Related papers: Noncomplex smooth 4-manifolds with genus-2 Lefsche…

Here we prove that up to diffeomorphism every compact Stein manifold W of dimension 2n+2>4 admits a Lefschetz fibration over the two-disk with Stein regular fibers, such that the monodromy of the fibration is a symplectomorphism induced by…

We construct universal Lefschetz fibrations, defined in analogy with classical universal bundles. We also introduce the cobordism groups of Lefschetz fibrations, and we see how these groups are quotients of the singular bordism groups via…

We construct a family of $6$-dimensional compact manifolds $M(A)$, which are simultaneously diffeomorphic to complex Calabi-Yau manifolds and symplectic Calabi-Yau manifolds. They have fundamental groups $\mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}$,…

We produce a rational homology 3-sphere that does not smoothly bound either a positive or negative definite 4-manifold. Such a 3-manifold necessarily cannot be rational homology cobordant to a Seifert fibered space or any 3-manifold…

We describe a procedure to construct infinite sets of pairwise smoothly inequivalent 2-spheres in simply connected 4-manifolds, which are topologically isotopic and whose complement has a prescribed fundamental group that satisfies some…

For any finitely presentable group $G$, we show the existence of an isolated complex surface singularity link which admits infinitely many exotic Stein fillings such that the fundamental group of each filling is isomorphic to $G$. We also…

We classify the possible elementary amenable fundamental groups of compact aspherical 4-manifolds with boundary and conclude that they are either polycyclic or solvable Baumslag- Solitar. Since these groups are good and satisfy the…

We construct a rational homotopy-theoretic model for a classifying space of locally conformally symplectic structures on four-manifolds, and use it to definition a cobordism category of three-manifolds `anchored' by principal $\Omega^2 S^2$…

We show that any topological, closed, oriented, non-spin $4$-manifold with fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}_{4k}$ and $\min(b_2^+, b_2^-)\geq 15$, has either none or infinitely many distinct smooth structures. Furthermore, we construct…

A Riemannian manifold is called geometrically formal if the wedge product of any two harmonic forms is again harmonic. We classify geometrically formal compact 4-manifolds with nonnegative sectional curvature. If the sectional curvature is…

We follow our study of non-K\"ahler complex structures on $R^4$ that we defined in a previous paper. We prove that these complex surfaces do not admit any smooth complex compactification. Moreover, we give an explicit description of their…

The harmonic cohomology of a Donaldson symplectic submanifold and of an Auroux symplectic submanifold are compared with that of its ambient space. We also study symplectic manifolds satisfying a weakly Lefschetz property, that is, the…

Which smooth compact 4-manifolds admit an Einstein metric with non-negative Einstein constant? A complete answer is provided in the special case of 4-manifolds that also happen to admit either a complex structure or a symplectic structure.

We prove that, for any Morse function on a compact manifold and any adapted gradient satisfying the Morse-Smale condition, there is a homotopically unique complex-valued symplectic Lefschetz fibration on the cotangent bundle whose…

The purpose of this article is twofold. First we outline a general construction scheme for producing simply-connected minimal symplectic 4-manifolds with small Euler characteristics. Using this scheme, we illustrate how to obtain…

We apply ideas from conformal field theory to study symplectic four-manifolds, by using modular functors to "linearise" Lefschetz fibrations. In Chern-Simons theory this leads to the study of parabolic vector bundles of conformal blocks.…

We derive an obstruction to representing a homology class of a symplectic 4-manifold by an embedded, possibly disconnected, symplectic surface.

We show that the homotopy type of a finite oriented Poincar\'{e} 4-complex is determined by its quadratic 2-type provided its fundamental group is finite and has a dihedral Sylow 2-subgroup. By combining with results of Hambleton-Kreck and…

We prove that there are infinitely many pairs of homeomorphic non-diffeomorphic smooth 4-manifolds, such that in each pair one manifold admits an Einstein metric and the other does not. We also show that there are closed 4-manifolds with…

We study necessary and sufficient conditions for a 4-dimensional Lefschetz fibration over the 2-disk to admit a $\text{Pin}^{\pm}$-structure, extending the work of A. Stipsicz in the orientable setting. As a corollary, we get existence…