Related papers: An obstruction to smooth isotopy in dimension 4

We prove that homological stability fails for the moduli space of any simply-connected closed smooth 4-manifold in any degree of homology, unlike what happens in all dimensions $\neq 4$. We detect also the homological discrepancy between…

In this paper we find a criterion for the Gauss map of an immersed smooth submanifold in some Lie group with left invariant metric to be harmonic. Using the obtained expression we prove some necessary and sufficient conditions for the…

Using instanton homology with coefficients in $Z/2$ we construct a homomorphism $q_2$ from the homology cobordism group in dimension 3 to the integers which is not a rational linear combination of the instanton $h$--invariant and the…

We present a global conformal invariant on closed six-manifolds which obstructs the existence of a conformally Einstein metric. We show that this obstruction is nontrivial and, up to multiplication by a constant, is the unique such…

Deconstruction is a powerful means to explore the rich dynamics of gauge theories in four and higher dimensions. We demonstrate that gauge symmetry breaking in a compactified higher dimensional theory can be formulated via deconstructed 4D…

We give new examples of closed smooth 4-manifolds which support singular metrics of nonpositive curvature, but no smooth ones, thereby answering affirmatively a question of Gromov. The obstruction comes from patterns of incompressible…

Recent developments concerning canonical quantisation and gauge invariant quantum mechanical systems and quantum field theories are briefly discussed. On the one hand, it is shown how diffeomorphic covariant representations of the…

In this paper, we study Manolescu's construction of the relative Bauer-Furuta invariants arising from the Seiberg-Witten equations on 4-manifolds with boundary. The main goal is to introduce a new gauge fixing condition in order to apply…

Seiberg-Witten solutions of four-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories possess rich but involved integrable structures. The goal of this paper is to show that an isomonodromy problem provides a unified framework for understanding those…

This paper describes a novel framework for computing geodesic paths in shape spaces of spherical surfaces under an elastic Riemannian metric. The novelty lies in defining this Riemannian metric directly on the quotient (shape) space, rather…

We study the rational homotopy types of classifying spaces of automorphism groups of smooth simply connected manifolds of dimension at least five. We give dg Lie algebra models for the homotopy automorphisms and the block diffeomorphisms of…

For a given group $G$, we construct an invariant of flat $G$-connections on 4-manifolds from a finite type involutory quasitriangular Hopf $G$-algebra. Hopf $G$-algebras are generalizations of Hopf algebras, equipped with gradings by $G$.…

A formula is given for the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a 4-manifold that is cut along certain kinds of 3-dimensional tori. The formula involves a Seiberg-Witten invariant for each of the resulting pieces.

In this note we classify the diffeomorphism classes rel. boundary of smooth h-cobordisms between two fixed 1-connected 4-manifolds in terms of isometries between the intersection forms.

We introduce a new generalization of Gompf nuclei and give applications. We construct infinitely many exotic smooth structures for a large class of compact 4-manifolds with boundary, regarding topological invariants. We prove that a large…

This is the second in a series of papers. Here we develop here an intersection theory for manifolds equipped with an action of a finite group. As in our previous paper, our approach will be homotopy theoretic, enabling us to circumvent the…

I review some recent results on four-manifold invariants which have been obtained in the context of topological quantum field theory. I focus on three different aspects: (a) the computation of correlation functions, which give explicit…

We classify four-dimensional compact solvmanifolds up to diffeomorphism, while determining which of them have complex analytic structures. In particular, we shall see that a four-dimensional compact solvmanifold S can be written, up to…

By using the gluing formula of the Seiberg-Witten invariant, we compute the Yamabe invariant Y(X) of 4-manifolds X obtained by performing surgeries along points, circles or tori on compact Kaehler surfaces. For instance, if M is a compact…

Based on a family of indefinite unitary representations of the diffeomorphism group of an oriented smooth $4$-manifold, a manifestly covariant $4$ dimensional and non-perturbative algebraic quantum field theory formulation of gravity is…