Related papers: Refined Kirby calculus for integral homology spher…

For any $s \in [-\infty, 0] $ and oriented homology 3-sphere $Y$, we introduce a homology cobordism invariant $r_s(Y)\in (0,\infty]$. The values $\{r_s(Y)\}$ are included in the critical values of the $SU(2)$-Chern-Simons functional of $Y$,…

A strategy for constructing an embedded sphere in a 4-manifold realizing a given homology class which has been successfully applied in the past is to represent the class as a first step stably by an embedded sphere, i.e. after adding…

We present a short proof of the following Pontryagin theorem, whose original proof was complicated and has never been published in details: {\bf Theorem.} Let $M$ be a connected oriented closed smooth 3-manifold. Let $L_1(M)$ be the set of…

We study the relationship between trivial cocycles on the Torelli group and invariants of oriented integral homology 3-spheres. We give ncecessary and sufficient conditions for a function defined on the union of the Torelli groups to be an…

Let $(M,\xi)$ be a contact 3-manifold. We present two new algorithms, the first of which converts an open book $(\Sigma,\Phi)$ supporting $(M,\xi)$ with connected binding into a contact surgery diagram. The second turns a contact surgery…

We can construct a 4-manifold by attaching 2-handles to a 4-ball with framing r along the components of a link in the boundary of the 4-ball. We define a link as r-shake slice if there exists embedded spheres that represent the generators…

In this paper, we consider decompositions of 3-manifolds with three handlebodies. We classify such decompositions of the 3-sphere and lens spaces with small genera. These decompositions admit operations called stabilizations. We also…

We consider the question: "If the zero-framed surgeries on two oriented knots in the 3-sphere are integral homology cobordant, preserving the homology class of the positive meridians, are the knots themselves concordant?" We show that this…

Using the combinatorial approach to Heegaard Floer homology we obtain a relatively easy formula for computation of hat Heegaard Floer homology for the three-manifold obtained by rational surgery on a knot K inside a homology sphere Y.

There is one generalization of fibered links in 3-manifolds, called homologically fibered links. It is known that the existence of homologically fibered links whose fiber surface has a given homeomorphic type is determined by the first…

Given a Heegaard splitting of a closed 3-manifold, the skein modules of the two handlebodies are modules over the skein algebra of their common boundary surface. The zeroth Hochschild homology of the skein algebra of a surface with…

We derive a gauge theoretic invariant of integral homology 3-spheres which counts gauge orbits of irreducible, perturbed flat SU(3) connections with sign given by spectral flow. To compensate for the dependence of this sum on perturbations,…

We give an estimate for Manolescu's $\kappa$-invariant of a rational homology 3-sphere $Y$ by the data of a spin 4-orbifold bounded by $Y$. By an appropriate choice of a 4-orbifold, sometimes we can restrict and determine the value of…

We write a formula for the LMO invariant of a rational homology sphere presented as a rational surgery on a link in S^3. Our main tool is a careful use of the Aarhus integral and the (now proven) "Wheels" and "Wheeling" conjectures of B-N,…

Any knot in $S^3$ may be reduced to a slice knot by crossing changes. Indeed, this slice knot can be taken to be the unknot. In this paper we study the question of when the same holds for knots in homology spheres. We show that a knot in a…

Using Taubes' periodic ends theorem, Auckly gave examples of toroidal and hyperbolic irreducible integer homology spheres which are not surgery on a knot in the three-sphere. We give an obstruction to a homology sphere being surgery on a…

We introduce a geometric operation, which we call the relative Whitney trick, that removes a single double point between properly immersed surfaces in a $4$-manifold with boundary. Using the relative Whitney trick we prove that every link…

Given a link L in the 3-sphere, we ask whether the components of L bound disjoint, nullhomologous disks properly embedded in a simply-connected positive-definite smooth 4-manifold; the knot case has been studied extensively in work of…

The paper considers the uniqueness question of factorization of a knotted handlebody in the $3$-sphere along decomposing $2$-spheres. We obtain a uniqueness result for factorization along decomposing $2$-spheres meeting the handlebody at…

This note is a sequel to our earlier paper of the same title [dg-ga/9710001] and describes invariants of rational homology 3-spheres associated to acyclic orthogonal local systems. Our work is in the spirit of the Axelrod-Singer papers,…