Related papers: Constructing infinitely many smooth structures on …

We consider simply-connected $4$-manifolds admitting Lefschetz fibrations over the $2$-sphere. We explicitly construct nonhyperelliptic and hyperelliptic Lefschetz fibrations of genus $4$ on simply-connected $4$-manifolds which are exotic…

We define a diffeomorphism invariant of smooth 4-manifolds which we can estimate for many smoothings of R^4 and other smooth 4-manifolds. Using this invariant we can show that uncountably many smoothings of R^4 support no Stein structure.…

We construct open symplectic manifolds which are convex at infinity ("Liouville manifolds") and which are diffeomorphic, but not symplectically isomorphic, to cotangent bundles T^*S^{n+1}, for any n+1 \geq 3. These manifolds are constructed…

It is well known that for any exotic pair of simply connected closed oriented 4-manifolds, one is obtained from the other by twisting a compact contractible submanifold via an involution on the boundary. By contrast, here we show that for…

We study symplectic structures on K\"ahler surfaces with p_g = 0. We give an example of a projective surface which admits a symplectic structure which is not compatible with any K\"ahler metric.

We classify four-dimensional manifolds endowed with symplectic pairs admitting embedded symplectic spheres with non-negative self-intersection, following the strategy of McDuff's classification of rational and ruled symplectic four…

We prove that every 4-dimensional oriented handlebody without 3- and 4-handles can be modified to admit infinitely many exotic smooth structures, and moreover prove that their genus functions are pairwise equivalent. We furthermore show…

Given a Lagrangian sphere in a symplectic 4-manifold $(M, \omega)$ with $b^+=1$, we find embedded symplectic surfaces intersecting it minimally. When the Kodaira dimension $\kappa$ of $(M, \omega)$ is $-\infty$, this minimal intersection…

We show that a topological symplectic manifold has a canonically associated bi-Lipschitz structure. As a corollary, we obtain the first examples of non-existence and non-uniqueness for topological symplectic structures. Our arguments hold…

We show that there exist infinitely many simply connected compact Stein 4-manifolds with b_2=2 such that they are all homeomorhic but mutually non-diffeomorphic, and they are Stein fillings of the same contact 3-manifold on their…

The Kuperberg invariant is a topological invariant of closed 3-manifolds based on finite-dimensional Hopf algebras. In this paper, we initiate the program of constructing 4-manifold invariants in the spirit of Kuperberg's 3-manifold…

A symplectic form is called hyperbolic if its pull-back to the universal cover is a differential of a bounded one-form. The present paper is concerned with the properties and constructions of manifolds admitting hyperbolic symplectic forms.…

We construct a simply connected compact manifold which has complex and symplectic structures but does not admit K\"ahler metrics, in the lowest possible dimension where this can happen, that is, dimension 6. Such a manifold is automatically…

We present a pair of smooth fiber bundles over the circle with a common $4$-dimensional fiber with the following properties: (1) their total spaces are diffeomorphic to each other; (2) they are isomorphic to each other as topological fiber…

We explain how a version of Floer homology can be used as an invariant of symplectic manifolds with $b_1>0$. As a concrete example, we look at four-manifolds produced from braids by a surgery construction. The outcome shows that the…

Since there is no hyperbolic Dehn filling theorem for higher dimensions, it is challenging to construct explicit hyperbolic manifolds of small volume in dimension at least four. Here, we build up closed hyperbolic 4-manifolds of volume…

We prove that for every natural number k there are simply connected topological four-manifolds which have at leat k distinct smooth structures supporting Einstein metrics, and also have infinitely many distinct smooth structures not…

Given a path of almost-K\"ahler metrics compatible with a fixed symplectic form on a compact 4-manifold such that at time zero the almost-K\"ahler metric is an extremal K\"ahler one, we prove, for a short time and under a certain…

We construct infinite rank summands isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}^\infty$ in the higher homotopy and homology groups of the diffeomorphism groups of certain $4$-manifolds. These spherical families become trivial in the homotopy and homology…

We establish a local model for the moduli space of holomorphic symplectic structures with logarithmic poles, near the locus of structures whose polar divisor is normal crossings. In contrast to the case without poles, the moduli space is…