a (2N − 1)-manifold is homotopic to an immersion.

We give sufficient conditions for an analytic function from Rn to R to be analytically equivalent to a rational regular function.

Let f and g denote immersions of the n-manifolds M and N, respectively, in Rn+1. We say that f is athwart to g if f(M) and g(N)m have no tangent hyperplane in common. In this paper necessary conditions for athwartness are obtained.