Questions tagged [4-manifolds]
A smooth 4-manifold is a 4-manifold with a smooth structure. In dimension four, in marked contrast with lower dimensions, topological and smooth manifolds are quite different.
10
votes
0answers
132 views
Are there exotic twisted doubles of 4-manifolds?
Take a smooth 4-manifold $X$ whose boundary has a diffeomorphism $\tau: \partial X \to \partial X$ that extends to a homeomorphism but not a diffeomorphism of $X$. (By Matveyev and Curtis-Freedman-...
13
votes
1answer
241 views
Is there a constructive proof that in four dimensions, the PL and the smooth category are equivalent?
Summary
Famously, the categories of 4-dimensional smooth manifolds and 4-dimensional piecewise linear manifolds are equivalent. Is there a constructive proof for this theorem or does it depend on the ...
8
votes
1answer
143 views
Relation between the Casson-Gordon invariants $\sigma(M, \chi)$ and $\sigma_r(M, \chi)$
Setting: There are two objects in knot theory that are commonly referred to as the Casson-Gordon invariants: the invariant $\sigma$, and the invariant $\tau$ (see for example A. Conway’s notes ...
5
votes
0answers
230 views
Applications of E8 manifold
The $E_8$ Cartan matrix is given by,
$$
K_{E_8}=\begin{pmatrix}
2 & -1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
-1 & 2 & -1& 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
...
5
votes
0answers
159 views
Homology spheres bounding homology balls but not embedding into $S^4$
Are there any examples of integer homology spheres $Y^3$ that bound smooth integer homology balls but that do not smoothly embeded into $S^4$?
5
votes
1answer
196 views
smooth homotopy 4-balls with sphere boundary in dimension 4
What follows is, as far as I can tell, totally standard folklore. I have one particular point of confusion, other than that, I wanted to confirm that I am uttering the incantations correctly.
The ...
6
votes
1answer
157 views
Framings for 2-surgeries on 4-manifolds
I'm interested in doing $2$-surgeries to $\sharp^k S^1 \times S^3$. That is to the manifold obtained from applying $1$-surgeries to $S^4$.
Since $\pi_1(O(3)) = \mathbb{Z}_2$, there are two possible ...
4
votes
1answer
118 views
Simple invariants to detect concordance in general 3-manifolds
Let $Y$ be a closed, connected, orientable 3-manifold. We call to oriented knots $K_1, K_2$ in $Y$ (smoothly) concordant if there is a smoothly, properly embedded annulus in $Y \times I$ such that ...
2
votes
1answer
197 views
Embedding problem for 3-manifolds attacked via 4-manifolds
In this archiv paper which is continuation of following:
Borodzik, Maciej; Némethi, András; Ranicki, Andrew, Morse theory for manifolds with boundary, Algebr. Geom. Topol. 16, No. 2, 971-1023 (2016). ...
33
votes
1answer
626 views
Exotic $R^4$ as the universal covering space
Is there a smooth compact 4-manifold whose universal covering is an exotic $R^4$, i.e. is homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to $R^4$?
Remark. I am aware of examples (due to Mike Davis) of compact $...
6
votes
0answers
186 views
Which 3-manifolds are known to admit exotic pairs of bounding 4-manifolds?
Let $M$ be a compact connected three manifold. By an exotic pair of bounding 4-manifolds, I mean two smooth 4-manifolds $X_1,X_2$ such that $X_1$ and $X_2$ are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic, and ...
7
votes
1answer
93 views
Minimum number of double points over all immersed disks
Let $K$ be a knot in the boundary of a compact smooth 4-manifold $X$, and suppose that $K$ is the the kernel of $\pi_1(\partial X) \to \pi_1(X)$. Then $K$ is the boundary of some immersed disk $D \to ...
8
votes
3answers
907 views
Is there a closed non-smoothable 4-manifold with zero Euler characteristic?
I will just repeat the title:
Is there a closed non-smoothable 4-manifold with zero Euler
characteristic?
I am guessing yes simply based on other existence theorems I have seen for 4-manifolds.
22
votes
1answer
568 views
What can we say about the Cartesian product of a manifold with its exotic copy?
Let $M$ be a smooth oriented manifold, and let $M^E$ be an exotic copy, i.e homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to $M$.
Is it true that $M\times M$ is diffeomorphic to $M\times M^E$?
I am ...
17
votes
2answers
489 views
Behavior of genus function on a 4-manifold for sums
Let $X$ be a smooth compact 4-manifold. Then every element of $H_2(X;\mathbb{Z})$ can be represented by a smooth embedded orientable surface and we have the so called genus function $G: H_2(X; \...
3
votes
0answers
67 views
Blow-up and Blow-down kirby local moves for non-orientable $3$-manifold
Can anyone explain or give a reference about the Blow-up and Blow-down Kirby local moves for non-orientable $3$-manifolds?
Thanks, advance.
4
votes
1answer
261 views
Canonical Metrics on 3- and 4-Manifolds
From the Uniformization Theorem, it is known that every conformal class of metrics on a genus-$g$ Riemann surface with $n$ boundaries/punctures, subject to the condition $2g+n\ge 3$, contains a unique ...
