Related papers: Exotic 4-manifolds and Khovanov-Lipshitz-Sarkar ho…
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…
In a recent breakthrough, Ren and Willis gave the first analysis-free proof of the existence of exotic compact, orientable 4-manifolds; their main tool is the Khovanov skein lasagna module defined by Morrison, Walker, and Wedrich. In this…
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…
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…
Kreck and Schafer produced the first examples of stably diffeomorphic closed smooth 4-manifolds which are not homotopy equivalent. They were constructed by applying the doubling construction to 2-complexes over certain finite abelian groups…
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…
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…
Any smooth, closed oriented 4-manifold has a surface diagram of arbitrarily high genus g>2 that specifies it up to diffeomorphism. The goal of this paper is to prove the following statement: For any smooth, closed oriented 4-manifold M,…
We give constraints on smooth families of 4-manifolds with boundary using Manolescu's Seiberg-Witten Floer stable homotopy type, provided that the fiberwise restrictions of the families to the boundaries are trivial families of 3-manifolds.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
We construct a Kirby color in the setting of Khovanov homology: an ind-object of the annular Bar-Natan category that is equipped with a natural handle slide isomorphism. Using functoriality and cabling properties of Khovanov homology, we…
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…
Two 4-manifolds are stably diffeomorphic if they become diffeomorphic after connected sum with S^2 x S^2's. This paper shows that two closed, orientable, homotopy equivalent, smooth 4-manifolds are stably diffeomorphic, provided a certain…
We discuss links in thickened surfaces. We define the Khovanov-Lipshitz-Sarkar stable homotopy type and the Steenrod square for the homotopical Khovanov homology of links in thickened surfaces with genus$>1$. A surface means a closed…
We classify four-dimensional compact solvmanifolds up to diffeomorphism, while determining which of them have complex analytic structures. In particular, we shall see that a four-dimensional compact solvmanifold S can be written, up to…
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…