Related papers: $\mathbb{Z}_n$-manifolds in 4-dimensional graph-ma…

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…

An obstruction theory for representing homotopy classes of surfaces in 4-manifolds by immersions with pairwise disjoint images is developed, using the theory of non-repeating Whitney towers. The accompanying higher-order intersection…

This is a slightly altered version of the authors thesis from 2014. In the first main part we show that the quotient space of a compact, simply connected and nonnegatively curved Riemannian 4-manifold by an effective, isometric…

Graph manifolds are a class of compact, orientable 3-manifolds introduced in 1967 by Waldhausen as a generalization of Seifert fibered 3-manifolds. From the point of view of Thurston's geometrization program, graph manifolds are exactly the…

A surface automorphism is strongly irreducible if every essential simple closed curve in the surface has nontrivial geometric intersection with its image. We show that a three-manifold admits only finitely many inequivalent surface bundle…

We give a criterion on a group $\pi$ and a homomorphism $w \colon \pi \to C_2$ under which closed $4$-manifolds with fundamental group $\pi$ and orientation character $w$ are classified up to homotopy equivalence by their quadratic…

A graph embedded in the 3-sphere is called irreducible if it is non-splittable and for any 2-sphere embedded in the 3-sphere that intersects the graph at one point the graph is contained in one of the 3-balls bounded by the 2-sphere. We…

If a graph is in bridge position in a 3-manifold so that the graph complement is irreducible and boundary irreducible, we generalize a result of Bachman and Schleimer to prove that the complexity of a surface properly embedded in the…

Suppose $E$ is an end of an irreducible, properly convex, real-projective $n$-manifold $M$. If $\pi_1E$ contains a subgroup of finite index isomorphic to ${\mathbb Z}^{n-1}$, and $E\hookrightarrow M$ is $\pi_1$-injective, then $E$ is a…

In this note we prove the following result: Let $X$ be a complete, connected 4-manifold with uniformly positive isotropic curvature, with bounded geometry and with no essential incompressible space form. Then $X$ is diffeomorphic to…

We show that minimal symplectic 4--manifolds with $b_2^+ >1$ and with residually finite fundamental groups are irreducible. We also give examples of irreducible orientable four--manifolds with indefinite intersection forms which are not…

We prove that every smoothly embedded surface in a 4--manifold can be isotoped to be in bridge position with respect to a given trisection of the ambient 4--manifold; that is, after isotopy, the surface meets components of the trisection in…

We introduce a diffeomorphism invariant of $4$-manifolds, the $\mathrm{Pin}^-(2)$-monopole invariant, defined by using the $\mathrm{Pin}^-(2)$-monopole equations. We compute the invariants of several $4$-manifolds, and prove gluing…

We investigate the geometry of $\pi_1$-injective surfaces in closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds. First we prove that for any $e>0$, if the manifold $M$ has sufficiently large systole $\sys_1(M)$, the genus of any such surface in $M$ is bounded…

We study noncompact, complete, finite volume, Riemannian 4-manifolds $M$ with sectional curvature $-1<K<0$. We prove that $\pi_1 M$ cannot be a 3-manifold group. A classical theorem of Gromov says that $M$ is homeomorphic to the interior of…

Let $g \colon S \looparrowright N$ be a properly immersed $\pi_1$--injective surface in a non-geometric $3$--manifold $N$. We compute the distortion of $\pi_1(S)$ in $\pi_1(N)$ and show that how it is related to separability of $\pi_1(S)$…

Let $T$ be a graph in a compact, orientable 3--manifold $M$ and let $\Gamma$ be a subgraph. $T$ can be placed in bridge position with respect to a Heegaard surface $H$. We show that if $H$ is what we call $(T,\Gamma)$-c-weakly reducible in…

We find necessary and sufficient conditions for a complete $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold of finite volume, whose curvature tensor has nullity at least $n-2$, to be a geometric graph manifold. In the process, we show that Nomizu's…

Let $M$ be a graph manifold such that each piece of its JSJ decomposition has the $\Bbb H^2 \times \Bbb R$ geometry. Assume that the pieces are glued by isometries. Then, there exists a complete Riemannian metric on $\Bbb R \times M$ which…

The polynomial invariants $q_d$ for a large class of smooth 4-manifolds are shown to satisfy universal relations. The relations reflect the possible genera of embedded surfaces in the 4-manifold and lead to a structure theorem for the…