Spherical 3-manifold

In mathematics, a spherical 3-manifold M is a 3-manifold of the form

M = S³ / Γ

where Γ is a finite subgroup of SO(4) acting freely by rotations on the 3-sphere S³. All such manifolds are prime, orientable, and closed. Spherical 3-manifolds are sometimes called elliptic 3-manifolds or Clifford-Klein manifolds.

Properties

A spherical 3-manifold has a finite fundamental group isomorphic to Γ itself. The elliptization conjecture, proved by Grigori Perelman, states that conversely all 3-manifolds with finite fundamental group are spherical manifolds.

The fundamental group is either cyclic, or is a central extension of a dihedral, tetrahedral, octahedral, or icosahedral group by a cyclic group of even order. This divides the set of such manifolds into 5 classes, described in the following sections.

The spherical manifolds are exactly the manifolds with spherical geometry, one of the 8 geometries of Thurston's geometrization conjecture.

Cyclic case (lens spaces)

The manifolds S³ / Γ with Γ cyclic are precisely the 3-dimensional lens spaces. A lens space is not determined by its fundamental group (there are non-homeomorphic lens spaces with isomorphic fundamental groups); but any other spherical manifold is.

Three-dimensional lens spaces arise as quotients of $S^3 \subset \mathbb{C}^2$ by the action of the group that is generated by elements of the form

$\begin{pmatrix}\omega &0\\0&\omega^q\end{pmatrix}.$

where ω = e^{2πi / p}. Such a lens space L(p;q) has fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ for all q, so spaces with different p are not homotopy equivalent. Moreover, classifications up to homeomorphism and homotopy equivalence are known, as follows. The three-dimensional spaces L(p;q₁) and L(p;q₂) are:

1. homotopy equivalent if and only if $q_1 q_2 \equiv \pm n^2 \pmod{p}$ for some $n \in \mathbb{N};$
2. homeomorphic if and only if $q_1 \equiv \pm q_2^{\pm1} \pmod{p}.$

In particular, the lens spaces L(7,1) and L(7,2) give examples of two 3-manifolds that are homotopy equivalent but not homeomorphic.

The lens space L(1,0) is the 3-sphere, and the lens space L(2,1) is 3 dimensional real projective space.

Lens spaces can be represented as Seifert fiber spaces in many ways, usually as fiber spaces over the 2-sphere with at most two exceptional fibers, though the lens space with fundamental group of order 4 also has a representation as a Seifert fiber space over the projective plane with no exceptional fibers.

Dihedral case (prism manifolds)

A prism manifold is a closed 3-dimensional manifold M whose fundamental group is a central extension of a dihedral group.

The fundamental group π₁(M) of M is given by the presentation

$\langle x,y \mid xyx^{-1}=y^{-1}, x^{2m}=y^n\rangle$

for integers m, n with m ≥ 1, n ≥ 2.

This group is a metacyclic group of order 4mn with abelianization of order 4m (so m and n are both determined by this group). The element y generates a cyclic normal subgroup of order 2n, and the element x has order 4m. The center is cyclic of order 2m and is generated by x², and the quotient by the center is the dihedral group of order 2n.

The simplest example is m = 1, n = 2, when π₁(M) is the quaternion group of order 8.

Prism manifolds are uniquely determined by their fundamental groups: if a closed 3-manifold has the same fundamental group as a prism manifold M, it is homeomorphic to M.

Prism manifolds can be represented as Seifert fiber spaces in two ways.

Tetrahedral case

The fundamental group is a product of a cyclic group of order m coprime to 6 with the binary tetrahedral group (of order 24) which has the presentation

$\langle x,y \mid (xy)^2=x^3=y^3\rangle$

or a group of order 8×3^k, k ≥ 1 with presentation

$\langle x,y,z \mid (xy)^2=x^2=y^2, zxz^{-1}=y,zyz^{-1}=xy, z^{3^k}=1\rangle.$

These manifolds are uniquely determined by their fundamental groups. They can all be represented in an essentially unique way as Seifert fiber spaces: the quotient manifold is a sphere and there are 3 exceptional fibers of orders 2, 3, and 3.

Octahedral case

The fundamental group is a product of a cyclic group of order m coprime to 6 with the binary octahedral group (of order 48) which has the presentation

$\langle x,y \mid (xy)^2=x^3=y^4\rangle.$

These manifolds are uniquely determined by their fundamental groups. They can all be represented in an essentially unique way as Seifert fiber spaces: the quotient manifold is a sphere and there are 3 exceptional fibers of orders 2, 3, and 4.

Icosahedral case

The fundamental group is a product of a cyclic group of order m coprime to 30 with the binary icosahedral group (order 120) which has the presentation

$\langle x,y \mid (xy)^2=x^3=y^5\rangle.$

When m is 1, the manifold is the Poincaré homology sphere.

These manifolds are uniquely determined by their fundamental groups. They can all be represented in an essentially unique way as Seifert fiber spaces: the quotient manifold is a sphere and there are 3 exceptional fibers of orders 2, 3, and 5.

References

• Peter Orlik, Seifert manifolds, Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 291, Springer-Verlag (1972). ISBN 0-387-06014-6
• William Jaco, Lectures on 3-manifold topology ISBN 0-8218-1693-4
• William Thurston, Three-dimensional geometry and topology. Vol. 1. Edited by Silvio Levy. Princeton Mathematical Series, 35. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1997. ISBN 0-691-08304-5