Related papers: Model and Set-Theoretic Aspects of Exotic Smoothne…
Recent work on exotic smooth R^4's, i.e. topological R^4 with exotic differential structure, shows the connection of 4-exotics with the codimension-1 foliations of $S^{3}$, SU(2) WZW models and twisted K-theory $K_{H}(S^{3})$, $H\in…
We give arguments that exotic smooth structures on compact and noncompact 4-manifolds are essential for some approaches to quantum gravity. We rely on the recently developed model-theoretic approach to exotic smoothness in dimension four.…
We study the relationship between exotic R^4's and Stein surfaces as it applies to smoothing theory on more general open 4-manifolds. In particular, we construct the first known examples of large exotic R^4's that embed in Stein surfaces.…
The paper shows deep connections between exotic smoothings of small R^4, noncommutative algebras of foliations and quantization. At first, based on the close relation of foliations and noncommutative C*-algebras we show that cyclic…
Recent discoveries in differential topology are reviewed in light of their possible implications for spacetime models and related subjects in theoretical physics. Although not often noted, a particular smoothness (differentiability)…
The problem of possible astrophysical consequences of the existence of exotic differential structures on manifolds is discussed. It is argued that corrections to the curvature of the form of a source like terms should be expected in the…
Over the last two decades, many unexpected relations between exotic smoothness, e.g. exotic $\mathbb{R}^{4}$, and quantum field theory were found. Some of these relations are rooted in a relation to superstring theory and quantum gravity.…
In this paper we calculate the effect of the inclusion of exotic smooth structures on typical observables in Euclidean quantum gravity. We do this in the semiclassical regime for several gravitational free-field actions and find that the…
Since the first work on exotic smoothness in physics, it was folklore to assume a direct influence of exotic smoothness to quantum gravity. Thus, the negative result of Duston (arXiv:0911.4068) was a surprise. A closer look into the…
We follow the point of view that superstring theory, as the theory of quantum gravity in the number of spacetime dimensions bigger than 4, serves as mathematics for both, 4 dimensional QG and exotic smoothness on open 4-manifolds.…
We provide an approach to study exotic phenomena in relatively small 4-manifolds that captures many different exotic behaviors under one umbrella. These phenomena include exotic smooth structures on 4-manifolds with $b_2=1$, examples of…
The essential role played by differentiable structures in physics is reviewed in light of recent mathematical discoveries that topologically trivial space-time models, especially the simplest one, ${\bf R^4}$, possess a rich multiplicity of…
We review recent developments in differential topology with special concern for their possible significance to physical theories, especially general relativity. In particular we are concerned here with the discovery of the existence of…
Since the first work on exotic smoothness in physics, it was folklore to assume a direct influence of exotic smoothness to quantum gravity. In the second paper, we calculate the "smoothness structure" part of the path integral in quantum…
We investigate how exotic differential structures may reveal themselves in particle physics. The analysis is based on the A. Connes' construction of the standard model. It is shown that, if one of the copies of the spacetime manifold is…
We study the possibility of realizing exotic smooth structures on punctured simply connected $4$-manifolds as leaves of a codimension one foliation on a compact manifold. In particular, we show the existence of uncountably many smooth open…
We use a variation of a classical construction of A. Hatcher to construct virtually all stable exotic smooth structures on compact smooth manifold bundles whose fibers have sufficiently large odd dimension (at least twice the base dimension…
We introduce a method to detect exotic surfaces without explicitly using a smooth 4-manifold invariant or an invariant of a 4-manifold-surface pair in the construction. Our main tools are two versions of families (Seiberg-Witten)…
This paper studies properly embedded surfaces in the 4-ball that are exotically knotted (i.e., topologically but not smoothly isotopic), and leverages this local phenomenon to study surfaces in larger 4-manifolds. The main results provide a…
One of the emerging problems in algebraic geometry is to characterize the affine $n$-space $\mathbb{A}^n$ among smooth affine schemes up to $\mathbb{A}^1$-contractibility. Recent efforts show that this characterization holds in dimensions…