In this paper, we investigate free actions of some compact groups on cohomology real and complex Milnor manifolds. More precisely, we compute the mod 2 cohomology algebra of the orbit space of an arbitrary free ℤ2 and $\mathbb{S}^1$-action on a compact Hausdorff space with mod 2 cohomology algebra of a real or a complex Milnor manifold. As applications, we deduce some Borsuk–Ulam type results for equivariant maps between spheres and these spaces. For the complex case, we obtain a lower bound on the Schwarz genus, which further establishes the existence of coincidence points for maps to the Euclidean plane.

Every cohomology ring isomorphism between two non-singular complete toric varieties (respectively, two quasitoric manifolds), with second Betti number 2, is realizable by a diffeomorphism (respectively, homeomorphism).

We investigate conjectures and questions regarding topological phenomena related to free actions on homotopy spheres and present some affirmative answers.

We show that three- and four-stage Bott manifolds are classified up to diffeomorphism by their integral cohomology rings. In addition, any cohomology ring isomorphism between two three-stage Bott manifolds can be realized by a diffeomorphism between the Bott manifolds.

We prove that if a finite group G acts smoothly on a manifold M such that all the isotropy subgroups are abelian groups with rank ≤ k, then G acts freely and smoothly on M × × … × for some positive integers n1, …, nk. We construct these actions using a recursive method, introduced in an earlier paper, that involves abstract fusion systems on finite groups. As another application of this method, we prove that every finite solvable group acts freely and smoothly on some product of spheres, with trivial action on homology.

It has been conjectured that if $G= \mathop{({ \mathbb{Z} }_{p} )}\nolimits ^{r} $ acts freely on a finite $CW$-complex $X$ which is homotopy equivalent to a product of spheres ${S}^{{n}_{1} } \times {S}^{{n}_{2} } \times \cdots \times {S}^{{n}_{k} } $, then $r\leq k$. We address this question with the relaxation that $X$ is finite-dimensional, and show that, to answer the question, it suffices to consider the case where the dimensions of the spheres are greater than or equal to $2$.

We determine an algebraic condition necessary and sufficient for a group G to act freely on the nth Cartesian power of an even sphere, and characterize the abelian groups that satisfy this condition.