Related papers: "Slicing" the Hopf link
To a smooth, compact, oriented, properly-embedded surface in the $4$-ball, we define an invariant of its boundary-preserving isotopy class from the Khovanov homology of its boundary link. Previous work showed that when the boundary link is…
We introduce a geometric operation, which we call the relative Whitney trick, that removes a single double point between properly immersed surfaces in a $4$-manifold with boundary. Using the relative Whitney trick we prove that every link…
Given a triple $H$ of (possibly non-semisimple) Hopf algebras equipped with pairings satisfying a set of properties, we describe a construction of an associated smooth, scalar invariant $\tau_H(X,\pi)$ of a simply connected, compact,…
An element $e$ of a $3$-connected matroid $M$ is elastic if ${\rm si}(M/e)$, the simplification of $M/e$, and ${\rm co}(M\backslash e)$, the cosimplification of $M\backslash e$, are both $3$-connected. It was recently shown that if…
In this paper, we collect various structural results to determine when an integral homology $3$--sphere bounds an acyclic smooth $4$--manifold, and when this can be upgraded to a Stein manifold. In a different direction we study whether…
By a construction of Berstein and Edmonds every proper branched cover f between manifolds is a factor of a branched covering orbit map from a locally connected and locally compact Hausdorff space called the monodromy space of f to the…
Branch points of a real 2-surface S in a 4-manifold M generalize the branch points of complex curves in complex surfaces: for example, they can occur as singularities of minimal surfaces. We investigate such a branch point p when S is…
We exhibit a distinctly low-dimensional dynamical obstruction to the existence of Liouville cobordisms: for any contact 3-manifold admitting an exact symplectic cobordism to the tight 3-sphere, every nondegenerate contact form admits an…
For a boundary-reducible $3$-manifold $M$ with $\partial M$ a genus $g$ surface, we show that if $M$ admits a genus $g+1$ Heegaard surface $S$, then the disk complex of $S$ is simply connected. Also we consider the connectedness of the…
Let $K$ be a knot in the 3-sphere, viewed as the ideal boundary of hyperbolic 4-space $\mathbb{H}^4$. We prove that the number of minimal discs in $\mathbb{H}^4$ with ideal boundary $K$ is a knot invariant. I.e.\ the number is finite and…
Let K and L be disjoint closed oriented submanifolds of the n-sphere, with dimensions adding up to n-1. We define a map from their join K*L to the n-sphere whose degree up to sign equals their linking number, and then use this to find the…
In this paper we consider the fundamental problem of finding subgraphs in highly dynamic distributed networks - networks which allow an arbitrary number of links to be inserted / deleted per round. We show that the problems of $k$-clique…
We show that except two special cases, the sphere bundle of a vector bundle over a simply connected $4$-manifold splits after looping. In particular, this implies that though there are infinitely many inequivalent sphere bundles of a given…
It is shown that every knot or link is the set of complex tangents of a 3-sphere smoothly embedded in the three-dimensional complex space. We show in fact that a one-dimensional submanifold of a closed orientable 3-manifold can be realised…
For smooth embeddings of an integral homology 3-sphere in the 6-sphere, we define an integer invariant in terms of their Seifert surfaces. Our invariant gives a bijection between the set of smooth isotopy classes of such embeddings and the…
We introduce and study a natural variant of matroid amalgams. For matroids M(A) and N(B) such that M/(A-B)=N(B-A), we define a splice of M and N to be a matroid L on the union of A and B with L(B-A)=M and L/(A-B)=N. We show that splices…
A multisection of a 4-manifold is a decomposition into 1-handlebodies intersecting pairwise along 3-dimensional handlebodies or along a central closed surface; this generalizes the Gay-Kirby trisections. We show how to compute the twisted…
The concept of slice regular function over the real algebra $\mathbb{H}$ of quaternions is a generalization of the notion of holomorphic function of a complex variable. Let $\Omega$ be an open subset of $\mathbb{H}$, which intersects…
We give a short, simple and conceptual proof, based on spin structures, of sphere eversion: an embedded 2-sphere in $R^3$ can be turned inside out by regular homotopy. Ingredients of this eversion are seamlessly connected. We also give the…
One way to better understand the smooth mapping class group of the 4-sphere would be to give a list of generators in the form of explicit diffeomorphisms supported in neighborhoods of submanifolds, in analogy with Dehn twists on surfaces.…