Related papers: Smoothly slice links in $\mathbb{CP}^2 \# \overlin…
We prove that for any integer $n$ there exist infinitely many different knots in $S^3$ such that $n$-surgery on those knots yields the same 3-manifold. In particular, when $|n|=1$ homology spheres arise from these surgeries. This answers…
We propose and analyze a structure with which to organize the difference between a knot in the 3-sphere bounding a topologically embedded 2-disk in the 4-ball and it bounding a smoothly embedded disk. The n-solvable filtration of the…
An oriented link L in a 3-sphere S in complex 2-space is a C-boundary if it bounds a piece of algebraic curve in the 4-ball bounded by S. Using Kronheimer and Mrowka's proof of the Thom Conjecture, we construct many oriented knots which are…
We show that if K is any knot whose Ozsvath-Szabo concordance invariant tau(K) is positive, the all-positive Whitehead double of any iterated Bing double of K is topologically but not smoothly slice. We also show that the all-positive…
In 2016 Levine showed that there exists a knot in a homology 3-sphere which is not smoothly concordant to any knot in the 3-sphere where one allows concordances in any smooth homology cobordism. Whether the same is true if one allows…
For most positive integer pairs $(a,b)$, the topological space $#a{\mathbb C \mathbb P}^2#b{\bar{\mathbb C \mathbb P^2}}$ is shown to admit infinitely many inequivalent smooth structures which dissolve upon performing a single connected sum…
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…
Bing doubling is an operation which produces a 2-component boundary link B(K) from a knot K. If K is slice, then B(K) is easily seen to be boundary slice. In this paper, we investigate whether the converse holds. Our main result is that if…
We show that there are links whose individual components are concordant to the unknot, but which are not concordant to any link with unknotted components. We give examples in the topological category, and examples in the smooth category…
A theorem of Mumford states that, on complex surfaces, any normal isolated singularity whose link is diffeomorphic to a sphere is actually a smooth point. While this property fails in higher dimensions, McLean asks whether the contact…
We consider knots and links in handlebodies that have hyperbolic complements and operations akin to composition. Cutting the complements of two such open along separating twice-punctured disks such that each of the four resulting…
We demonstrate the existence of minimal simplicial $n$-complexes which inevitably contain a nonsplittable two-component link formed by an $(n-1)$-sphere and an $n$-sphere in any embedding into $\mathbb{R}^{2n}$. This provides a…
For $\ell >1$, we develop $L^{(2)}$-signature obstructions for $(4\ell-3)$-dimensional knots with metabelian knot groups to be doubly slice. For each $\ell>1$, we construct an infinite family of knots on which our obstructions are non-zero,…
We use twisted Alexander polynomials to show that certain algebraically slice 2-bridge knots are not topologically slice, even though all prime power Casson-Gordon signatures vanish. We also provide some computations indicating the efficacy…
We give an example of a 3-component smoothly slice boundary link, each of whose components has a genus one Seifert surface, such that any metaboliser of the boundary link Seifert form is represented by 3 curves on the Seifert surfaces that…
We introduce a geometric operation, which we call the relative Whitney trick, that removes a single double point between properly immersed surfaces in a $4$-manifold with boundary. Using the relative Whitney trick we prove that every link…
I construct "fake algebraic curves" in $Cp^2$. More precisely, for any k>2, I construct infinitely many pairwise smoothly non-isotopic (and moreover not ambient diffeomorphic) smooth surfaces $F\subset Cp^2$ homeomorphic to a non-singular…
An obstruction theory for representing homotopy classes of surfaces in 4-manifolds by immersions with pairwise disjoint images is developed, using the theory of non-repeating Whitney towers. The accompanying higher-order intersection…
We say that a topologically embedded 3-sphere in a smoothing of Euclidean 4-space is a barrier provided, roughly, no diffeomorphism of the 4-manifold moves the 3-sphere off itself. In this paper we construct infinitely many one parameter…
Motivated by Stipsicz and Szab\'{o}'s exotic 4-manifolds with b_2^+=3 and b_2^-=8, we construct a family of simply connected smooth 4-manifolds with b_2^+=3 and b_2^-=8. As a corollary, we conclude that the topological 4-manifold…