@phdthesis{BletzSiebert2002,
  author    = {Bletz-Siebert, Oliver},
  title     = {Homogeneous spaces with the cohomology of sphere products and compact quadrangles},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-3994},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2002},
  abstract  = {We consider homogeneous spaces G/H with the same rational homotopy as a product of a 1-sphere and a (m+1)-sphere. We show that these spaces have also the rational cohomology of such a sphere product if H is connected and if the quotient has dimension m+2. Furthermore, we prove that if additionally the fundamental group of G/H is cyclic, then G/H is locally a product of a 1-torus and ofA/H, where A/H is a simply connected rational cohomology (m+1)-sphere (and hence classified). If H fails to be connected, then with U as the connected component of H the G-action on the covering space G/U of G/H has connected stabilizers, and the results apply to G/U. To show that under the assumptions above every natural number may be realized as the order of the group of connected components of H we calculate the cohomology of certain homogeneous spaces. We also determine the rational cohomology of the fibre bundle U-->G-->G/U if G/H meets the assumptions above. This is done by considering the respective Leray-Serre spectral sequence. The structure of the cohomology of U-->G-->G/U then gives a second proof for the structure of compact connected Lie groups acting transitively on spaces with the rational homotopy of a product of a 1-sphere and a (m+1)-sphere. Since a quotient of a homogeneous space with the same rational homotopy or cohomology as a product of a 1-sphere and a (m+1)-sphere is not simply connected, there often arises the question whether or not a considered fibre bundle or fibration is orientable. A large amount of space will therefore be given to the problem of showing that certain fibrations are orientable. For compact connected (m+2)-manifolds with cyclic fundamental groups and with the rational homotopy of a product of a 1-sphere and a (m+1)-sphere we show the following: if a connected Lie group acts transitively on the manifold, then the maximal compact subgroups are either transitive, or their orbits are simply connected rational cohomology spheres of codimension 1. Homogeneous spaces with the same rational cohomology or homotopy as a a product of a 1-sphere and a (m+1)-sphere play a role in the study of different types of geometrical objects. They appear for example as focal manifolds of isoparametric hypersurfaces with four distinct principal curvatures. Further examples of such spaces are the point spaces and the line spaces of compact connected generalized quadrangles. We determine the isometry groups of isoparametric hypersurfaces with 4 principal curvatures of multiplicities 1 and m which are transitive on the focal manifold with non-trivial fundamental group. Buildings were introduced by Jacques Tits to give interpretations of simple groups of Lie type. They are a far-reaching generalization of projective spaces, in particular a generalization of projective planes. There is another generalization of projective planes called generalized polygons. A projective plane is the same as a generalized triangle. The generalized polygons are also contained in the class of buildings: they are the buildings of rank 2. To compact quadrangles one can assign a pair of natural numbers called the topological parameters of the quadrangles. We treat the case k=1. It turns out that there are no other point-transitive compact connected Lie groups for (1,m)-quadrangles than the ones for the real orthogonal quadrangles. Furthermore, we solve the problem of three infinite series of group actions which Kramer left as open problems; there are no quadrangles with the homogeneous spaces in question as point spaces (up to maybe a finite number of small parameters in one of the three series).},
  subject      = {Homogener Raum},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Wolfrom2002,
  author    = {Wolfrom, Martin},
  title     = {Isoparametric hypersurfaces with a homogeneous focal manifold},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-3505},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2002},
  abstract  = {The classification of isoparametric hypersurfaces in spheres with a homogeneous focal manifold is a project that has been started by Linus Kramer. It extends results by E. Cartan and Hsiang and Lawson. Kramer does most part of this classification in his Habilitationsschrift. In particular he obtains a classification for the cases where the homogeneous focal manifold is at least 2-connected. Results of E. Cartan, Dorfmeister and Neher, and Takagi also solve parts of the classification problem. This thesis completes the classification. We classify all closed isoparametric hypersurfaces in spheres with g>2 distinct principal curvatures one of whose multiplicities is 2 such that the lower dimensional focal manifold is homogeneous. The methods are essentially the same as in Kramer's 'Habilitationsschrift'. The cohomology of the focal manifolds in question is known. This leads to two topological classification problems, which are also solved in this thesis. We classify simply connected homogeneous spaces of compact Lie groups with the same integral cohomology ring as a product of spheres S^2 x S^m and m odd on the one hand and a truncated polynomial ring Q[a]/(a^m) with one generator of even degree and m > 1 as its rational cohomology ring on the other hand.},
  subject      = {Isoparametrische Hyperfl{\"a}che},
  language  = {en}
}