Related papers: Almost complex manifolds with total Betti number t…

We show that the complex projective space is the only projective manifold compactifying $\mathbb{C}^n$ by a smooth connected hypersurface, provided $n$ is even. In the odd dimensional case we give some partial results. The case when $n…

We provide the first explicit example of a cork of $\mathbf{CP}^2 \# 8\overline{\mathbf{CP}^2}$. This result gives the current smallest second Betti number of a standard simply-connected closed $4$-manifold for which an explicit cork has…

We give a characterization for the Alexander Polynomials of closed orientable 3-manifolds M with first Betti number 1, as well as some partial results for the characterization problem for M having first Betti number > 1. We first prove an…

We derive a uniform bound for the total betti number of a closed manifold in terms of a Ricci curvature lower bound, a conjugate radius lower bound and a diameter upper bound. The result is based on an angle version of Toponogov comparison…

We study which lens spaces can bound smooth 4-manifolds with second Betti number one under various topological conditions. Specifically, we show that there are infinite families of lens spaces that bound compact, simply-connected, smooth…

Let M be an irreducible compact hyperk\"ahler manifold of complex dimension six. Under an assumption on the Looijenga-Lunts-Verbitsky decomposition of the cohomology of M, we prove that the second Betti number of M is at most 23.

We define an invariant, which we call surface-complexity, of closed 3-manifolds by means of Dehn surfaces. The surface-complexity of a manifold is a natural number measuring how much the manifold is complicated. We prove that it fulfils…

We construct examples of non-formal simply connected and compact oriented manifolds of any dimension bigger or equal to 7.

We describe an algorithm which has enabled us to give a complete list, without repetitions, of all closed oriented irreducible 3-manifolds of complexity up to 9. More interestingly, we have actually been able to give a "name" to each such…

We calculate explicitly the Betti numbers of a class of barely G2 manifolds - that is, G2 manifolds that are realised as a product of a Calabi-Yau manifold and a circle, modulo an involution. The particular class which we consider are those…

Let M be a closed (n-1)-connected 2n-dimensional smooth manifold with n > 2. In terms of the system of invariants for such manifolds introduced by Wall, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for M to admit an almost complex…

We construct the first example of a 5-dimensional simply connected compact manifold that admits a K-contact structure but does not admit a semi-regular Sasakian structure. For this, we need two ingredients: (a) to construct a suitable…

We compute for all orientable irreducible geometric 3-manifolds certain complexity functions that approximate from above Matveev's natural complexity, known to be equal to the minimal number of tetrahedra in a triangulation. We can show…

We study the minimal number C(M,\xi) of contact charts that one needs to cover a closed connected contact manifold (M,\xi). Our basic result is C(M,\xi) \le \dim M + 1. We compute C(M,\xi) for all closed connected contact 3-manifolds: C…

If $M$ is a closed Nil geometry 3-manifold then $\pi_1(M)$ is almost convex with respect to a fairly simple ``geometric'' generating set. If $G$ is a central extension or a ${\Bbb Z}$-extension of a word hyperbolic group, then $G$ is also…

It is known that any two triangulations of a compact 3-manifold are related by finite sequences of certain local transformations. We prove here an upper bound for the length of a shortest transformation sequence relating any two…

We define an invariant, which we call surface-complexity, of compact 3-manifolds by means of Dehn surfaces. The surface-complexity is a natural number measuring how much the manifold is complicated. We prove that it fulfils interesting…

A simplicial complex is $r$-conic if every subcomplex of at most $r$ vertices is contained in the star of a vertex. A $4$-conic complex is simply connected. We prove that an $8$-conic complex is $2$-connected. In general a $(2n+1)$-conic…

We show that almost complex circle actions with exactly three fixed points do not exist in dimension 8 and present an infinite series of 6-dimensional manifolds possessing an almost complex circle action with exactly two fixed points.

It is known that the only Stein filling of the standard contact structure on S^3 is B^4. In this paper, we construct simply connected exotic compact Stein 4-manifold pairs for any Betti number $b_2 \geq 1$; we do this by enlarging corks and…