$\mathbb{Z}_2^k$-actions fixing a disjoint union of odd dimensional projective spaces

Abstract

Consider the real, complex and quaternionic $n$-dimensional projective spaces, $\mathbb{R}P^n$, $\mathbb{C}P^n$ and $\mathbb{H}P^n$; to unify notation, write $K_dP^n$ for the real ($d=1$), complex ($d=2$) and quaternionic ($d=4$) $n$-dimensional projective space. Consider a pair $(M,\Phi)$, where $M$ is a closed smooth manifold and $\Phi$ is a smooth action of the group $\mathbb{Z}_2^k$ on $M$; here, $\mathbb{Z}_2^k$ is considered as the group generated by $k$ commuting smooth involutions $T_1,T_2,...,T_k$. Write $F$ for the fixed-point set of $\Phi$. In this paper we prove the following two results: i) If $F$ is a disjoint union $F=\mathbb{R}P^{n_1} \sqcup \mathbb{R}P^{n_2} \sqcup ... \sqcup \mathbb{R}P^{n_j}$, where $j \ge 2$, each $n_i$ is odd and $n_i \not=n_t$ if $i \not= t$, then $(M,\Phi)$ bounds equivariantly. ii) If $F= K_dP^n \sqcup K_dP^m$, where $d=1,2$ and $4$ and $n$ and $m$ are odd, then $(M,\Phi)$ bounds equivariantly. These results are found in the literature for $k=1$.