The Hopf conjecture for manifolds with low cohomogeneity or high symmetry rank

We prove that the Euler characteristic of an even-dimensional compact manifold with positive (nonnegative) sectional curvature is positive (nonnegative) provided that the manifold admits an isometric action of a compact Lie group $G$ with principal isotropy group $H$ and cohomogeneity $k$ such that $k - (\rank G - \rank H)\le 5$. Moreover, we prove that the Euler characteristic of a compact Riemannian manifold $M^{4l+4}$ or $M^{4l+2}$ with positive sectional curvature is positive if $M$ admits an effective isometric action of a torus $T^l$, i.e., if the symmetry rank of $M$ is $\ge l$.