Related papers: A surgery formula for Seiberg-Witten invariants
We propose an explicit formula connecting Donaldson invariants and Seiberg-Witten invariants of a 4-manifold of simple type via Nekrasov's deformed partition function for the N=2 SUSY gauge theory with a single fundamental matter. This…
A smooth, compact 4-manifold with a Riemannian metric and b^(2+) > 0 has a non-trivial, closed, self-dual 2-form. If the metric is generic, then the zero set of this form is a disjoint union of circles. On the complement of this zero set,…
We prove that the canonical 4-dimensional surgery problems can be solved after passing to a double cover. This contrasts the long-standing conjecture about the validity of the topological surgery theorem for arbitrary fundamental groups…
On a compact oriented four-manifold with an orientation preserving involution c, we count solutions of Seiberg-Witten equations, which are moreover symmetrical in relation to c, to construct "real" Seiberg-Witten invariants. Using Taubes'…
We present a method for finding embedded nullhomologous tori in standard 4-manifolds which can be utilized to change their smooth structure. As an application, we show how to obtain infinite families of simply connected smooth 4-manifolds…
Even though the disk embedding theorem is not available in dimension 4 for free fundamental groups, some surgery problems may be shown to have topological solutions. We prove that surgery problems may be solved if one considers closed…
We prove a conjecture of Hutchings and Lee relating the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a closed 3-manifold X with b_1 > 0 to an invariant that `counts' gradient flow lines--including closed orbits--of a circle-valued Morse function on the…
We give two infinite families of examples of closed, orientable, irreducible 3-manifolds $M$ such that $b_1(M)=1$ and $\pi_1(M)$ has weight 1, but $M$ is not the result of Dehn surgery along a knot in the 3-sphere. This answers a question…
We give a survey of geometric approaches to the topological 4-dimensional surgery and 5-dimensional s-cobordism conjectures, with a focus on the study of surfaces in 4-manifolds. The geometric lemma underlying these conjectures is a…
We determine the Seiberg-Witten-Floer homology groups of the three-manifold which is the product of a surface of genus $g \geq 1$ times the circle, together with its ring structure, for spin-c structures which are non-trivial on the…
Let $R$ be a closed, oriented topological 4-manifold whose Euler characteristic and signature are denoted by $e$ and $\sigma$. We show that if $R$ has order two $\pi_1$, odd intersection form, and $2e + 3\sigma \geq 0$, then for all but…
An invariant of orientable 3-manifolds is defined by taking the minimum $n$ such that a given 3-manifold embeds in the connected sum of $n$ copies of $S^2 \times S^2$, and we call this $n$ the embedding number of the 3-manifold. We give…
Let $M$ be an oriented closed 4-manifold and $\cL$ be a $spin^c$ structure on $M$. In this paper we prove that under a suitable condition the Seiberg-Witten moduli space has a canonical spin structure and its spin bordism class is an…
The Seiberg-Witten equations that have recently found important applications for four-dimensional geometry are the Euler-Lagrange equations for a functional involving a connection $A$ on a line bundle $L$ and a section $\phi$ of another…
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…
The goal of this paper is to give a new proof of a theorem of Meng and Taubes that identifies the Seiberg-Witten invariants of 3-manifolds with Milnor torsion. The point of view here will be that of topological quantum field theory. In…
We show examples of pairs of smooth, compact, homeomorphic 4-manifolds, whose diffeomorphism types are distinguished by the topology of the singular sets of smooth stable maps defined on them. In this distinction we rely on results from…
Seiberg-Witten theory is used to obtain new obstructions to the existence of Einstein metrics on 4-manifolds with conical singularities along an embedded surface. In the present article, the cone angle is required to be of the form 2(pi)/p,…
For a compact spinc manifold $X$ with boundary $b_1(\partial X)=0$, we consider moduli spaces of solutions to the Seiberg-Witten equations in a generalized double Coulomb slice in $L^2_1$ (i.e., $W^{1,2}$) Sobolev regularity. We prove they…
We continue our program initiated in [arXiv:0912.4261] to consider supersymmetric surface operators in a topologically-twisted N=2 pure SU(2) gauge theory, and apply them to the study of four-manifolds and related invariants. Elegant…