Related papers: Horizontal decompositions, I

We classify, up to homeomorphisms, the closed simply-connected 4-manifolds that admit a Riemannian metric for which averages of pairs of sectional curvatures of orthogonal planes are positive.

In [HT], two of us constructed a closed oriented 4-dimensional manifold with fundamental group $\Z$ that does not split off $S^1\times S^3$. In this note we show that this 4-manifold, and various others derived from it, do not admit smooth…

We show that any smooth, closed, oriented, connected 4--manifold can be trisected into three copies of $\natural^k (S^1 \times B^3)$, intersecting pairwise in 3--dimensional handlebodies, with triple intersection a closed 2--dimensional…

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 $g$…

Given a manifold with corners $X$, we associates to it the corner structure simplicial complex $\Sigma_X$. Its reduced K-homology is isomorphic to the K-theory of the $C^*$-algebra $\mathcal{K}_b(X)$ of b-compact operators on $X$. Moreover,…

We determine loop space decompositions of simply-connected four-manifolds, $(n-1)$-connected $2n$-dimensional manifolds provided $n\notin\{4,8\}$, and connected sums of products of two spheres. These are obtained as special cases of a more…

A planar set $P$ is said to be cover-decomposable if there is a constant $k=k(P)$ such that every $k$-fold covering of the plane with translates of $P$ can be decomposed into two coverings. It is known that open convex polygons are…

In this paper we provide the first examples of arithmetic hyperbolic 3-manifolds that are rational homology spheres and bound geometrically either compact or cusped hyperbolic 4-manifolds.

We show that every plumbing of disc bundles over surfaces whose genera satisfy a simple inequality may be embedded as a convex submanifold in some closed hyperbolic four-manifold. In particular its interior has a geometrically finite…

It is shown that any finite list of smooth closed simply-connected 4-manifolds homeomorphic to a given one X can be obtained by removing a single compact contractible submanifold (or cork) from X, and then regluing it by powers of a…

For each rational homology 3-sphere $Y$ which bounds simply connected definite 4-manifolds of both signs, we construct an infinite family of irreducible rational homology 3-spheres which are homology cobordant to $Y$ but cannot bound any…

In the first part we survey some of the known results and conjectures on compact Hyperkaehler (HK) manifolds. In the second part we presents a program which aims to show that HK four-folds whose second cohomology (with 4-tuple cup-product)…

We exhibit an infinite family of rational homology balls which embed smoothly but not symplectically in the complex projective plane. We also obtain a new lattice embedding obstruction from Donaldson's diagonalisation theorem, and use this…

Let $X$ be an oriented 4-manifold which does not have simple SW-type, for example a blow-up of a rational or ruled surface. We show that any two cohomologous and deformation equivalent symplectic forms on $X$ are isotopic. This implies that…

We prove that any two smooth h-cobordant simply-connected 4-manifolds can be obtained by taking two manifolds with boundary, one of which is contractible, and gluing them along the boundary via two different attaching maps.

Work of numerous authors has shown that any smooth, orientable, closed 4-manifold may be described as a loop of Morse functions on a surface, a loop in the cut complex, a loop in the pants complex, or as a multisection. In this paper, we…

We study symplectic surfaces in ruled symplectic 4-manifolds which are disjoint from a given symplectic section. As a consequence we see that, in any symplectic 4-manifold, two homologous symplectic surfaces which are sufficiently C^0 close…

For each nonnegative integer m we show that any closed, oriented topological four-manifold with fundamental group Z_{4m+2} and odd intersection form, with possibly seven exceptions, either admits no smooth structure or admits infinitely…

We generalise theorems of Khodorovskiy and Park-Park-Shin, and give new topological proofs of those theorems, using embedded surfaces in the 4-ball and branched double covers. These theorems exhibit smooth codimension-zero embeddings of…

By gluing some copies of a polytope of Kerckhoff and Storm's, we build the smallest known orientable hyperbolic 4-manifold that is not commensurable with the ideal 24-cell or the ideal rectified simplex. It is cusped and arithemtic, and has…