Fibrewise Orbifold Resolutions with Applications to $\mathrm{G}_2$-Moduli Spaces

Abstract

By resolving the singularities of tailor-made orbifolds via twisted families of blow-ups, we construct manifold bundles $M \rightarrow E \rightarrow S^2$. Using tools from real homotopy theory, we show that these bundles determine a free subgroup in $π_2(B\mathrm{hAut}(M)_0)$. The proof relies on a generalisation of Sullivan's result, which describes the real homotopy groups of the monoid of homotopy automorphisms $\mathrm{hAut}(X)$ in terms of derivations of the minimal model of $X$, to the monoid $\mathrm{hAut}_A(X)$ of relative homotopy automorphisms. As an application, we prove that the moduli space of torsion-free $\mathrm{G}_2$-structures arising from many generalised Kummer constructions contains a free subgroup of positive rank in its second homotopy group.