All Questions
Tagged with gt.geometric-topology 4-manifolds
53 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
37
votes
0
answers
2k
views
What is the three-dimensional hyperbolic volume of a four-manifold?
Every smooth closed orientable 4-manifold may be constructed via a handle decomposition. Before asking a couple of questions, I recall some well-known facts about handle-decompositions of 4-manifolds.
...
25
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Concordance and homology cobordism
If two knots $K_1$ and $K_2$ in $S^3$ are smoothly concordant, then for any rational number $r$, the $r$-surgeries $S^3_r(K_1)$ and $S^3_r(K_2)$ are homology cobordant. Is the converse true? What if $...
24
votes
0
answers
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)...
19
votes
0
answers
852
views
Which manifolds decompose into pants?
In this nice paper Mikhalkin uses certain (more geometrical than algebraic) aspects of tropical geometry to prove that every complex projective hypersurface in $\mathbb C \mathbb P ^n$ decomposes as a ...
18
votes
0
answers
873
views
Almost complex 4-manifolds with a "holomorphic" vector field
Main question. What is the class of smooth orientable 4-dimensional manifolds that admit an almost complex structure $J$ and a vector field v, that preserves $J$?
The following sub question is ...
14
votes
0
answers
326
views
When can we extend a diffeomorphism from a surface to its neighborhood as identity?
Let $M$ be a closed and simply-connected 4-manifold and let $f: M^4 \to M^4$ be a diffeomorphism such that $f^*: H^*(M;\mathbb{Z})\to H^*(M;\mathbb{Z})$ is the identity map. Moreover, let $\Sigma \...
14
votes
0
answers
376
views
Nonsmoothable 4-manifolds
Does there exist a closed connected nonsmoothable 4-manifold $M$ such that:
$\kappa(M)=0$ (Kirby-Siebenmann invariant vanishes, hence, there is no "classical" obstruction to smoothability) ...
14
votes
0
answers
336
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-...
12
votes
0
answers
419
views
Is the Lipschitz structure on $\mathbb{S}^4$ unique?
Sullivan [S] proved that on any $n$-dimensional, $n\neq 4$, topological manifold there is a unique Lipschitz structure. Although it is generally accepted result, it seems that the proof lacks some ...
12
votes
0
answers
251
views
Excluding exotic PL structures on S^4
Suppose you have a finite group $G<SO(5)$ such that $S^4/G$ is homeomorphic to $S^4$ and such that $S^4/G$ is a PL manifold with respect to a PL structure induced by a standard structure on $S^4$. ...
11
votes
0
answers
335
views
Isotopy on embedded 3-manifolds in 4-manifolds
Suppose that $X$ be an oriented, closed four-manifold. Suppose that $Y$ is an oriented, closed three-manifold smoothly embedded in $X$. Suppose also that $f:X \to X$ is a diffeomorphism that fixes $Y$...
11
votes
0
answers
360
views
Fox re-imbedding theorem in dimension four
Fox re-imbedding theorem states the following:
A compact 3-manifold $M$ with boundary that embeds in the three-sphere $S^3$, can be re-imbedded in $S^3$ so that its complement is a union of ...
10
votes
0
answers
207
views
Find a 4-manifold bounding a 3-torus with any abelian representation in SL_2
Fix $x,y,z\in \mathbb{C}^*$ and let $M=S^1\times S^1\times S^1$ with $\rho:\pi_1(M)\to \operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{C})$ mapping the three generators to diagonal matrices with entries $(x,x^{-1})$, $(y,...
9
votes
0
answers
176
views
Configuration space of 4 points as an orbifold
Setup: Consider the braid group $B_n$. One way to define this is as the fundamental group of the unordered configuration space $UC_n(\mathbb{C}) = \{\{z_1,\dotsc,z_n\}\subset \mathbb{C} \mid z_i \not= ...
8
votes
0
answers
298
views
A conjecture about homotopy $S^1\times B^3$'s
$\textbf{Conjecture}:$
Let $X^4$ be a homotopy $S^1\times B^3$ with the following properties:
Attaching a four dimensional 2-handle gives a standard $B^4$.
The $k$-fold cyclic cover is diffeomorphic ...
8
votes
0
answers
445
views
Integer surgeries along links yielding lens spaces
Does there exist an integer $N$ such that any lens space $L(p,q)$ can be obtained by integer surgery from $S^3$ along a link $L$ with at most $N$ components?
EDIT:
I have worked out the comment by ...