6
votes
1answer
416 views
What is “topology in dimension 3.5”?
I've noticed a couple of conference titles which reference something called
"topology in dimension 3.5," such as this one and this one. This subject seems quite mysterious to me — it looks like ...
5
votes
2answers
734 views
Topological Classification of Four-Manifolds
It is known that the topological classification of a closed Riemann surface is determined by its genus. Similar statements are proven for other compact Riemann surfaces with boundaries/marked points. ...
34
votes
3answers
740 views
How to specify a compact topological 4-manifold with a finite amount of data
Finite data for 4-manifolds: I have a somewhat hazy memory of seeing a Ph.D. thesis around 2005 which showed that any compact topological 4-manifold $M$ can be specified by a finite amount of data. ...
4
votes
2answers
342 views
Are there Kirby diagrams with 3-handles?
Let $M\colon \partial_- M \to \partial_+ M$ be an oriented, compact cobordism. Assume that there is a handle decomposition with at most one 0-handle, and denote the handle bodies by $M_i, i \in \{0,\...
2
votes
1answer
117 views
Lefschetz Fibrations and disk bundles
When reading chaptes 7 of Akbulut's book about $4-$manifolds, he describes a handle decomposition for a manifold given a Lefschetz fibration over $S^2$. The idea is to extend the preimage of a disk ...
6
votes
1answer
269 views
Fundamental groups of non-orientable closed four-manifolds
The fundamental group of a closed orientable manifold is finitely presented, and every finitely presented group arises as the fundamental group of a closed orientable four-manifold; see this question. ...
6
votes
2answers
315 views
Decribe the $S^2$ fibration over $S^2$ that gives $\mathbf{CP}^2\#\overline{\mathbf{CP}}^2$
According to this MO post, there is two possible $S^2$ fibration over $S^2$. One is obviously $S^2\times S^2$, another one is the connected sum of two copies of $\mathbf {CP}^2$ with different ...
2
votes
0answers
97 views
Surgery and Curvature on Foliation
Let $X$ be an oriented closed smooth $4$-manifold. Suppose that $TM$ admits a foliation $\mathcal F$ of dimension two, and admits a positvescalar curvature.
Q: If we do the surgery on $X$ to reduce ...
7
votes
3answers
969 views
About Simon Donaldson's book on four dimensional manifold
Recently I'm reading Donaldson's Geometry of four manifolds. It seems to me that the book requires a lot for background. Additionally, the proof in the book is too sketchy without too much detail. I ...
24
votes
0answers
1k views
Exotic 4-spheres and the Tate-Shafarevich Group
The title is a talk given by Sir M. Atiyah in a conference with the following abstract:
I will explain a deep analogy between 4-dimensional smooth geometry (Donaldson theory)...
5
votes
0answers
431 views
Intersection form of logarithmic transformations
Now I want to calculate the intersection form of a logarithmic transformation which is defined as follows.
Let $X$ be an oriented, closed, simply-connected 4-manifold and $T^2\subset X$
be an ...
12
votes
0answers
204 views
Are there two non-equivalent exotic structures on $\mathbb{R}^4$ coming from topologically slice, non-slice knots?
For a knot $K \subset S^3$, which is topologically slice but not slice (in a smooth way), there's a four manifold $\mathbb{R}^4_K$, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to standard euclidean $\mathbb{R}^...
21
votes
0answers
239 views
Are there exotic $\mathbb{R}^4$'s that are products with $\mathbb{R}$? [duplicate]
This came up in a conversation:
Question: Is there an exotic $\mathbb{R}^4$ that smoothly splits off an $\mathbb{R}$ factor? More precisely, suppose that $\mathcal R$ is a smooth 4-manifold which ...
7
votes
1answer
500 views
Surgery along an embedded surface in a 4-manifold
Let $X$ be a 4-manifold and $\Sigma_g\subset X$ be an embedded closed orientable genus = $g$ surface. Suppose $\Sigma_g\subset X$ has a trivial closed normal bundle $N(\Sigma_g) = \Sigma_g\times D^2$. ...
5
votes
0answers
165 views
How can Wall's theorem be generalised to non-simply connected manifolds?
In a sense, this is a follow-up to this question.
By work of Freedman and Wall, it is known that if two simply-connected 4-manifolds $M$ and $N$ are homeomorphic, then there is $k \in \mathbb{N}$ ...
0
votes
1answer
159 views
Visualizing the 4th dimension [closed]
In a freshers lecture of 3-D geometry, our teacher said that 3-D objects can be viewed as shadows of 4-D objects. How does this helps us visualize 4-D objects?
I searched that we can atleast see ...
5
votes
1answer
203 views
Fundamental groups of open sets in $R^n$ with $n=3,4$
It is well known that every finitely presented group may be realised as fundamental group of some closed $4$-manifold.
What groups can be obtained as fundamental groups of open subsets of $R^4$? I'...
9
votes
1answer
538 views
Is a 4-dimensional submanifold of a spin manifold always spin?
