Related papers: An obstruction to smooth isotopy in dimension 4
We present evidence that there is a 4D model that satisfies the conditions of renormalizability and diffeomorphism invariance simultaneously at the 2-loop level. The traceless mode is treated perturbatively, while the conformal mode can be…
A localisation of the category of n-manifolds is introduced by formally inverting the connected sum construction with a chosen n-manifold Y. On the level of automorphism groups, this leads to the stable diffeomorphism groups of n-manifolds.…
By extending a result of Kronheimer-Mrowka to the family setting, we prove a gluing formula for the family Seiberg-Witten invariant. This formula allows one to compute the invariant for a smooth family of 4-manifolds by cutting it open…
The application of the notion of `observable' from gauge theory to diffeomorphism-invariant theories -- most relevantly to general relativity -- has led to numerous conceptual and technical issues when interpreting classical theories with…
A new topological invariant of closed connected orientable four-dimensional manifolds is proposed. The invariant, constructed via surgery on a special link, is a four-dimensional counterpart of the celebrated SU(2) three-manifold invariant…
The gauge symmetry of classical general relativity under space-time diffeomorphisms implies that any path integral quantization which can be interpreted as a sum over space-time geometries, gives rise to a formal invariant of smooth…
A trisection of a smooth, closed, oriented 4-manifold is a decomposition into three 4-dimensional 1-handlebodies meeting pairwise in 3-dimensional 1-handlebodies, with triple intersection a closed surface. The fundamental groups of the…
The aim of homotopy theory in topology is to simplify, after continuous deformation, continuous maps between topological spaces. What prevents this from happening are homotopy invariants. This raises quantitative questions: $\bullet$ Is the…
This survey aims to provide a guide to the literature on topological 4-manifolds. Foundational theorems on 4-manifolds are stated, especially in the topological category. Precise references are given, with indications of the strategies…
We consider several differential-topological invariants of compact 4-manifolds which directly arise from Riemannian variational problems. Using recent results of Bauer and Furuta, we compute these invariants in many cases that were…
We study the space of positive scalar curvature (psc) metrics on a 4-manifold, and give examples of simply connected manifolds for which it is disconnected. These examples imply that concordance of psc metrics does not imply isotopy of such…
The convenient setting for smooth mappings, holomorphic mappings, and real analytic mappings in infinite dimension is sketched. Infinite dimensional manifolds are discussed with special emphasis on smooth partitions of unity and tangent…
Given a closed orientable surface (\Sigma) of genus at least two, we establish an affine isomorphism between the convex compact set of isotopy-invariant topological measures on (\Sigma) and the convex compact set of additive functions on…
We construct two distinct yet related M-theory models that provide suitable frameworks for the study of knot invariants. We then focus on the four-dimensional gauge theory that follows from appropriately compactifying one of these M-theory…
This paper provides a diffeomorphism classification of smooth manifolds homeomorphic to the complex projective space $\mathbb{C}P^m$ for $m \in \{5, 6, 7, 8\}$. The classification is obtained by computing the group of concordance classes of…
We describe algorithms based on invariant theory to solve problems on the geometry of curves, mainly those of genus 2, 3 and 4. New theoretical results building on the first author's PhD thesis are also included.
We classify complete curvature homogeneous metrics on simply connected four dimensional manifolds which are invariant under a cohomogeneity one action. We show that they are either isometric to a symmetric space with one of its…
We discuss diffeomorphism and gauge invariant theories in three dimensions motivated by the fact that some models of interest do not have a suitable action description yet. The construction is based on a canonical representation of symmetry…
Let $X$ be a connected compact 3-manifold with non-empty boundary. Consider the boundary $M$ of $X\times D^2$. $M$ is a 4-dimensional closed manifold and has the same fundamental group as $X$. Various examples of $X$ are known for which a…
A smooth diffeomorphism is said to be distributionally uniquely ergodic (DUE for short) when it is uniquely ergodic and its unique invariant probability measure is the only invariant distribution (up to multiplication by a constant).…