Related papers: Diffeomorphisms of 4-manifolds from graspers

Let $X$ be a connected compact 3-manifold with non-empty boundary. Consider the boundary $M$ of $X\times D^2$. $M$ is a 4-dimensional closed manifold and has the same fundamental group as $X$. Various examples of $X$ are known for which a…

The purpose of this note is to explain a combinatorial description of closed smooth oriented 4-manifolds in terms of positive Dehn twist factorizations of surface mapping classes, and further explore these connections. This is obtained via…

We calculate the Seiberg-Witten invariants of branched covers of prime degree, where the branch locus consists of embedded spheres. Aside from the formula itself, our calculations give rise to some new constraints on configurations of…

In this paper we develop a bubble tree structure for a degenerating class of Riemannian metrics satisfying some global conformal bounds on compact manifolds of dimension 4. Applying the bubble tree structure, we establish a gap theorem, a…

Motivated by the programmes initiated by Taubes and Perutz, we study the geometry of near-symplectic 4-manifolds, i.e., manifolds equipped with a closed 2-form which is symplectic outside a union of embedded 1-dimensional submanifolds, and…

The theory of Morse functions and their higher dimensional versions or fold maps on manifolds and its application to geometric theory of manifolds is one of important branches of geometry and mathematics. Studies related to this was started…

Four observations compose the main results of this note. The first records the existence of a smoothly embedded 2-sphere $S$ inside $\mathbb{R} P^2\times S^2$ such that performing a Gluck twist on $S$ produces a manifold $Y$ that is…

We develop a framework that generalizes Budney-Gabai's $W_3$ invariant on $\pi_0\textrm{Diff}(S^1\times D^3,\partial)$ to 4-manifolds with 1-handles. As applications, we show that if $M=(S^1\times D^3)\natural \hat M$ where $\hat M$ either…

We use surgery along 2-tori embedded in a union of two copies of a product of punctured 2-tori to produce a new collection of homotopy 4-spheres (4-manifolds homotopy equivalent to $S^4$ and hence homeomorphic to $S^4$ but possibly not…

We initiate the study of exotic Dehn twists along 3-manifolds $\neq S^3$ inside $4$-manifolds, which produces the first known examples of exotic diffeomorphisms of contractible 4-manifolds, more generally of definite 4-manifolds, and exotic…

This article provides a survey of gauge theory for families, with a particular focus on its applications to diffeomorphism groups of $4$-manifolds that were developed during the period 2021--2025.

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 present a new, more elementary proof of the Freedman-Teichner result that the geometric classification techniques (surgery, s-cobordism, and pseudoisotopy) hold for topological 4-manifolds with groups of subexponential growth. In an…

We consider finite-sheeted, regular, possibly branched covering spaces of compact surfaces with boundary and the associated liftable and symmetric mapping class groups. In particular, we classify when either of these subgroups coincides…

We give constraints on smooth families of 4-manifolds with boundary using Manolescu's Seiberg-Witten Floer stable homotopy type, provided that the fiberwise restrictions of the families to the boundaries are trivial families of 3-manifolds.…

Families of smooth closed oriented 4-manifolds with a complex spin structure are studied by means of a family version of the Bauer--Furuta invariants in the context of parametrised stable homotopy theory, leading to a definition of…

Two 4-manifolds are stably diffeomorphic if they become diffeomorphic after connected sum with S^2 x S^2's. This paper shows that two closed, orientable, homotopy equivalent, smooth 4-manifolds are stably diffeomorphic, provided a certain…

Using geometric arguments, we compute the group of homotopy classes of maps from a closed $(n+1)$-dimensional manifold to the $n$-sphere for $n \geq 3$. Our work extends results from Kirby, Melvin and Teichner for closed oriented…

Given two smooth, oriented, closed 4-manifolds $M_1$ and $M_2$, we construct two invariants, $D^P(M_1, M_2)$ and $D(M_1, M_2)$, coming from distances in the pants complex and the dual curve complex respectively. To do this, we adapt work of…

We study cobordisms of a class of topological operads called ``manifold operads''. These operads are generalizations of the Fulton-MacPherson operad: an operad built from configurations of points in Euclidean space. Cobordism of manifold…