A new construction of lens spaces

Abstract

Let $T^n$ be the real $n$-torus group. We give a new definition of lens spaces and study the diffeomorphic classification of lens spaces. We show that any $3$-dimensional lens space $L(p; q)$ is $T^2$-equivariantly cobordant to zero. We also give some sufficient conditions for higher dimensional lens spaces $L(p; q_1, \ldots, q_n)$ to be $T^{n+1}$-equivariantly cobordant to zero. In 2005, B. Hanke showed that complex equivariant cobordism class of a lens space is trivial. Nevertheless, our proofs are constructive using toric topological arguments.