THE FUNDAMENTAL GROUP OF G-MANIFOLDS.

Let G be a connected compact Lie group, and let M be a connected Hamiltonian G-manifold with equivariant moment map ϕ. We prove that if there is a simply connected orbit G ⋅ x, then π1(M) ≅ π1(M/G); if additionally ϕ is proper, then π1(M) ≅ π1 (ϕ-1(G⋅a)), where a = ϕ(x). We also prove that if a maximal torus of G has a fixed point x, then π1(M) ≅ π1(M/K), where K is any connected subgroup of G; if additionally ϕ is proper, then π1(M) ≅ π1(ϕ-1(G⋅a)) ≅ π1(ϕ-1(a)), where a = ϕ(x). Furthermore, we prove that if ϕ is proper, then for all a ∈ ϕ(M), where is any connected subgroup of G which contains the identity component of each stabilizer group; in particular, π1(M/G) ≅ π1(ϕ-1(G⋅a)/G) for all a ∈ ϕ(M). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]