Related papers: Extended surgery theory for simply-connected $4k$-…
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…
The goal of this book is to characterize algebraically the closed 4-manifolds that fibre nontrivially or admit geometries in the sense of Thurston, or which are obtained by surgery on 2-knots, and to provide a reference for the topology of…
We give a bordism-theoretic characterisation of those closed almost contact (2q+1)-manifolds (with q > 2) which admit a Stein fillable contact structure. Our method is to apply Eliashberg's h-principle for Stein manifolds in the setting of…
We construct a compact, contractible 4-manifold $C$, an infinite-order self-diffeomorphism $f$ of its boundary, and a smooth embedding of $C$ into a closed, simply connected 4-manifold $X$, such that the manifolds obtained by cutting $C$…
Let $X$ be a smooth simply connected closed 4-manifold with definite intersection form. We show that any automorphism of the intersection form of $X$ is realized by a diffeomorphism of $X \mathbin{\#} S^2 \times S^2$. This extends and…
We show that every positive definite closed 4-manifold with $b_2^+>1$ and without 1-handles has a vanishing stable cohomotopy Seiberg-Witten invariant, and thus admits no symplectic structure. We also show that every closed oriented…
Let $M^{2n}$ denote a closed $(n-1)$-connected smoothable topological $2n$-manifold. We show that the group $\mathcal{C}(M^{2n})$ of concordance classes of smoothings of $M^{2n}$ is isomorphic to the group of smooth homotopy spheres…
Given an injective amalgam at the level of fundamental groups and a specific 3-manifold, is there a corresponding geometric-topological decomposition of a given 4-manifold, in a stable sense? We find an algebraic-topological splitting…
Despite spectacular advances in defining invariants for simply connected smooth and symplectic 4-dimensional manifolds and the discovery of effective surgical techniques, we still have been unable to classify simply connected smooth…
We prove a localization theorem for exotic diffeomorphisms, showing that every diffeomorphism of a compact simply-connected 4-manifold that is isotopic to the identity after stabilizing with one copy of $S^2 \times S^2$, is smoothly…
We prove that the examples by Smith and McMullen-Taubes provide infinitely many counterexamples to one direction of Donaldson's 4-6 question and the closely related Stabilising Conjecture. These are the first known counterexamples. In the…
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…
Following previous work, we continue the study of infinitesimal methods in mixed Hodge theory. In the first part, inspired by the deformation theory of curves on Calabi-Yau threefolds, we study deformations of smooth $\mathbb{Q}$-log…
In this article we study Lefschetz fibration structures on knot surgery 4-manifolds obtained from an elliptic surface E(2) using Kanenobu knots $K$. As a result, we get an infinite family of simply connected mutually diffeomorphic…
This article presents families of 7-dimensional closed and simply-connected manifolds and fold maps on them such that squares of 2nd integral cohomology classes may not be divisible by 2. Fold maps are higher dimensional versions of Morse…
Let M be a closed oriented 3-manifold with first Betti number one. Its equivariant linking pairing may be seen as a two-dimensional cohomology class in an appropriate infinite cyclic covering of the configuration space of ordered pairs of…
We study the problem of determining which diffeomorphism classes of K\"{a}hler manifolds admit a Hamiltonian circle action. Our main result is the following: Let $M$ be a closed symplectic manifold, diffeomorphic to a complete intersection…
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…
Let $F\in\mathrm{Diff}(\mathbb{C}^2,0)$ be a germ of a holomorphic diffeomorphism and let $\Gamma$ be an invariant formal curve of $F$. Assume that the restricted diffeomorphism $F|_{\Gamma}$ is either hyperbolic attracting or rationally…
We prove a surface embedding theorem for 4-manifolds with good fundamental group in the presence of dual spheres, with no restriction on the normal bundles. The new obstruction is a Kervaire-Milnor invariant for surfaces and we give a…