Related papers: Cornered skein lasagna theory
In this paper I define the notion of a non-degenerate finitely semi-simple semi-strict spherical 2-category of non-zero dimension. Given such a 2-category I define a state-sum for any triangulated compact closed oriented 4-manifold and show…
The notion of a Bing cell is introduced, and it is used to define invariants, link groups, of 4-manifolds. Bing cells combine some features of both surfaces and 4-dimensional handlebodies, and the link group \lambda(M) measures certain…
Using the Cartan-Kahler theory, and results on real algebraic structures, we prove two embedding theorems. First, the interior of a smooth, compact 3-manifold may be isometrically embedded into a G_2-manifold as an associative submanifold.…
In this paper we introduce two new notions of sectional curvature for Riemannian manifolds with density. Under both notions of curvature we classify the constant curvature manifolds. We also prove generalizations of the theorems of…
Given a closed four-manifold $X$ with an indefinite intersection form, we consider smoothly embedded surfaces in $X \setminus $int$(B^4)$, with boundary a knot $K \subset S^3$. We give several methods to bound the genus of such surfaces in…
We establish several results on gluing/embedding/extending geometric structures in vacuum spacetimes with a cosmological constant in any spacetime dimensions $d\ge 4$, with emphasis on characteristic data. A useful tool is provided by the…
Just as knots and links can be algebraically described as certain morphisms in the category of tangles in 3 dimensions, compact surfaces smoothly embedded in R^4 can be described as certain 2-morphisms in the 2-category of `2-tangles in 4…
In this paper we construct Ricci-positive metrics on the connected sum of products of arbitrarily many spheres provided the dimensions of all but one sphere in each summand are at least 3. There are two new technical theorems required to…
This article surveys invariants of four-manifolds and their relation to Donaldson-Witten theory, and other topologically twisted Yang-Mills theories. The article is written for the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics,…
We construct supersymmetric gauge theories on some curved manifolds with boundaries. Our examples include a part of three-sphere and a part of two-sphere. We concentrate on Dirichlet boundary conditions. For these theories on the manifolds…
We relate degree one grasper families of embedded circles to various constructions of diffeomorphisms found in the literature -- theta clasper classes of Watanabe, barbell diffeomorphisms of Budney and Gabai, and twin twists of Gay and…
Lattice Gauge Theory in 4-dimensional Euclidean space-time is generalized to ribbon categories which replace the category of representations of the gauge group. This provides a framework in which the gauge group becomes a quantum group…
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…
Cobordism of Haken $n$-manifolds is defined by a Haken $(n+1)$-manifold $W$ whose boundary has two components, each of which is a closed Haken $n$-manifold. In addition, the inclusion map of the fundamental group of each boundary component…
We investigate the physics of the E-string theory and its compactifications as well as their applications to four-dimensional topology. In particular, we compute the partition function of the topologically twisted theory on $M_4\times T^2$,…
We show that the four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory studied by Costello, Witten and Yamazaki, is, with Nahm pole-type boundary conditions, dual to a boundary theory that is a three-dimensional analogue of Toda theory with a novel 3d…
Combining the tools of geometric analysis with properties of Jordan angles and angle space distributions, we derive a spherical and a Euclidean Bernstein theorem for minimal submanifolds of arbitrary dimension and codimension, under the…
A 4-dimensional Riemannian manifold equipped with an additional tensor structure, whose fourth power is the identity, is considered. This structure has a circulant matrix with respect to some basis, i.e. the structure is circulant, and it…
In a pair of papers, we construct invariants for smooth four-manifolds equipped with `broken fibrations' - the singular Lefschetz fibrations of Auroux, Donaldson and Katzarkov - generalising the Donaldson-Smith invariants for Lefschetz…
I introduce new Langlands duality conjectures concerning skein modules of 3-manifolds, which we have made recently with David Ben-Zvi, Sam Gunningham, and Pavel Safronov. I recount some historical motivation and some recent special cases…