Related papers: Pseudo-isotopy versus isotopy for homeomorphisms o…
A diffeomorphism $f$ of a compact manifold $X$ is pseudo-isotopic to the identity if there is a diffeomorphism $F$ of $X\times I$ which restricts to $f$ on $X\times 1$, and which restricts to the identity on $X\times 0$ and $\partial…
A pseudoisotopy of $M$ is a diffeomorphism of $M\times I$ which is the identity on $M\times 0$. We give an explicit construction of pseudoisotopies of 4-manifolds which realize certain elements of the "second obstruction to pseudoisotopy".…
We use lens-shaped models and the second obstruction to pseudoisotopy to construct a nontrivial diffeomorphism of $M\times I$ where $M$ is the connected sum of $S^1\times S^2$ with a another nonsimply connected 3-manifold $M'$. Then we take…
Techniques of gauge theory are used to define and compute an invariant of certain diffeomorphisms of 4-manifolds. The invariant vanishes for any diffeomorphism which is smoothly isotopic to the identity. As an application, we give the first…
We investigate the realisability of the Casson-Sullivan invariant for homeomorphisms of smooth $4$-manifolds, which is the obstruction to a homeomorphism being stably pseudo-isotopic to a diffeomorphism, valued in the third cohomology of…
Given a closed, smooth 4-manifold $X$ and self-diffeomorphism $f$ that is topologically pseudo-isotopic to the identity, we study the question of whether $f$ is moreover smoothly pseudo-isotopic to the identity. If the fundamental group of…
Consider a smooth $4$-manifold $X$ and a diffeomorphism $f : X \to X$. We give an obstruction in the form of an adjunction inequality for an embedded surface in $X$ to be isotopic to its image under $f$. It follows that the minimal genus of…
We consider the realisation problem for normal 1-types of 4-manifolds with a given boundary. More precisely, given a normal 1-type $\xi$ and closed 3-dimensional $\xi$-manifold $Y$, does there exist a compact 4-dimensional $\xi$-manifold…
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…
Suppose $Y$ is a compact, connected, oriented 3-manifold possibly with boundary, such that $\pi_1(Y)$ is infinite. Let $\operatorname{Diff}_\partial(I\times Y)$ denote the group of self-diffeomorphisms of $I\times Y$ that are equal to the…
This paper extends some results of Hatcher and Quinn beyond the metastable range. We give a bordism theoretic obstruction to deforming a map between manifolds simultaneously off of a collection of pairwise disjoint submanifolds under the…
In this note we give a complete obstruction for two homotopic embeddings of a 2-sphere into a 5-manifold to be isotopic. The results are new even though the methods are classical, the main tool being the elimination of double points via a…
This note serves to record examples of diffeomorphisms of closed smooth $4$-manifolds $X$ that are homotopic but not pseudoisotopic to the identity, and to explain why there are no such examples when $X$ is orientable and its fundamental…
We offer an approach to the smooth 4-dimensional Schoenflies conjecture via pseudo-isotopy theory.
We study smooth maps between smooth manifolds with only fold points as their singularities, and clarify the obstructions to the existence of such a map in a given homotopy class for certain dimensions. The obstructions are described in…
We construct infinite families of topologically isotopic but smoothly distinct knotted spheres in many simply connected 4-manifolds that become smoothly isotopic after stabilizing by connected summing with $S^2 \times S^2$, and as a…
We construct an obstruction for the existence of embeddings of homology $3$-sphere into homology $S^3\times S^1$ under some cohomological condition. The obstruction is defined as an element in the filtered version of the instanton Floer…
In this note, we give explicit examples of compact complex 3-folds which admit automorphisms that are isotopic to the identity through C $\infty$-diffeomorphisms but not through biholomorphisms. These automorphisms play an important role in…
We determine the local equivalence class of the Seiberg-Witten Floer stable homotopy type of a spin rational homology 3-sphere $Y$ embedded into a spin rational homology $S^{1} \times S^{3}$ with a positive scalar curvature metric so that…
This note gives a uniform, self-contained, and fairly direct approach to a variety of obstruction-theoretic problems on 8-manifolds. We give necessary and sufficient cohomological critera for the existence of almost complex and almost…