Let $M^d$ be a $d$-dimensional orientable spin manifold, and $N^4$ is a closed $4$-dimensional orientable submanifold of $M^d$.
Is $N^4$ always spin?
If $d=5$, is $N^4$ always spin?
If $N^4$ is a ...
7
votes
1answer
481 views
Is there a four-manifold whose tangent bundle is an endomorphism bundle?
Is there a smooth four-manifold $M$ such that $TM \cong \operatorname{End}(E)$ for some rank $2$ bundle $E \to M$?
If $M$ is parallelisable, then one can take $E$ to be the trivial rank $2$ bundle ...
26
votes
1answer
1k views
Not all manifolds can be triangulated: In which dimensions?
I know that Ciprian Manolescu has settled the triangulation conjecture in the negative: Not all manifolds can be triangulated. I've only read secondary literature on this result, which did not detail ...
9
votes
2answers
282 views
Given a Kirby diagram of a 4-manifold, what's its homotopy 2-type?
It's easy to derive a presentation of the fundamental group of a 4-manifold if you have a Kirby diagram: The 1-handles are generators and the 2-handles are the relations. The 3- and 4-handles, which ...
3
votes
1answer
219 views
4-dimensional TQFT with/without requiring spin structure
My questions here are focused on $D$-dimensional topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) which are unitary and which have finite dimensional Hilbert space on a closed spatial manifold $M^{d-1}$. ...
1
vote
0answers
65 views
transversality for reducible holomorphic curve
Let $(X, \omega)$ be a strong symplectic cobordism between nondegenerate contact manifolds $(Y_+, \lambda_+)$ and $(Y_-, \lambda_-)$. Let $\overline{X}$ be usual symplectization completion of $X$ ...
5
votes
1answer
177 views
Evolution of $W_+$ and $W_-$ under the Ricci flow
In dimension $4$ the Weyl operator $W$ splits in two parts
$$W_+:\Lambda^{2}_{+} \to \Lambda^{2}_{+}$$
and
$$W_-:\Lambda^{2}_{-} \to \Lambda^{2}_{-}.$$
(a) Has there been a study of the evolution ...
5
votes
1answer
210 views
$\pi_1$ of 4-manifolds that “look like” disk bundles
Let $X$ be a smooth compact oriented 4-manifold with $\partial X=L(p,1)$, $H_2(X;\Bbb Z)=\Bbb Z$, $H_3(X; \Bbb Z)=0$ and the induced map $\pi_1(L(p,1)) \to X$ surjective. What are the possibilities ...
3
votes
0answers
75 views
A link of four 2-tori $T^2$ in $S^2 \times S^2$
Step 1: We glue two sets of complement space of $D^2\times T^2$ out of the 4-sphere $S^4$, through their $T^3$ boundary with their three $S^1$ boundaries of $T^3$ cyclic permuted to obtain a new 4-...
3
votes
1answer
220 views
Simply connected 4-manifolds with boundary
I think I've encountered a question about 4-manifolds which maybe easy but I'm not familiar with. Can anyone give me an example of a simply connected 4-manifold $M$ (with boundary, of course) with $...
6
votes
0answers
134 views
Quotients of 4-sphere by smooth $Z_p$ actions with knotted fixed point sets
This question is closely related to another I asked today.
Giffen showed in 1966 that the generalized Smith conjecture is false by constructing for odd $p$ a smooth $Z_p$ action on $S^4$ with fixed-...
6
votes
1answer
206 views
Distinguishing homology $S^1 \times S^2$'s which bound homotopy $S^1$'s
Due to Mazur, Akbulut and Kirby and many others, there are many examples of integer homology 3-spheres which bound contractible 4-manifolds given by attaching a single 2-handle to $S^1 \times D^3$ ...
6
votes
1answer
334 views
A proof of Theorem 9.2.12. in the Gompf-Stipsicz
I'm seeking for a proof of Theorem 9.2.12. in the Gompf-Stipsicz "4-Manifolds and Kirby Calculus" (for the statement, see the following image). But the textbook omits any proofs and only gives a ...
4
votes
2answers
296 views
CW 4 manifolds with single 4 cell
Let $M$ be a connected compact closed 4 manifold. Then $H_4(M)=\mathbb{Z}$. If we assume it is smooth, from Morse theory we know that $M$ has a CW structure. But can we find a CW structure of $M$ with ...
5
votes
1answer
274 views
How to understand Taubes' moduli space of holomorphic curves?
Let $(X, \omega)$ be a closed symplectic 4-manifold. Let $\mathcal{C}=(C_i, mi_i)$ be a holomorphic current in $X$, where $C_i$ is a somewhere injective $J$-holomorphic curve in $X$ and $m_i$ is ...
5
votes
1answer
176 views
Perburb the Monodromy of Lefschetz fibration over a disk
Suppose that $\pi:E \to D$ is a 4-dimensional Lefschetz fibration over a disk,(more general, Lefschetz fibration over a surface with boundary ) and let $\Omega$ be a closed 2-form on $E$ such that it ...
