Dehn twists and the Nielsen realization problem for spin 4-manifolds

Abstract

We prove that, for a closed oriented smooth spin 4-manifold $X$ with non-zero signature, the Dehn twist about a $(+2)$- or $(-2)$-sphere in $X$ is not homotopic to any finite order diffeomorphism. In particular, we negatively answer the Nielsen realization problem for each group generated by the mapping class of a Dehn twist. We also show that there is a discrepancy between the Nielsen realization problems in the topological category and smooth category for connected sums of copies of $K3$ and $S^2\times S^2$. The main ingredients of the proofs are Y. Kato's 10/8-type inequality for involutions and a refinement of it.

arXiv comment14 pages, minor update, accepted version, to appear in Algebr. Geom. Topol

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