Convergence of isometries, with semicontinuity of symmetry of Alexandrov spaces

The equivariant Gromov--Hausdorff convergence of metric spaces is studied. Where all isometry groups under consideration are compact Lie, it is shown that an upper bound on the dimension of the group guarantees that the convergence is by Lie homomorphisms. Additional lower bounds on curvature and volume strengthen this result to convergence by monomorphisms, so that symmetries can only increase on passing to the limit.

Orbifold finiteness under geometric and spectral constraints

The class of Riemannian orbifolds of dimension n defined by a lower bound on the sectional curvature and the volume and an upper bound on the diameter has only finitely many members up to orbifold homeomorphism. Furthermore, any class of isospectral Riemannian orbifolds with a lower bound on the sectional curvature is finite up to orbifold homeomorphism.

Equivariant Alexandrov geometry and orbifold finiteness

Let a compact Lie group act isometrically on a non-collapsing sequence of compact Alexandrov spaces with fixed dimension and uniform lower curvature and upper diameter bounds. If the sequence of actions is equicontinuous and converges in the equivariant Gromov--Hausdorff topology, then the limit space is equivariantly homeomorphic to spaces in the tail of the sequence. As a consequence, the class of Riemannian orbifolds of dimension $n$ defined by a lower bound on the sectional curvature and the volume and an upper bound on the diameter has only finitely many members up to orbifold homeomorphism. Furthermore, any class of isospectral Riemannian orbifolds with a lower bound on the sectional curvature is finite up to orbifold homeomorphism.