Related papers: The relative Whitney trick and its applications

Let $Y\to X$ be a finite normal cover of a wedge of $n\geq 3$ circles. We prove that for any $v\neq 0\in H_1(Y;\mathbb{Q})$ there exists a lift $\widetilde{F}$ to $Y$ of a homotopy equivalence $F:X\to X$ so that the set of iterates…

For every $n \ge 3$, we construct 2-component links in $S^{n+1}$ that are a split by an integer homology $n$-sphere, but not by $S^n$. In the special case $n=3$, i.e. that of 2-links in $S^4$, we produce an infinite family of links $L_\ell$…

Triple linking numbers were defined for 3-component oriented surface-links in 4-space using signed triple points on projections in 3-space. In this paper we give an algebraic formulation using intersections of homology classes (or cup…

A well-known theorem of Whitney states that a 3-connected planar graph admits an essentially unique embedding into the 2-sphere. We prove a 3-dimensional analogue: a simply-connected $2$-complex every link graph of which is 3-connected…

For a closed 4-manifold X and closed 3-manifold M we investigate the smallest integer n (perhaps infinity) such that M embeds in the connected sum of n copies of X. It is proven that any lens space (or homology lens space) embeds…

In this thesis we study the Seiberg-Witten theory of an oriented homology 3-sphere. The goal is to extract topological invariants - the Seiberg-Witten invariants - by counting the solutions to the Seiberg-Witten equations on the manifold.…

In this paper we study isotopy classes of closed connected orientable surfaces in the standard $3$-sphere. Such a surface splits the $3$-sphere into two compact connected submanifolds, and by using their Heegaard splittings, we obtain a…

It is proved that the Wedderburn Theorem on finite division rings implies that all knots and links in the smooth 4-dimensional manifolds are trivial.

Let X be a complex projective variety of dimension n with only isolated normal singularities. In this paper we prove, using mixed Hodge theory, that if the link of each singular point of X is (n-2)-connected, then X is a formal topological…

We use topological surgery in dimension four to give sufficient conditions for the zero framed surgery manifold of a 3-component link to be homology cobordant to the 3-torus, which arises from zero framed surgery on the Borromean rings, via…

Let E(1)_K denote the closed 4-manifold that is homotopy equivalent (hence homeomorphic) to the rational elliptic surface E(1) and is obtained by performing Fintushel-Stern knot surgery on E(1) using a knot K in S^3. We construct an…

Using Morse theory and a new relative homological linking of pairs, we prove a ``homological linking principle'', thereby generalizing many well known results in critical point theory.

There is one generalization of fibered links in 3-manifolds, called homologically fibered links. It is known that the existence of homologically fibered links whose fiber surface has a given homeomorphic type is determined by the first…

To do homological algebra with unbounded chain complexes one needs to first find a way of constructing resolutions. Spaltenstein solved this problem for chain complexes of R-modules by truncating further and further to the left, resolving…

In this paper, we study surfaces embedded in $4$-manifolds. We give a complete set of moves relating banded unlink diagrams of isotopic surfaces in an arbitrary $4$-manifold. This extends work of Swenton and Kearton-Kurlin in $S^4$. As an…

We present complete classifications of links in the 3-sphere modulo framed and twisted Whitney towers in a rational homology 4-ball. This provides a geometric characterization of the vanishing of the Milnor invariants of links in terms of…

We obtain new invariants of topological link concordance and homology cobordism of 3-manifolds from Hirzebruch-type intersection form defects of towers of iterated p-covers. Our invariants can extract geometric information from an arbitrary…

A theorem of Kirby states that two framed links in the 3-sphere produce orientation-preserving homeomorphic results of surgery if they are related by a sequence of stabilization and handle-slide moves. The purpose of the present paper is…

We show that on any closed contact manifold of dimension greater than 1 a contact structure with vanishing contact homology can be constructed. The basic idea for the construction comes from Giroux. We use a special open book decomposition…

We describe a construction procedure of infinite sets of $2$-links in closed simply connected 4-manifolds that are topologically isotopic, smoothly inequivalent and componentwise topologically unknotted. These 2-links are the first examples…