8
votes
0
answers
489
views
Self diffeomorphism of $S^2\times S^2$
The main question is motivated from the answer of this question https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2481200/finite-groups-gs-which-acts-freely-on-s2-times-s2
Is it true that every self ...
7
votes
0
answers
347
views
On exotic symplectic structures of smooth closed 4-manifolds
What are some known techniques and examples of exotic symplectic structures on a fixed smooth closed 4-manifolds [by exotic I mean two symplectic structures that are not symplectomorphic]. This sounds ...
7
votes
0
answers
1k
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 \\
...
7
votes
0
answers
504
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 ...
6
votes
0
answers
181
views
Kirby diagram of Enriques surface (as the "(1/2) K3 surface")
Not to be confused with $E(1)\cong\mathbb{C}P^2\#9\overline{\mathbb{C}P^2}$, which is also known as a $\frac{1}{2}K3$ surface (in the sense that removing a neighbourhood of a regular torus fiber in $E(...
6
votes
0
answers
270
views
11/8-type inequality from Heegaard Floer theory?
Background: a well-known conjecture in $4$-dimensional topology states that if $M$ is a $4$-dimensional oriented closed spin smooth manifold, then the second Betti number of $M$ is bounded from below ...
6
votes
0
answers
391
views
Questions about a paper by Laudenbach and Poénaru
I am working on the 1972 paper A Note on 4-Dimensional Handlebodies by F. Laudenbach and V. Poénaru, and I had two questions. I will use their notations to simplify things, since the paper is very ...
6
votes
0
answers
188
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
0
answers
217
views
What is the state of the art in 4-manfold 2-types?
In an old answer to an old question of mine, Peter Teichner commented that it is an open problem to determine which homotopy 2-types arise from 4-manifolds. In some instances we know that a 4-manifold ...
6
votes
0
answers
199
views
Surgering locally flat tori in 4-manifolds
Is there a locally flat torus in some not smoothable topological 4-manifold such that surgering on it produces a smoothable 4-manifold? Surgering means removing a tubular neighborhood and reattaching ...
5
votes
0
answers
146
views
Can every homeomorphism of the 4-ball fixing the boundary be approximated by diffeomorphisms smoothly isotopic to the identity?
Let $B^{n}$ denote the euclidean closed ball of dimension $n$. Alexander's trick shows that every homeomorphism of $B^{n}$ fixing $\partial B^n$ is $C^{0}$-isotopic to the identity via a boundary ...
5
votes
0
answers
111
views
Standard 2-instantons on the 4-sphere under conformal transformation
It is well-known that there is a standard SU(2) 1-instanton on the 4-sphere and any 1-instanton can be obtained from the standard one by conformal transformation. Is there any explicit (family of) &...
5
votes
0
answers
610
views
Closed 4-manifolds with uncountably many differentiable structures
I know that $\mathbb{R}^4$ admits uncountably many differentiable structures. So, I wonder what happens if we consider closed 4-manifolds. Are there any closed 4-manifolds with uncountably many ...
4
votes
0
answers
116
views
Candidates of nonsmoothable homology 4-spheres
I'm not trying to duplicate a question Are there non-smoothable homotopy/homology spheres?
But in Igor Belegradek's answer, he pointed out that "Some of them (homology spheres) have large ...
4
votes
0
answers
229
views
An Akbulut cork with a simple equation?
Is there an Akbulut cork that is diffeomorphic to a complex affine surface that can be given by a simple equation? (for example a surface given by zeros of a low-degree polynomial in $\mathbb C^3$)
...
4
votes
0
answers
128
views
Involutions on $D^4$ with a fixed arc
By a theorem of Livesay, the 3-sphere has a unique (up to equivariant diffeomorphism) smooth involution with exactly two fixed points. Thinking of $S^3$ as the unit sphere in $\mathbb{R}^4$, this ...
4
votes
0
answers
348
views
Smoothability of open 4-manifolds
F. Quinn proved that any open topological 4-manifold admits a smooth structure in Ends of maps III: dimensions 4 and 5.
He first proves the generalized annulus conjecture:
Suppose $h:D^j\times \...
4
votes
0
answers
273
views
Are triangulations with common refinements PL-homeomorphic?
Do there exist simplicial triangulations $K_1$ and $K_2$ of a topological manifold $M$ such that $K_1$ and $K_2$ have a common subdivision but they are not PL-homeomorphic? Ideally, I would like an ...
