Questions tagged [surgery-theory]

In geometric topology, surgery theory is used to produce one finite-dimensional manifold from another in a 'controlled' way. Originally developed for differentiable (smooth) manifolds, surgery techniques also apply to piecewise linear and topological manifolds. Surgery refers to cutting out parts of the manifold and replacing it with a part of another manifold, matching up along the cut or boundary. This is related to handlebody decompositions.

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Possible Euler characteristics of manifolds with tangential structures

Let $p:B\to BO$ be a fibration. We say that a manifold has a $B$-structure if its stable tangent bundle lifts to $B$. I am interested in the question of whether there exists, for a given even ...
Simona Vesela's user avatar
4 votes
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111 views

Finding inverses of certain elements in the set of normal invariants of a smooth manifold

Let, $V$ denote the Stiefel manifold of 2-frames $V_{10,2}$ . Consider the the map $S_\text{diff} (V) \xrightarrow{\eta} N_\text{diff} (V) $ in the surgery exact sequence of a smooth manifold. . ...
Sagnik Biswas's user avatar
1 vote
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130 views

Higher dimensional Seifert surfaces and link numbers of higher knots

In 3-manifold topology, the notion of Seifert surface is well known. It is then used to define link numbers of knots. Question: Consider embedding $N^n \rightarrow M^{2n+1}$ of n-dimensional manifold $...
0x11111's user avatar
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Tangential normal invariant isomorphism

Recently, I was reading the paper "Finite Group Actions on Kervaire Manifold" by Crowley, Hambolton. But I am having problem understanding a definition. Here it is, In page 15-16 they are ...
Sagnik Biswas ma20d013's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
205 views

Gluing a manifold along its boundary, via chain complexes

Given closed oriented $n$-manifolds $M, M', M''$ and bordisms $W, W'$ with $\partial W = M \sqcup - M'$ and $\partial W' = M' \sqcup - M''$, we can collar-glue them to obtain a bordism from $M$ to $M''...
Markus Zetto's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
282 views

On the proof of the surgery step in Wall's book

This question regards a part of the proof of the so called surgery step, in Wall's book "surgery on compact manifolds", Theorem 1.1. Setting $M^m$ smooth manifold, $X$ CW complex, $\phi :M\...
Overflowian's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
439 views

4-manifold obtained from a ribbon disk exterior by attaching a 2-handle is simply-connected if its boundary is a homology sphere

I am reading Lemma 2.1 of this paper (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.12587.pdf) and I can't see why $W$ is simply-connected. Here is the situation: Let $K$ be a ribbon knot in $S^3$; it bounds a ribbon ...
user302934's user avatar
2 votes
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About connected cobordism and surgery

I need to find various ways of performing two surgeries on a collection of circles so that the resulting 2-dimensional cobordism (the trace of the surgeries) is connected. How can I find these ? up ...
Usa's user avatar
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Integral homology $S^1\times S^2$'s smoothly bounding integral homology $S^1\times B^3$'s

Suppose we are given a compact orientable 3-manifold $M$ which is an integral homology $S^1\times S^2$. Then is there a way to determine whether $M$ bounds a smooth compact orientable 4-manifold which ...
user302934's user avatar
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Attaching a 2-handle to a once-twisted unlink in the boundary of the 4-ball

Consider the 3-sphere $S_3$ with an unlink loop $L$ whose tubular neighborhood is identified with the solid torus $B_2\times S_1$ with one twist, i.e., such that the image of $x\times S_1$ (where $x$ ...
Andi Bauer's user avatar
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Expository material on the Gromov-Lawson surgery theorem

I am looking for an expository text on the paper "The classification of simply connected manifolds of positive scalar curvature" by Gromov and Lawson, in particular on the proof of Theorem A....
Luke McEvoy's user avatar
4 votes
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132 views

Survey or good reference of taut foliations

I am interested in the topology of foliations. In particular, I want to understand taut foliations, or projectively Anosov flows, and Anosov flows. I guess that A. Candel and L. Conlon, Foliations I (...
user473085's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
436 views

