English

3-manifolds that bound no definite 4-manifold

Geometric Topology 2021-01-08 v2

Abstract

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 obtained by Dehn surgery on a knot. The proof requires an analysis of short characteristic covectors in bimodular lattices.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2012.12929,
  title  = {3-manifolds that bound no definite 4-manifold},
  author = {Marco Golla and Kyle Larson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.12929},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Version 2: new result about bimodular lattices that simplifies the argument; minor changes elsewhere

R2 v1 2026-06-23T21:19:38.874Z