3
votes
0
answers
119
views
Signature vs commensurability
If a closed oriented $4n$-dimensional manifold $M$ has an orientation-reversing homeomorphism, then the signature $\sigma(M)$ of the intersection form vanishes. More generally, $\sigma(M) = 0$ if $M$ ...
3
votes
0
answers
636
views
What are some of the big open problems in $4$-manifold theory?
I've recently been studying some Manifold Theory and got very interested in their topological as well as geometric properties. From my understanding of the current literature, most the big and ...
3
votes
0
answers
153
views
A circle action on the E8 manifold
In the paper "A survey of group actions on 4-manifolds" by
Allan L. Edmonds on page 5 there is the remark "One should note that the coned-off E8-plumbing manifold
admits a circle action ...
3
votes
0
answers
405
views
A user guide to the theory on Corks
I am trying to digest the meanings of the corks from the both:
algebraic topology
and
geometry topology
perspectives.
Studying corks is important for understanding the exotic phenomenon of 4-...
3
votes
0
answers
91
views
Handlesliding a two component, linking number 1 link
Let $L = K_1 \cup K_2 \subset S^3$ be a two component framed link with $lk(K_1,K_2) = 1$. Let $\hat{L}$ denote the set of all links obtained by handlesliding $L$ around an an arbitrary number of ...
3
votes
0
answers
104
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
0
answers
181
views
Definition of the dual spider number and the formula for the first chern class of the triangle
In the process of trying to understand various maps in Heegaard Floer homology I got stuck on the definition of the dual spider number, which, it seems to me, has a combinatorial definition directly ...
2
votes
0
answers
197
views
$4$-manifolds with boundary homotopic to $K(G,1)$
I am not very conversant with the $3$-manifold or $4$-manifold theory. The literature I found so far related to $3$-manifold tells me that $S^1\times S^2$ is "very special". It is prime but ...
2
votes
0
answers
95
views
If a Compact $n$-Manifold Immerses in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ is there a Locally Flat Immersion?
Suppose that $M$ is a compact, topological $n$-manifold and there is a topological immersion (i.e. local embedding) of $M$ into $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$. Is there necessarily a locally flat immersion of $M$...
2
votes
0
answers
118
views
Kahler surface with certain topology
Let $P^2 \mathrel{\tilde \times} \mathbb{R}^2$ be the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-quotient of $S^2 \times \mathbb{R}^2$, where the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ action on $S^2 \times \mathbb{R}^2$ is antipodal on $S^2$ and a ...
2
votes
0
answers
201
views
The Kirby diagram of a manifold glued along the lens space $L(p,1)$
Suppose $K$ is a knot in $S^3$ with any framing and $m=m_0$ is its meridian with $-1$ framing. Suppose $m_1,\dots,m_{p-1}$ are unknots with framings $-2$, such that $m_{i-1}$ and $m_i$ are linked as a ...
2
votes
0
answers
201
views
On the smoothness of plumbed $4$-manifolds and $E_8$ manifold
The $E_8$ manifold can be constructed by plumbing together disk bundles of Euler number $2$ over $2$-sphere $S^2$ according to the Dynkin diagram for $E_8$.
In Smooth 4-manifolds with $E_8$ ...
1
vote
0
answers
107
views
Extend a circle action on $3$-manifolds
Let $M$ be an oriented closed $3$-manifold equipped with an effective smooth circle action.
Can we have a classification of all such $M$ such that there exists a $4$-manifold $N$ with $\partial N=M$, ...
1
vote
0
answers
191
views
Local to global complexity of triangulations
Alright 3rd time's the charm - editing again to put all my cards on the table.
Consider a PL $n$-manifold $M$. Define the complexity $c(M)$ of $M$ to be the minimum number of $n$-simplices needed to ...
1
vote
0
answers
160
views
Contractible four-manifold which admits a decomposition
Let $M^4$ be a noncompact, contractible, smooth manifold. Suppose there exists an exhaustion $M=\bigcup_{i\ge 1} U_i$ by open sets such that (1) $\bar U_i \subset U_{i+1}$ and (2) each $U_i$ is ...
1
vote
0
answers
82
views
Do different decompositions of Dehn twists induce the same cobordisms between mapping tori?
Suppose $Y=T^2\times I/f$ is a mapping torus, where $f$ is a diffeomorphism of $T^2$. Suppose $c$ is a curve on $T^2\times \{1\}$ with surface framing and suppose $D_c$ is the positive Dehn twist ...