Surgery along knots and connected sum

Denote $S^3_{p/q}(K)$ by performing $p/q$-surgery along a knot $K$ in $S^3$. Let $K$ and $J$ be two arbitrary oriented non-trivial knots in $S^3$. Is there a nice relation between surgery on the ...
Terry Black's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
219 views

A question on the proof of Theorem 1 in Milnor's "Killing Homotopy Groups"

Theorem 1 of Milnor's paper "A procedure for killing homotopy groups of differentiable manifolds" states that two manifolds are in the same cobordism class if and only if they can be ...
Luke McEvoy's user avatar
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1 answer
441 views

Regarding the surgery construction in "A procedure for killing homotopy groups of differentiable manifolds" by Milnor

In the first section of "A procedure for killing homotopy groups of differentiable manifolds", Milnor gives the surgery construction as follows. Let $W$ be an $n=p+q+1$ dimensional manifold. ...
Luke McEvoy's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
146 views

Kind of "associativity" of certain connected sum involving both manifolds with and without boundary

Consider two compact, oriented and connected manifolds $\mathcal{M},\mathcal{N}$ with possibly non-empty connected boundaries $\partial\mathcal{M}$ and $\partial\mathcal{N}$. Now, in some project, I ...
B.Hueber's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
150 views

Is spin cobordism an invariant for surgery of codimension $q\ge3$?

Recall that a surgery of codimension $q$ on an $n$-manifold $X$ is a modification of $X$ of the following type. Let $\Sigma^{n-q}\subset X$ be a smoothly embedded $(n-q)$-sphere with a trivialized ...
wonderich's user avatar
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1 vote
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168 views

Mapping class group and surgery theory

Given a smooth manifold $M$ of dimension $n$ and a diffeomorphism $\phi: M \to M$, we can construct a smooth cobordism of dimension $(n+1)$ from $M$ to $M$ by gluing $M \times [0,1]$ with itself by $\...
Student's user avatar
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4 votes
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348 views

Kirby's theorem for 4-manifolds

In dimension 3, we have the celebrated Kirby theorem: Let $L_1, L_2$ be two links in the 3-sphere $S^3$; then they surgeries along them produce homeomorphic 3-manifolds if and only if they are related ...
Student's user avatar
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8 votes
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Is the number of prime factors of 3-manifolds obtained by Dehn surgery along a link with $N$ components in $S^3$ bounded from above?

For a given $N$, is the number of prime factors of 3-manifolds obtained by Dehn surgery along a link with $N$ components in $S^3$ bounded from above? The Two Summands Conjecture states that surgery ...
Arshak Aivazian's user avatar
4 votes
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229 views

Being a product - from homology to topology

The famous Kunneth formula expresses the homology of a product manifold as the tensor product of the two algebras. Now suppose we know that a manifold $X$ has a decomposition $H_*(X) \simeq A \otimes ...
Andrea Marino's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
172 views

L-theory periodicity

Let $\mathcal{A}$ be an additive category. I have two questions: Is there a conceptual explanation why $L(\mathcal{A})$ is 4-periodic, in the sense that $L_{i}(\mathcal{A})=L_{i+4}(\mathcal{A})$ for ...
cellular's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
405 views

L-theory of additive category

Reading some articles in the field, I found the following statement: Proposition: Let $\mathcal{B}$ be an additive category and $\mathcal{A}$ a full additive subcategory of $\mathcal{B}$. If $\mathcal{...
cellular's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
605 views

Roadmap for L-Theory

Background: I spent sometime reading about algebraic K-theory and started reading research papers on the subject with relative facility at least I do understand constructions, statements of the ...
cellular's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
132 views

Effect of a Lutz twist on Euler number

I already asked this question on the Math Stack Exchange but did not get an answer. I am currently working through Geiges proof of the Martinet-Lutz theorem, which can be found here, and am trying to ...
Universal Property's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
74 views

Fiber product formulae for surgery obstructions

Is there a formula for the surgery obstruction of a fiber product of maps assuming the fiber product is also a homotopy equivalence? In more detail, suppose that $X \to Y$ and $Z \to Y$ are homotopy ...
Chris Woodward's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
273 views

