Smith theory says that the fixed point set of a semi-free action of a group $G$ on a contractible space is ${\mathbb {Z}}_p$-acyclic for any prime factor $p$ of the order of $G$. Jones proved the converse of Smith theory for the case $G$ is a cyclic group acting semi-freely on contractible, finite CW-complexes. We extend the theory to semi-free group actions on finite CW-complexes of given homotopy types, in various settings. In particular, the converse of Smith theory holds if and only if a certain $K$-theoretical obstruction vanishes. We also give some examples that show the geometrical effects of different types of $K$-theoretical obstructions.

For a finite group $G$ of not prime power order, Oliver showed that the obstruction for a finite CW-complex $F$ to be the fixed point set of a contractible finite $G$-CW-complex is determined by the Euler characteristic $\chi (F)$. (He also has similar results for compact Lie group actions.) We show that the analogous problem for $F$ to be the fixed point set of a finite $G$-CW-complex of some given homotopy type is still determined by the Euler characteristic. Using trace maps on $K_0$ [2, 7, 18], we also see that there are interesting roles for the fundamental group and the component structure of the fixed point set.

Consider a commutative ring $R$ and a simplicial map, $X\mathop {\longrightarrow }\limits ^{\pi }K,$ of finite simplicial complexes. The simplicial cochain complex of $X$ with $R$ coefficients, $\Delta ^*X,$ then has the structure of an $(R,K)$ chain complex, in the sense of Ranicki . Therefore it has a Ranicki-dual $(R,K)$ chain complex, $T \Delta ^*X$. This (contravariant) duality functor $T:\mathcal {B} R_K\to \mathcal {B} R_K$ was defined algebraically on the category of $(R,K)$ chain complexes and $(R,K)$ chain maps.

Our main theorem, 8.1, provides a natural $(R,K)$ chain isomorphism:

\[ T\Delta^*X\cong C(X_K) \]

$C(X_K)$

$X_K$

$X_K$

$X$

$(R,K)$

$C(X_K)$

For an odd prime $p$, we consider free actions of $(\mathbb {Z}_{/{p}})^2$ on $S^{2n-1}\times S^{2n-1}$ given by linear actions of $(\mathbb {Z}_{/{p}})^2$ on $\mathbb {R}^{4n}$. Simple examples include a lens space cross a lens space, but $k$-invariant calculations show that other quotients exist. Using the tools of Postnikov towers and surgery theory, the quotients are classified up to homotopy by the $k$-invariants and up to homeomorphism by the Pontrjagin classes. We will present these results and demonstrate how to calculate the $k$-invariants and the Pontrjagin classes from the rotation numbers.

We prove a stability theorem for spaces of smooth concordance embeddings. From it we derive various applications to spaces of concordance diffeomorphisms and homeomorphisms.

We provide a fairly self-contained account of the localisation and cofinality theorems for the algebraic $\operatorname K$-theory of stable $\infty$-categories. It is based on a general formula for the evaluation of an additive functor on a Verdier quotient closely following work of Waldhausen. We also include a new proof of the additivity theorem of $\operatorname K$-theory, strongly inspired by Ranicki's algebraic Thom construction, a short proof of the universality theorem of Blumberg, Gepner and Tabuada, and a second proof of the cofinality theorem which is based on the universal property of $\operatorname K$-theory.

Let $R$ be a strongly $\mathbb {Z}^2$-graded ring, and let $C$ be a bounded chain complex of finitely generated free $R$-modules. The complex $C$ is $R_{(0,0)}$-finitely dominated, or of type $FP$ over $R_{(0,0)}$, if it is chain homotopy equivalent to a bounded complex of finitely generated projective $R_{(0,0)}$-modules. We show that this happens if and only if $C$ becomes acyclic after taking tensor product with a certain eight rings of formal power series,  the graded analogues of classical Novikov rings. This extends results of Ranicki,  Quinn and the first author on Laurent polynomial rings in one and two indeterminates.

For a finitely dominated Poincaré duality space $M$, we show how the first author's total obstruction $\mu _M$ to the existence of a Poincaré embedding of the diagonal map $M \to M \times M$ in [17] relates to the Reidemeister trace of the identity map of $M$. We then apply this relationship to show that $\mu _M$ vanishes when suitable conditions on the fundamental group of $M$ are satisfied.

We note that Gabber's rigidity theorem for the algebraic K-theory of henselian pairs also holds true for hermitian K-theory with respect to arbitrary form parameters.

We give a simple sufficient condition for Quinn’s ‘bordism-type’ spectra to be weakly equivalent to commutative symmetric ring spectra. We also show that the symmetric signature is (up to weak equivalence) a monoidal transformation between symmetric monoidal functors, which implies that the Sullivan–Ranicki orientation of topological bundles is represented by a ring map between commutative symmetric ring spectra. In the course of proving these statements, we give a new description of symmetric L theory which may be of independent interest.

Let $X$ and $Y$ be oriented topological manifolds of dimension $n\!+\!2$, and let $K\! \subset \! X$ and $J \! \subset \! Y$ be connected, locally-flat, oriented, $n$–dimensional submanifolds. We show that up to orientation preserving homeomorphism there is a well-defined connected sum $(X,K)\! \mathbin {\#}\! (Y,J)$. For $n = 1$, the proof is classical, relying on results of Rado and Moise. For dimensions $n=3$ and $n \ge 6$, results of Edwards-Kirby, Kirby, and Kirby-Siebenmann concerning higher dimensional topological manifolds are required. For $n = 2, 4,$ and $5$, Freedman and Quinn's work on topological four-manifolds is required along with the higher dimensional theory.

We extend the notion of regular coherence from rings to additive categories and show that well-known consequences of regular coherence for rings also apply to additive categories. For instance, the negative K-groups and all twisted Nil-groups vanish for an additive category, if it is regular coherent. This will be applied to nested sequences of additive categories, motivated by our ongoing project to determine the algebraic K-theory of the Hecke algebra of a reductive p-adic group.

We discuss several versions of the Family Signature Theorem: in rational cohomology using ideas of Meyer, in $KO[\tfrac {1}{2}]$-theory using ideas of Sullivan, and finally in symmetric $L$-theory using ideas of Ranicki. Employing recent developments in Grothendieck–Witt theory, we give a quite complete analysis of the resulting invariants. As an application we prove that the signature is multiplicative modulo 4 for fibrations of oriented Poincaré complexes, generalizing a result of Hambleton, Korzeniewski and Ranicki, and discuss the multiplicativity of the de Rham invariant.