On Jordan type bounds for finite groups acting on compact 3-manifolds

By a classical result of Jordan, each finite subgroup of a complex linear group GLn(C)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${{\rm GL}_n(\mathbb{C})}$$\end{document} has an abelian normal subgroup whose index is bounded by a constant depending only on n. It has been asked whether this remains true for finite subgroups of the diffeomorphism group Diff(M) of every compact manifold M; in the present paper, using the geometrization of 3-manifolds, we prove it for compact 3-manifolds M.