Related papers: A note on positive definite, symplectic four-manif…

Modulo trivial exceptions, we show that smoothly nontrivial symplectic sums of symplectic 4-manifolds along surfaces of positive genus are never rational or ruled, and we enumerate each case in which they have Kodaira dimension zero (i.e.,…

We develop the Gompf fiber connected sum operation for symplectic orbifolds. We use it to construct a symplectic 4-orbifold with $b_1=0$ and containing symplectic surfaces of genus 1 and 2 that are disjoint and span the rational homology.…

Suppose that $C=(C_1,..., C_m)$ is a configuration of 2-dimensional symplectic submanifolds in a symplectic 4-manifold $(X,\omega)$ with connected, negative definite intersection graph $\Gamma_C$. We show that by replacing an appropriate…

In this paper we classify symplectic Lefschetz fibrations (with empty base locus) on a four-manifold which is the product of a three-manifold with a circle. This result provides further evidence in support of the following conjecture…

In [HT], two of us constructed a closed oriented 4-dimensional manifold with fundamental group $\Z$ that does not split off $S^1\times S^3$. In this note we show that this 4-manifold, and various others derived from it, do not admit smooth…

We construct explicit maximal symplectic packings of minimal rational and ruled symplectic 4-manifolds by few balls in a very simple way.

It is shown that there are infinitely many compact orientable smooth 4-manifolds which do not admit Einstein metrics, but nevertheless satisfy the strict Hitchin-Thorpe inequality 2 chi > 3 |tau|. The examples in question arise as…

We prove that symplectic ball packing stability holds for every compact, connected symplectic $4$-manifold with smooth boundary. This follows from a stronger result: the full volume of any such manifold can be filled by a single symplectic…

In this note we apply a 4-fold sum operation to develop an associativity rule for the pairwise symplectic sum. This allows us to show that certain diffeomorphic symplectic $4$-manifolds made out of elliptic surfaces are in fact…

This paper shows that there are symplectic four-manifolds M with the following property: a single isotopy class of smooth embedded two-spheres in M contains infinitely many Lagrangian submanifolds, no two of which are isotopic as Lagrangian…

Let X be a holomorphic symplectic fourfold such that b_2=23 and i a symplectic involution of X . The fixed locus F of i is a smooth symplectic submanifold of X; we show that F contains at least 12 isolated points and 1 smooth surface. We…

In this paper we give explicit, handle-by-handle constructions of concave symplectic fillings of all closed, oriented contact 3-manifolds. These constructions combine recent results of Giroux relating contact structures and open book…

We prove the vanishing of many Welschinger invariants of real symplectic $4$-manifolds. In some particular instances, we also determine their sign and show that they are divisible by a large power of 2. Those results are a consequence of…

We build a non-compact, orientable, hyperbolic four-manifold of finite volume that does not admit any spin structure.

Motivated by the construction of H. Endo and Y. Gurtas, changing a positive relator in Dehn twist generators of the mapping class group by using lantern substitutions, we show that 4-manifold $K3#2\CPb$ equipped with the genus two Lefschetz…

We show that any closed oriented 3-manifold can be topologically embedded in some simply-connected closed symplectic 4-manifold, and that it can be made a smooth embedding after one stabilization. As a corollary of the proof we show that…

In this paper we construct a minimal symplectic 4-manifold and prove it is homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to CP^2 # 3(-CP^2)

We produce a rational homology 3-sphere that does not smoothly bound either a positive or negative definite 4-manifold. Such a 3-manifold necessarily cannot be rational homology cobordant to a Seifert fibered space or any 3-manifold…

A smooth, compact 4-manifold with a Riemannian metric and b^(2+) > 0 has a non-trivial, closed, self-dual 2-form. If the metric is generic, then the zero set of this form is a disjoint union of circles. On the complement of this zero set,…

This paper explains an application of Gromov's h-principle to prove the existence, on any orientable 4-manifold, of a folded symplectic form. That is a closed 2-form which is symplectic except on a separating hypersurface where the form…