Related papers: Khovanov homology can distinguish exotic Mazur man…

We show that the Khovanov-Rozansky $\mathfrak{gl}_2$ skein lasagna module distinguishes the exotic pair of knot traces $X_{-1}(-5_2)$ and $X_{-1}(P(3,-3,-8))$, an example first discovered by Akbulut. This gives the first analysis-free proof…

We construct and study the skein lasagna module obtained by importing the Bar-Natan Khovanov homology package. For 4-manifolds satisfying a non-vanishing condition, we produce pairs of exotic surfaces (with boundary) by using the behavior…

We introduce a new diffeomorphism invariant of smooth compact oriented 4-manifolds $X$ with a framed oriented 1-link $L$ in the boundary, where $L$ may be the empty set, and call it {\it Khovanov-Lipshitz-Sarkar skein lasagna homotopy type}…

We give a short exposition of Ren and Willis's analysis-free proof of the existence of exotic compact, orientable 4-manifolds. There are two distinguishing features of our exposition. First, we avoid skein lasagna modules; we use Beliakova…

From a handlebody-theoretic perspective, the simplest compact, contractible 4-manifolds, other than the 4-ball, are Mazur manifolds. We produce the first pairs of Mazur manifolds that are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic. Our…

Morrison, Walker, and Wedrich used the blob complex to construct a generalization of Khovanov-Rozansky homology to links in the boundary of a 4-manifold. The degree zero part of their theory, called the skein lasagna module, admits an…

The skein lasagna module is an extension of Khovanov-Rozansky homology to the setting of a four-manifold and a link in its boundary. This invariant plays the role of the Hilbert space of an associated fully extended (4+epsilon)-dimensional…

We construct analogs of Khovanov-Jacobsson classes and the Rasmussen invariant for links in the boundary of any smooth oriented 4-manifold. The main tools are skein lasagna modules based on equivariant and deformed versions of…

We use Khovanov-Rozansky gl(N) link homology to define invariants of oriented smooth 4-manifolds, as skein modules constructed from certain 4-categories with well-behaved duals. The technical heart of this construction is a proof of the…

In this paper, we introduce the notion of Floer lasagna modules, which is inspired by the construction of skein lasagna module in [MWW19] by Morrison, Walker and Wedrich. Here we use link Floer homology instead of Khovanov-Rozansky…

Skein lasagna modules are a recent tool developed for the study of 4-manifolds. We provide general formula for 1-, 2-, and 3-handle attachments for skein modules defined with any functorial link theory in $S^3 \times I$ generalizing…

Attaching a Casson handle to a slice disk complement yields a smooth 4-manifold that is homeomorphic to $\mathbb{R}^4$. We show that if two slice knots have sufficiently different knot Floer homology, then the resulting exotic…

We construct a variant of Khovanov skein lasagna modules, which takes the Khovanov homology in connected sums of $S^1\times S^2$ defined by Rozansky and Willis as the input link homology. To carry out the construction, we prove…

This survey reviews recent advances connecting link homology theories to invariants of smooth 4-manifolds and extended topological quantum field theories. Starting from joint work with Morrison and Walker, I explain how functorial link…

In $1961$, Mazur constructed a contractible, compact, smooth $4$-manifold with boundary which is not homeomorphic to the standard $4$-ball, using a $0$-handle, a $1$-handle and a $2$-handle. In this paper, for any integer $n\geq2,$ we…

We show that the cobordism maps on Khovanov homology can distinguish smooth surfaces in the 4-ball that are exotically knotted (i.e., isotopic through ambient homeomorphisms but not ambient diffeomorphisms). We develop new techniques for…

We study the possibility of realizing exotic smooth structures on punctured simply connected $4$-manifolds as leaves of a codimension one foliation on a compact manifold. In particular, we show the existence of uncountably many smooth open…

In this paper, we define the end Khovanov homology, which is an invariant of properly embedded surfaces in 4-space up to ambient diffeomorphism. Moreover, we apply this invariant to detect the first known examples of exotic Lagrangian and…

We show how to construct absolutely exotic smooth structures on compact 4-manifolds with boundary, including contractible manifolds. In particular, we prove that any compact smooth 4-manifold W with boundary that admits a relatively exotic…

We show that, for each integer n, there exist infinitely many pairs of n-framed knots representing homeomorphic but non-diffeomorphic (Stein) 4-manifolds, which are the simplest possible exotic 4-manifolds regarding handlebody structures.…