Finite groups acting on homology manifolds

Abstract

In this paper we study homology manifolds T admitting the action of a finite group preserving the structure of a regular CW-complex on T. The CW-complex is parameterized by a poset and the topological properties of the manifold are translated into a combinatorial setting via the poset. We concentrate on n-manifolds which admit a fairly rigid group of automorphisms transitive on the n-cells of the complex. This allows us to make yet another translation from a combinatorial into a group theoretic setting. We close by using our machinery to construct representations on manifolds of the Monster, the largest sporadic group. Some of these manifolds are of dimension 24, and hence candidates for examples to Hirzebruch's Prize Question in [HBJ], but unfortunately closer inspection shows the A^-genus of these manifolds is 0 rather than 1, so none is a Hirzebruch manifold.