Related papers: Minimality and symplectic sums
In this note we complete the discussion of minimality of symplectic fiber sums. We find, that for fiber sums along spheres the minimality of the sum is determined by the cases discussed by M. Usher and one additional case: If the sum is the…
We give a short proof of a conjecture of Stipsicz on the minimality of fiber sums of Lefschetz fibrations, which was proved earlier by Usher. We then construct the first examples of genus g > 1 Lefschetz fibrations on minimal symplectic…
In this paper, we demonstrate a relation among Seiberg-Witten invariants which arises from embedded surfaces in four-manifolds whose self-intersection number is negative. These relations, together with Taubes' basic theorems on the…
We establish a criterion that ensures a bounded almost complex curve in a bounded almost complex 4-manifold minimizes genus amongst all smooth surfaces that share its homology class and the transverse link on its boundary. An immediate…
The natural sum operation for symplectic manifolds is defined by gluing along codimension two submanifolds. Specifically, let X be a symplectic 2n-manifold with a symplectic (2n-2)-submanifold V. Given a similar pair (Y,W) with a symplectic…
Given a symplectomorphism f of a symplectic manifold X, one can form the `symplectic mapping cylinder' $X_f = (X \times R \times S^1)/Z$ where the Z action is generated by $(x,s,t)\mapsto (f(x),s+1,t)$. In this paper we compute the Gromov…
In this paper, the symplectic genus for any 2-dimensional class in a 4-manifold admitting a symplectic structure is introduced, and its relation with the minimal genus is studied. It is used to describe which classes in rational and…
A symplectic manifold is called symplectic rationally connected if there is a non-zero genus zero Gromov-Witten invariant with two point insertions. It is conjectured that every smooth projective rationally connected variety is symplectic…
We develop the Gompf fiber connected sum operation for symplectic orbifolds. We use it to construct a symplectic 4-orbifold with $b_1=0$ and containing symplectic surfaces of genus 1 and 2 that are disjoint and span the rational homology.…
We consider structures analogous to symplectic Lefschetz pencils in the context of a closed 4-manifold equipped with a `near-symplectic' structure (ie, a closed 2-form which is symplectic outside a union of circles where it vanishes…
Given an SO(3)-bundle with connection, the associated two-sphere bundle carries a natural closed 2-form. Asking that this be symplectic gives a curvature inequality first considered by Reznikov. We study this inequality in the case when the…
In the symplectic category there is a `connect sum' operation that glues symplectic manifolds by identifying neighborhoods of embedded codimension two submanifolds. This paper establishes a formula for the Gromov-Witten invariants of a…
Gromov-Witten invariants of a symplectic manifold are a count of holomorphic curves. We describe a formula expressing the GW invariants of a symplectic sum $X# Y$ in terms of the relative GW invariants of $X$ and $Y$. This formula has…
Motivated by the construction of H. Endo and Y. Gurtas, changing a positive relator in Dehn twist generators of the mapping class group by using lantern substitutions, we show that 4-manifold $K3#2\CPb$ equipped with the genus two Lefschetz…
The topology of broken Lefschetz fibrations is studied by means of handle decompositions. We consider a slight generalization of round handles, and describe the handle diagrams for all that appear in dimension four. We establish simplified…
We give a new characterization of symplectic surfaces in CP^2 via bridge trisections. Specifically, a minimal genus surface in CP^2 is smoothly isotopic to a symplectic surface if and only if it is smoothly isotopic to a surface in…
We develop techniques to construct explicit symplectic Lefschetz fibrations over the 2-sphere with any prescribed signature and any spin type when the signature is divisible by 16. This solves a long-standing conjecture on the existence of…
In this article, we construct a genus-$0$ or genus-$1$ positive allowable Lefschetz fibration on any minimal symplectic filling of the link of non-cyclic quotient surface singularities. As a byproduct, we also show that any minimal…
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 prove that all minimal symplectic four-manifolds are essentially irreducible. We also clarify the relationship between holomorphic and symplectic minimality of K\"ahler surfaces. This leads to a new proof of the deformation-invariance of…