Related papers: Symplectic genus, minimal genus and diffeomorphism…
We show that symplectically embedded $(-1)$-tori give rise to certain elements in the symplectic mapping class group of $4$-manifolds. An example is given where such elements are proved to be of infinite order.
The group $Ham(M,\omega)$ of all Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms of a symplectic manifold $(M,\omega)$ plays a central role in symplectic geometry. This group is endowed with the Hofer metric. In this paper we study two aspects of the geometry…
We explicitly construct genus-2 Lefschetz fibrations whose total spaces are minimal symplectic 4-manifolds homeomorphic to complex rational surfaces CP^2 # p (-CP^2) for p=7, 8, 9, and to 3 CP^2 #q (-CP^2) for q =12,...,19. Complementarily,…
We introduce a symplectic surgery in six dimensions which collapses Lagrangian three-spheres and replaces them by symplectic two-spheres. Under mirror symmetry it corresponds to an operation on complex 3-folds studied by Clemens, Friedman…
We introduce the secondary Stiefel-Whitney class $\tilde w_2$ of homotopically trivial diffeomorphisms and show that a homotopically trivial symplectomorphism of a ruled 4-manifold is isotopic to identity if and only if the class $\tilde…
We present a new proof of a result due to Taubes: if X is a closed symplectic four-manifold with b_+(X) > 1+b_1(X) and with some positive multiple of the symplectic form a rational class, then the Poincare dual of the canonical class of X…
We establish various stability results for symplectic surfaces in symplectic $4-$manifolds with $b^+=1$. These results are then applied to prove the existence of representatives of Lagrangian ADE-configurations as well as to classify…
After reviewing recent results on symplectic Lefschetz pencils and symplectic branched covers of CP^2, we describe a new construction of maps from symplectic manifolds of any dimension to CP^2 and the associated monodromy invariants. We…
An important class of contact 3--manifolds are those that arise as links of rational surface singularities with reduced fundamental cycle. We explicitly describe symplectic caps (concave fillings) of such contact 3--manifolds. As an…
In this paper we give an explicit construction of a symplectic Lefschetz fibration whose total space is a smooth compact four dimensional manifold with a prescribed fundamental group. We also study the numerical properties of the sections…
We construct an infinite family of homologous, non-isotopic, symplectic surfaces of any genus greater than one in a certain class of closed, simply connected, symplectic four-manifolds. Our construction is the first example of this…
We define higher genus Gromov-Witten invariants and establish a mathematical theory of sigma model coupled with gravity over any semi-positive symplectic manifolds. As applications, we verify the stablizing conjecture of symplectic…
Previously work of the author with Meier and Starkston showed that every closed symplectic manifold $(X,\omega)$ with a rational symplectic form admits a trisection compatible with the symplectic topology. In this paper, we describe the…
A topological condition is given, characterizing which closed manifolds in dimensions < 8 (and conjecturally in general) admit symplectic structures. The condition is the existence of a certain fibration-like structure called a hyperpencil.…
This paper studies groups of symplectomorphisms of ruled surfaces for symplectic forms with varying cohomology class. This class is characterized by the ratio R of the size of the base to that of the fiber. By considering appropriate spaces…
In this paper we construct a family of symplectic 4--manifolds with positive signature for any given fundamental group $G$ that approaches the BMY line. The family is used to show that one cannot hope to do better than than the BMY…
We classify symplectic actions of 2-tori on compact, connected symplectic 4-manifolds, up to equivariant symplectomorphisms. This extends results of Atiyah, Guillemin-Sternberg, Delzant and Benoist. The classification is in terms of a…
In this article we use the technique of Luttinger surgery to produce small examples of simply connected and non-simply connected minimal symplectic 4-manifolds. In particular, we construct: (1) An example of a minimal symplectic 4-manifold…
We show that hyperelliptic symplectic Lefschetz fibrations are symplectically birational to two-fold covers of rational ruled surfaces, branched in a symplectically embedded surface. This reduces the classification of genus 2 fibrations to…
We show that if a diffeomorphism of a symplectic manifold $(M^{2n},\omega)$ preserves the form $\omega^{k}$ for $0 < k < n$ and is connected to identity through such diffeomorphisms then it is indeed a symplectomorphism.