We construct for the first time smooth circle actions on highly symmetric manifolds such as disks, spheres, and Euclidean
spaces which contain two points with the same isotropy subgroup whose representations determined on the tangent spaces at
the two points are not isomorphic to each other. This allows us to answer negatively a question of Hsiang and Hsiang [Some
Problems in Differentiable Transformation Groups, Springer, Berlin, Problem 16, p. 228, 1968].
Mathematical Subject Classification (2000). 57S15 - 57S25
Dedicated to Prof. Yasuhiko Kitada on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
Krzysztof Pawałowski was supported in part by the KBN Research Grant N 201 008 31/0524.