Choose distinct odd primes and take products of the nonisomorphic Gassmann equivalent regular subgroups, selecting one of the two groups at each prime. Product conjugacy-class counts give Gassmann equivalent subgroups of the same finite product of symmetric groups. Their fundamental groups are distinguished by whether the unique Sylow subgroup at each chosen prime is abelian. The closed-manifold realization of a finitely presented fundamental group and Sunada theorem therefore produce pairwise nonhomeomorphic, and hence nonisometric, isospectral closed four-manifolds. Gassmann equivalence alone, without a topology distinction, does not imply nonhomeomorphism.
Upper-unitriangular three-by-three matrices over the prime finite field form the finite analogue of the real Heisenberg group. In coordinates their multiplication is . The order is , and . For odd , every nonidentity element has order , but the group is nonabelian. For the exponent statement changes, so odd characteristic is essential for the nonisomorphic Gassmann equivalent regular subgroups construction.
First realize the free isometric action. Choose generators of the finitely presented group . In every dimension , the connected sum
has fundamental group the free group . Map its generators onto the and take the connected regular covering corresponding to the kernel. Its deck transformation group is . Lift any Riemannian metric on to . Deck transformations are then Riemannian isometries, and a deck transformation fixing one point is the identity by uniqueness of lifts. This gives the free isometric realization of a finitely generated group. For the trivial group use . If is infinite the covering manifold need not be compact, which is allowed in this first construction. Simple connectivity of is not being asserted here.
The requested nonhomeomorphism conclusion needs an extra hypothesis. For a counterexample even with distinct subgroups, take , and . They are conjugate and therefore Gassman equivalent. For every free isometric action of , the conjugating element induces a Riemannian isometry . These quotients cannot be nonhomeomorphic. Identical subgroups give an even simpler obstruction. Thus the stated equivalence condition alone cannot imply the claimed topology.
A sufficient version is: for a finite with Gassmann equivalent, nonisomorphic subgroups , there are closed isospectral manifolds with fundamental groups , and hence they are not homeomorphic. To prove it, realize as the fundamental group of a closed smooth manifold of dimension four. Here is the needed closed-manifold realization of a finitely presented fundamental group. Start with a four-dimensional zero-handle and one one-handle for each generator. Attach two-handles along disjoint embedded boundary circles representing the relators, with arbitrary framings. The boundary is three-dimensional, so finitely many such loops can be chosen disjoint. The resulting compact handle manifold has by the Seifert-van Kampen theorem.
The inclusion is surjective on fundamental groups: relative to the boundary the dual handle decomposition uses only handles of indices two, three and four, none of which introduces a fundamental-group generator. Double along its boundary. In the amalgamated product for the double, both boundary maps are the same surjection onto , so the two copies of are identified completely and . The double is closed, connected and smooth after smoothing its collar. This construction works in any dimension at least four; it does not claim that every finitely presented group is a closed three-manifold group.
Let now be the universal cover of with the lifted metric. Since is finite, is compact and simply connected, with a free isometric deck action of . By Sunada theorem, are isospectral. Because is their universal cover, . Nonisomorphic fundamental groups rule out a homeomorphism. For an infinite the same qualified argument applies to finite-index subgroups with equal coset characters: divide first by the intersection of their finite-index subgroup cores, producing a compact intermediate cover and a finite isometry group to which Sunada applies.
For explicit nonhomeomorphic examples, let be an odd prime. Let , and let be the Heisenberg group over a prime field, whose elements are triples with multiplication
Both have order , and every nonidentity element has order . For , induction gives
so the assertion follows at , since is odd. But is abelian and is not: and do not commute.
Embed both groups regularly in . Every nonidentity element in either regular representation has cycle type . Hence both embedded subgroups meet the identity class once, the class of that cycle type times, and all other classes zero times. They are nonisomorphic Gassmann equivalent regular subgroups. Taking and using the closed four-manifold construction with gives an explicit pair of isospectral nonhomeomorphic quotients, completing the intended construction under a sufficient hypothesis.
Finally choose distinct odd primes and take
Conjugacy classes in a direct product are products of classes, so their intersection counts factor. Thus all subgroups are Gassmann equivalent. They are pairwise nonisomorphic: the unique Sylow -subgroup of is its th factor, and whether it is abelian records . Realize as the fundamental group of a closed four-manifold and quotient its universal cover by these subgroups. The binary family of nonhomeomorphic Sunada quotients gives
This existence statement is valid; the earlier universal nonhomeomorphism assertion from Gassmann equivalence alone is not.