Related papers: Four manifolds with no smooth spines

Let $R$ be a closed, oriented topological 4-manifold whose Euler characteristic and signature are denoted by $e$ and $\sigma$. We show that if $R$ has order two $\pi_1$, odd intersection form, and $2e + 3\sigma \geq 0$, then for all but…

Given a link L in the 3-sphere, we ask whether the components of L bound disjoint, nullhomologous disks properly embedded in a simply-connected positive-definite smooth 4-manifold; the knot case has been studied extensively in work of…

Suppose $X^{N}$ is a closed oriented manifold, $\alpha \in H^*(X;\mathbb{R})$ is a cohomology class, and $Z \in H_{N-k}(X)$ is an integral homology class. We ask the following question: is there an oriented embedded submanifold $Y^{N-k}…

We prove that 1) There exist infinitely many non-trivial codimension one "thick" knots in $\mathbb{R}^5$; 2) For each closed four-dimensional smooth manifold $M$ and for each sufficiently small positive $\epsilon$ the set of isometry…

Let $\mathcal{Z}$ be a spin $4$-manifold carrying a parallel spinor and $M\hookrightarrow \mathcal{Z}$ a hypersurface. The second fundamental form of the embedding induces a flat metric connection on $TM$. Such flat connections satisfy a…

This is a companion paper to earlier work of the authors, which proved an integral surgery formula for framed instanton homology. First, we present an enhancement of the large surgery formula, a rational surgery formula for null-homologous…

Let $K$ be a rationally null-homologous knot in a three-manifold $Y$. We construct a version of knot Floer homology in this context, including a description of the Floer homology of a three-manifold obtained as Morse surgery on the knot…

A link in the 3-sphere is homotopically trivial, according to Milnor, if its components bound disjoint maps of disks in the 4-ball. This paper concerns the question of what spaces give rise to the same class of homotopically trivial links…

We show that two properly embedded compact surfaces in an orientable 4-manifold are cobordant if and only if they are $\mathbb{Z}/2$-homologous and either the 4-manifold has boundary or the surfaces have the same normal Euler number. If the…

We consider deformations of a toroidal orbifold $T^4/Z_2$ and an orbifold of quartic in $CP^3$. In the $T^4/Z_2$ case, we construct a family of noncommutative K3 surfaces obtained via both complex and noncommutative deformations. We do this…

We show that for any closed nonpositively curved Riemannian 4-manifold $M$ with vanishing Euler characteristic, the Ricci curvature must degenerate somewhere. Moreover, for each point $p\in M$, either the Ricci tensor degenerates or else…

For any knot $K$ which bounds non-orientable and null-homologous surfaces $F$ in punctured $n\mathbb{C}P^2$, we construct a lower bound of the first Betti number of $F$ which consists of the signature of $K$ and the Heegaard Floer…

We introduce W-spin structures on a Riemann surface and give a precise definition to the corresponding W-spin equations for any quasi-homogeneous polynomial W. Then, we construct examples of nonzero solutions of spin equations in the…

Kawauchi proved that every strongly negative amphichiral knot $K \subset S^3$ bounds a smoothly embedded disk in some rational homology ball $V_K$, whose construction a priori depends on $K$. We show that $V_K$ is independent of $K$ up to…

The trace of $n$-framed surgery on a knot in $S^3$ is a 4-manifold homotopy equivalent to the 2-sphere. We characterise when a generator of the second homotopy group of such a manifold can be realised by a locally flat embedded 2-sphere…

We study how to construct explicit deformations of generic smooth maps from closed $n$--dimensional manifolds $M$ with $n \geq 2$ to the $2$--sphere $S^2$ and show that every smooth map $M \to S^2$ is homotopic to a $C^\infty$ stable map…

Suppose that $W$ and $W'$ are smooth, compact, and oriented $4$-manifolds that are either diffeomorphic to $S^1$ times the exterior $E_Y(K)$ of a fibered knot $K$ in a closed, connected, orientable $3$-manifold $Y$, or are diffeomorphic to…

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 show that on every Spin(7) manifold there always exists a unique linear connection with totally skew-symmetric torsion preserving a nontrivial spinor and the Spin(7) structure. We express its torsion and the Riemannian scalar curvature…

This paper gives a detailed construction of Seiberg-Witten-Floer homology for a closed oriented 3-manifold with a non-torsion $\spinc$ structure. Gluing formulae for certain 4-dimensional manifolds splitting along an embedded 3-manifold are…