Related papers: On Watanabe's theta graph diffeomorphism in the 4-…
We define a diffeomorphism invariant of smooth 4-manifolds which we can estimate for many smoothings of R^4 and other smooth 4-manifolds. Using this invariant we can show that uncountably many smoothings of R^4 support no Stein structure.…
We investigate the automorphism group of the substructure ordering of finite directed graphs. The second author conjectured that it is isomorphic to the 768-element group $(\mathbb{Z}_2^4 \times S_4)\rtimes_{\alpha} \mathbb{Z}_2$. Though…
We use a 1-parameter version of gauge theory to investigate the topology of the diffeomorphism group of 4-manifolds. A polynomial invariant, analogous to the Donaldson polynomial, is defined, and is used to show that the diffeomorphism…
We compute the topological mapping class group of every compact, simply connected, topological 4-manifold. This was previously only known in the closed case. If the 4-manifold is smooth, we deduce an analogous description of the stable…
We distinguish diffeomorphism types of relative trisections using a ``capping'' operation, which yields a trisection diagram of a closed 4-manifold from a relative trisection diagram. Using this operation, we give various examples of…
We extend the theory of diffeomorphism-invariant spin network states from the real-analytic category to the smooth category. Suppose that G is a compact connected semisimple Lie group and P -> M is a smooth principal G-bundle. A `cylinder…
We describe the subgroup of the mapping class group of a hypersurface in $\mathbb{CP}^4$ consisting of those diffeomorphisms which can be realised by monodromy.
The unknot U in S^4 has non-unique smooth spanning 3-balls up to isotopy fixing U. Equivalently there are properly embedded non-separating 3-balls in S^1xB^3 not properly isotopic to 1xB^3. More generally there exist non-separating…
In the paper \cite{wall_1}, C.T.C. Wall proved that two smooth closed simply connected 4-manifolds which are homeomorphic are in fact stably diffeomorphic. We prove a similar result which states that two smooth closed 4-manifolds satisfying…
We study triangulated categories which can be modeled by an oriented marked surface $\mathcal{S}$ and a line field $\eta$ on $\mathcal{S}$. This includes bounded derived categories of gentle algebras and -- conjecturally -- all partially…
We show that the fundamental group of framed circles in $S^1 \times D^3$ injects into the fundamental group of framed spheres in $S^2\times D^2$, so that the cokernel is the fundamental group of framed neat disks in $D^4$. In particular,…
In this paper, we study surfaces embedded in $4$-manifolds. We give a complete set of moves relating banded unlink diagrams of isotopic surfaces in an arbitrary $4$-manifold. This extends work of Swenton and Kearton-Kurlin in $S^4$. As an…
In 2009, Calegari constructed smooth homotopy 4-spheres from monodromies of fibered knots. We prove that all these are diffeomorphic to the standard 4-sphere. Our method uses 5-dimensional handlebody techniques and results on mapping class…
In this paper, we prove that each automorphism of the Torelli group of a surface is induced by a diffeomorphism of the surface, provided that the surface is a closed, connected, orientable surface of genus at least 3. This result was…
We first show that the braid group over a graph topologically containing no $\Theta$-shape subgraph has a presentation related only by commutators. Then using discrete Morse theory and triple Massey products, we prove that a graph…
It is well-known by the work of Hsiang and Kleiner that every closed oriented positively curved 4-dimensional manifold with an effective isometric S^1-action is homeomorphic to S^4 or CP^2. As stated, it is a topological classification. The…
We construct a number of topologically trivial but smoothly non-trivial families of embeddings of 3-manifolds in 4-manifolds. These include embeddings of homology spheres in $S^4$ that are not isotopic but have diffeomorphic complements,…
Let $M$ be a connected orientable compact surface, $f:M\to\mathbb{R}$ be a Morse function, and $\mathcal{D}_{\mathrm{id}}(M)$ be the group of difeomorphisms of $M$ isotopic to the identity. Denote by $\mathcal{S}'(f)=\{f\circ h = f\mid…
In this article, we show that, at least for non-simply connected case, there exist an infinite family of nondiffeomorphic symplectic 4-manifolds with the same Seiberg-Witten invariants. The main techniques are knot surgery and a covering…
A genus one curve of degree 5 is defined by the 4 x 4 Pfaffians of a 5 x 5 alternating matrix of linear forms on P^4. We describe a general method for investigating the invariant theory of such models. We use it to explain how we found our…