Related papers: Dissolving four-manifolds and positive scalar curv…

We prove that any compact surface with constant positive curvature and conical singularities can be decomposed into irreducible components of standard shape, glued along geodesic arcs connecting conical singularities. This is a spherical…

For a simply-connected closed manifold $X$ of $\dim X \neq 4$, the mapping class group $\pi_0(\mathrm{Diff}(X))$ is known to be finitely generated. We prove that analogous finite generation fails in dimension 4. Namely, we show that there…

The doubling conjecture predicts that a manifold admits positive scalar curvature with mean convex boundary if and only if its double admits positive scalar curvature. We show that it holds true for manifolds where the inclusion of the…

In this paper we develop methods to extend the minimal hypersurface approach to positive scalar curvature problems to all dimensions. This includes a proof of the positive mass theorem in all dimensions without a spin assumption. It also…

These notes, which are based on three lectures delivered at the summer school "Topological 4-manifolds" at CRM in 2025, discuss classifications of locally flat spheres in closed, simply-connected $4$-manifolds, with a focus on the case…

We show that a closed orientable Riemannian $n$-manifold, $n \ge 5$, with positive isotropic curvature and free fundamental group is homeomorphic to the connected sum of copies of $S^{n-1} \times S^1$.

In this paper we study smooth structures on closed oriented 4-manifolds with fundamental group Z_2 and definite intersection form. We construct infinitely many irreducible, smooth, oriented, closed, definite four-manifolds with fundamental…

We study the topology of the space of positive scalar curvature metrics on high dimensional spheres and other spin manifolds. Our main result provides elements of infinite order in higher homotopy and homology groups of these spaces, which,…

We prove that smooth quartic threefolds are symplectically irrational, i.e., cannot be related to projective space by a series of symplectic blow-ups, blow-downs, and deformations. This implies that they are algebraically irrational,…

Let $M$ be a simply-connected closed manifold of dimension $\geq 5$ which does not admit a metric with positive scalar curvature. We give necessary conditions for $M$ to admit a scalar-flat metric. These conditions involve the first…

We show that every rank two $p$-group acts freely and smoothly on a product of two spheres. This follows from a more general construction: given a smooth action of a finite group $G$ on a manifold $M$, we construct a smooth free action on…

Quadric complexes are square complexes satisfying a certain combinatorial nonpositive curvature condition. These complexes generalize 2-dimensional CAT(0) cube complexes and are a square analog of systolic complexes. We introduce and study…

We prove that for many degrees in a stable range the homotopy groups of the moduli space of metrics of positive scalar curvature on S^n and on other manifolds are non-trivial. This is achieved by further developing and then applying a…

A flat solvmanifold is a compact quotient $\Gamma\backslash G$ where $G$ is a simply-connected solvable Lie group endowed with a flat left invariant metric and $\Gamma$ is a lattice of $G$. Any such Lie group can be written as…

We prove that any closed simply-connected smooth 4-manifold is 16-fold branched covered by a product of an orientable surface with the 2-torus, where the construction is natural with respect to spin structures. In particular this solves…

Despite spectacular advances in defining invariants for simply connected smooth and symplectic 4-dimensional manifolds and the discovery of effective surgical techniques, we still have been unable to classify simply connected smooth…

In this paper, for each finite group $G$, we construct explicitly a non-compact complete finite-volume arithmetic hyperbolic $4$-manifold $M$ such that $\mathrm{Isom}\,M \cong G$, or $\mathrm{Isom}^{+}\,M \cong G$. In order to do so, we use…

We discuss the geography problem of closed oriented 4-manifolds that admit a Riemannian metric of positive scalar curvature, and use it to survey mathematical work employed to address Gromov's observation that manifolds with positive scalar…

We study fundamental groups of projective varieties with normal crossing singularities and of germs of complex singularities. We prove that for every finitely-presented group G there is a complex projective surface S with simple normal…

Let $\Sigma$ be a closed surface, $G$ a compact Lie group, with Lie algebra $g$, $\xi \colon P \to \Sigma$ a principal $G$-bundle, let $N(\xi)$ denote the moduli space of central Yang-Mills connections on $\xi$, for suitably chosen…