Related papers: Singularity links with exotic Stein fillings
We classify all the non-hyperbolic Dehn fillings of the complement of the chain-link with 3 components, conjectured to be the smallest hyperbolic 3-manifold with 3 cusps. We deduce the classification of all non-hyperbolic Dehn fillings of…
Let S^3_r(K) be the oriented 3--manifold obtained by rational r-surgery on a knot K in S^3. Using the contact Ozsvath-Szabo invariants we prove, for a class of knots K containing all the algebraic knots, that S^3_r(K) carries positive,…
We define an invariant of contact 3-manifolds with convex boundary using Kronheimer and Mrowka's sutured instanton Floer homology theory. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first invariant of contact manifolds -- with or without…
We study Milnor fibers and symplectic fillings of links of sandwiched singularities, with the goal of contrasting their algebro-geometric deformation theory and symplectic topology. In the algebro-geometric setting, smoothings of sandwiched…
By using superisolated surface singularities whose link is a rational homology sphere we give counterexamples to some of the most important conjetures concernig invariants of normal surface singularities.
Spinal open book decompositions provide a natural generalization of open book decompositions. We show that any minimal symplectic filling of a contact 3-manifold supported by a planar spinal open book is deformation equivalent to the…
We show that a small Seifert fibered space with complementary legs does not symplectically bound a rational homology ball for at least one choice of orientation. In the case $e_0\leq -1$, we characterize when a small Seifert fibered space…
In this paper we obtain the following results: (1) Any compact Stein surface with boundary embeds naturally into a symplectic Lefschetz fibration over the 2-sphere. (2) There exists a minimal elliptic fibration over the 2-disk, which is not…
In this paper, we find infinite hyperbolic 3-manifolds that admit no weakly symplectically fillable contact structures, using tools in Heegaard Floer theory. We also remark that part of these manifolds do admit tight contact structures.
We describe explicit open books on arbitrary plumbings of oriented circle bundles over closed oriented surfaces. We show that, for a non-positive plumbing, the open book we construct is horizontal and the corresponding compatible contact…
We make some elementary observations concerning subcritically Stein fillable contact structures on 5-manifolds. Specifically, we determine the diffeomorphism type of such contact manifolds in the case the fundamental group is finite cyclic,…
Extending work of Chen, we prove the Weinstein conjecture in dimension three for strongly fillable contact structures with either non-vanishing first Chern class or with strong and exact filling having non-trivial canonical bundle. This…
The topology of Stein surfaces and contact 3-manifolds is studied by means of handle decompositions. A simple characterization of homeomorphism types of Stein surfaces is obtained --- they correspond to open handlebodies with all handles of…
We prove that if a contact manifold $(M,\xi)$ is supported by a planar open book, then Euler characteristic and signature of any Stein filling of $(M,\xi)$ is bounded. We also prove a similar finiteness result for contact manifolds…
We exhibit tight contact structures on 3-manifolds that do not admit any symplectic fillings.
It is known that every exotic smooth structure on a simply connected closed 4-manifold is determined by a codimention zero compact contractible Stein submanifold and an involution on its boundary. Such a pair is called a cork. In this…
In this paper, we investigate the minimal symplectic fillings of small Seifert 3-manifolds with a canonical contact structure. As a result, we classify all minimal symplectic fillings of small Seifert 3-manifolds satisfying certain…
Let a contact 3-manifold $(Y, \xi_0)$ be the link of a normal surface singularity equipped with its canonical contact structure $\xi_0$. We prove a special property of such contact 3-manifolds of "algebraic" origin: the Heegaard Floer…
In this article we introduce and analyze in detail singular contact structures, with an emphasis on $b^m$-contact structures, which are tangent to a given smooth hypersurface $Z$ and satisfy certain transversality conditions. These singular…
On small Seifert fibered spaces $M(e_0;r_1,r_2,r_3)$ with $e_0\neq-1,-2,$ all tight contact structures are Stein fillable. This is not the case for $e_0=-1$ or $-2$. However, for negative twisting structures it is expected that they are all…