Related papers: Stein trisections and homotopy 4-balls

We show that the homotopy type of a finite oriented Poincar\'{e} 4-complex is determined by its quadratic 2-type provided its fundamental group is finite and has a dihedral Sylow 2-subgroup. By combining with results of Hambleton-Kreck and…

We construct the first examples of non-smoothable self-homeomorphisms of smooth $4$-manifolds with boundary that fix the boundary and act trivially on homology. As a corollary, we construct self-diffeomorphisms of $4$-manifolds with…

We demonstrate new applications of the trace embedding lemma to the study of piecewise-linear surfaces and the detection of exotic phenomena in dimension four. We provide infinitely many pairs of homeomorphic 4-manifolds $W$ and $W'$…

We offer an approach to the smooth 4-dimensional Schoenflies conjecture via pseudo-isotopy theory.

Let S be a closed connected real surface and f a smooth embedding or immersion of S into a complex surface X. Assuming that the number of complex points of the immersion (counted with algebraic multiplicities) is non-positive we prove that…

A unified summary is given of the existence theory of Stein manifolds in all dimensions, based on published and pending literature. Eliashberg's characterization of manifolds admitting Stein structures requires an extra delicate hypothesis…

We construct stable minimal hypersurfaces with simple topology in certain compact $4$-manifolds $X$ with boundary, where $X$ embeds into a smooth manifold homeomorphic to $S^4$. For example, if $X$ is equipped with a Riemannian metric $g$…

In this paper, we standardize a homotopy $4$-sphere constructed by Dunfield and Gong. As a corollary, we show that the $18$-crossing knot $18_{\text{nh}00000601}$, which is not known to be ribbon, is slice in the standard $4$-ball. Thus,…

We extend the definition of Khovanov-Lee homology to links in connected sums of $S^1 \times S^2$'s, and construct a Rasmussen-type invariant for null-homologous links in these manifolds. For certain links in $S^1 \times S^2$, we compute the…

We define a diffeomorphism invariant of smooth 4-manifolds which we can estimate for many smoothings of R^4 and other smooth 4-manifolds. Using this invariant we can show that uncountably many smoothings of R^4 support no Stein structure.…

We use surgery along 2-tori embedded in a union of two copies of a product of punctured 2-tori to produce a new collection of homotopy 4-spheres (4-manifolds homotopy equivalent to $S^4$ and hence homeomorphic to $S^4$ but possibly not…

We discuss closed symplectic 4-manifolds which admit full symplectic packings by $N$ equal balls for large $N$'s. We give a homological criterion for recognizing such manifolds. As a corollary we prove that ${\Bbb C}P^2$ can be fully packed…

In this paper we construct a Stein neighborhood basis for any compact subvariety $A$ with strongly pseudoconvex boundary $bA$ and Stein interior $A\backslash bA$ in a complex space $X$. This is an extension of a well known theorem of Siu.…

On a bounded strictly pseudoconvex domain in $\mathbb{C}^n$, $n>1$, the smoothness of the Cheng-Yau solution to Fefferman's complex Monge-Ampere equation up to the boundary is obstructed by a local curvature invariant of the boundary. For…

We answer a question of Livingston from 1982 by producing Seifert surfaces of the same genus for a knot in $S^3$ that do not become isotopic when their interiors are pushed into $B^4$. In particular, we identify examples where the surfaces…

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.…

For a 4-manifold represented by a framed knot in $S^3$, it has been well known that the 4-manifold admits a Stein structure if the framing is less than the maximal Thurston-Bennequin number of the knot. In this paper, we prove either the…

This paper investigates the symplectic and contact topology associated to circular spherical divisors. We classify, up to toric equivalence, all concave circular spherical divisors $ D $ that can be embedded symplectically into a closed…

In this note we describe a family of arguments that link the homotopy-type of a) the diffeomorphism group of the disc $D^n$, b) the space of co-dimension one embedded spheres in a sphere and c) the homotopy-type of the space of co-dimension…

We establish a braid of interlocking exact sequences containing the group of homotopy self-equivalences of a smooth or topological 4-manifold. The braid is computed for manifolds whose fundamental group is finite of odd order.