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We construct algebraic families of exotic affine 3-spheres, that is, smooth affine threefolds diffeomorphic to a non-degenerate smooth complex affine quadric of dimension 3 but non algebraically isomorphic to it. We show in particular that…
Two of the basic questions in contact topology are which manifolds admit tight contact structures, and on those that do, can we classify such structures. We present the first such classification on an infinite family of (mostly) hyperbolic…
We show that, for certain families $\phi_{\mathbf{s}}$ of diffeomorphisms of high-dimensional spheres, the commutator of the Dehn twist along the zero-section of $T^*S^n$ with the family of pullbacks $\phi^*_{\mathbf{s}}$ gives a…
A short survey of exotic smooth structutes on 4-manifolds is given with a special emphasis on the corresponding cork structures. Along the way we discuss some of the more recent results in this direction, obtained jointly with R.Matveyev,…
We study integrability of generalized almost contact structures, and find conditions under which the main associated maximal isotropic vector bundles form Lie bialgebroids. These conditions differentiate the concept of generalized contact…
Inspired by a recent result of Levine-Lidman-Piccirillo, we construct infinitely many exotic smooth structures on some closed four-manifolds with definite intersection form and fundamental group isomorphic to $\Z /2\Z$. Similar…
A $b$-contact structure on a $b$-manifold $(M,Z)$ is a Jacobi structure on $M$ satisfying a transversality condition along the hypersurface $Z$. We show that, in three dimensions, $b$-contact structures with overtwisted three-dimensional…
Almost paracontact almost paracomplex Riemannian manifolds of the lowest dimension are studied. Such structures are constructed on hyperspheres in 4-dimensional spaces, Euclidean and pseudo-Euclidean, respectively. The obtained manifolds…
We show that each central configuration in the three-dimensional hyperbolic sphere is equivalent to one central configuration on a particular two- dimensional hyperbolic sphere. However, there exist both special and ordinary central…
We investigate exceptional points of degeneracy (EPDs) in electromagnetic scattering of a sphere dimer from the electroquasistatic limit to the fully retarded regime. In the quasistatic limit, we prove that $\parity\trev$-symmetric…
We consider the existence of symplectic and conformal symplectic codimension-one foliations on closed manifolds of dimension at least 5. Our main theorem, based on a recent result by Bertelson-Meigniez, states that in dimension at least 7…
In dimensions congruent to 1 modulo 4, we prove that the cotangent bundle of an exotic sphere which does not bound a parallelisable manifold is not symplectomorphic to the cotangent bundle of the standard sphere. More precisely, we prove…
We suggest that exotic sphere fibrations can be mapped to band topologies in condensed matter systems. These fibrations can correspond to geometric phases of two double bands or state vector bases with second Chern numbers m+n and -n…
We generalise the notion of contact manifold by allowing the contact distribution to have codimension two. There are special features in dimension six. In particular, we show that the complex structure on a three-dimensional complex contact…
We introduce a new method to obstruct Liouville and weak fillability. Using this, we show that various rational homology 3-spheres admit strongly fillable contact structures without Liouville fillings, which extends the result of Ghiggini…
In this paper the 5-dimensional contact SO(3)-manifolds are classified up to equivariant contactomorphisms. The construction of such manifolds with singular orbits requires the use of generalized Dehn twists. We show as an application that…
We calculate the weak homotopy type of the group of contactomorphisms of the three-sphere which coincide with the identity on (a neighborhood of) an overtwisted disk.
In this note we propose the generalization of the notion of a holomorphic contact structure on a manifold (smooth variety) to varieties with rational singularities and prove basic properties of such objects. Natural examples of singular…
We reprove and strengthen some old difficult theorems of 4-manifolds by the aid of recently discovered modern tools, which involve contact structures on 3-manifolds, compact Stein domains, etc.
A real 3-manifold is a smooth 3-manifold together with an orientation preserving smooth involution, which is called a real structure. A real contact 3-manifold is a real 3-manifold with a contact distribution that is antisymmetric with…