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j.c.
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Manifold whose universal covering is a sphere but which is not a space form?

Let $M^n$ be a smooth manifold whose universal cover is homeomorphic $\mathbb{S}^n$, are there examples where $M^n$ is not homeomorphic to a space form ?

The answer may vary if you replace homeomorphic by diffeomorphic, and I'm also interested in this question under this restriction.

I came to this question while reading surveys about sphere theorems, where the non simply-connected case is harder to get (while you already know that the universal cover is a sphere, you need more work to show it is actually a space-form).

Thomas Richard
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