Dehn surgery along primitive knot in 3-dimensional handlebody

I'm studying the article "An alternative proof of Lickorish–Wallace theorem" (doi link) and I got stuck in a problem. Let $H_g$ be a 3 dimensional handlebody of genus $g$, a primate curve in ...
Giacomo Bascapè's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
199 views

Surgery for algebraic varieties

I have a number of vague questions that I wasn't sure whether they are suitable to ask or not, but I decided to ask! According to this result, any two birational varieties can be constructed by a ...
user127776's user avatar
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5 votes
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325 views

Are there alternate descriptions of `elementary cobordisms'?

Let $M^d$, $N^d$ be cobordant $d$-manifolds. Then $M^d \sqcup \bar{N}^d = \partial W^{d+1}$ for some $(d+1)$-manifold $W$. This cobordism can be implemented via an elementary set of 'moves' called ...
Joe's user avatar
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6 votes
0 answers
177 views

Visualize how the 5d Dold manifold and Wu manifold are cobordant via a 6d manifolds with boundaries

Are there simple intuitions and arguments to visualize why the following two 5-manifolds are cobordant to each other with the oriented structures? (They can be two boundaries of 6-dimensional oriented ...
wonderich's user avatar
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7 votes
3 answers
236 views

Normal invariants

I am having a hard time finding examples of computations of normal invariants of surgery theory (or more generally the set of homotopy classes of maps $[X,G/O]$). Does anybody have good references?
Kafka91's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
76 views

Bipartedly slice links and their surgeries

A link L in $S^3$ is said to be strongly slice if $L=∂D$,where $D$ is a disjoint union of smoothly and properly embedded disks in $B^4$. A link $L$ in $S^3$ is called bipartedly slice if $L = L_1 \cup ...
user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
181 views

Concordance, surgery and homology cobordism

In this post, we discuss the relation between the concordance of knots in $S^3$ and the integral homology cobordism. Following its notation, assume that knots $K_0$ and $K_1$ in $S^3$ are concordant. ...
user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
360 views

Dehn surgery on $S^3$ along a Hopf link with rational surgery coefficients

Is there an exhaustive list of conditions satisfied by rational surgery coefficients assigned to the components of the Hopf link in $S^3$ such that the resulting 3-manifold by Dehn surgery acting on $...
shashank markande's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
401 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 ...
Marc Kegel's user avatar
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11 votes
0 answers
225 views

Torus trick without surgery theory

It follows from surgery theory that in dimension $\geq 5$ every closed PL manifold homotopy equivalent to a torus has a finite cover which is PL homeomorphic to a torus. This is an important ...
user124543's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
301 views

Negative surgeries on negative knots

This question is two-fold. The first question is rather specific: what are some small examples of negative surgeries on negative knots that give rise to the same 3-manifold? I know one class of ...
Henry's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
416 views

Integer surgery on $S^3$

I know that any compact orientable 3-manifold can be obtained from the three sphere $S^3$ by an integer surgery. I am not sure why the surgery operation is completely determined by Where we map ...
Steve's user avatar
  • 494
1 vote
0 answers
135 views

Confused about A. Kosinski's description about surgery in his book "differential manifolds"

Please excuse me, if MO is not the proper place for this question. I aksed the same question on M.SE https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/3511134/confused-about-a-kosinskis-description-of-surgery-...
Zest's user avatar
  • 173
7 votes
3 answers
597 views

Generalized Schoenflies - formalizing step in proof?

[Sorry if the level here is wrong, I asked this on math.SE, but even with a bounty, it got no attention.] I am currently reading Hatcher's 3-Manifolds notes, the part proving Alexander's theorem, ...
Hempelicious's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
401 views

Rational surgery and attaching $2$-handles

It is well-known fact that integral Dehn surgeries on $3$-sphere $S^3$ are viewed as the result on the boundary of attaching $2$-handles $B^2 \times B^2$ to the $4$-ball $B^4$. Is there an analogue ...
user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
293 views

Topological Spin manifolds in dimension 4

In his ICM Adress at Nice (Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians Nice, September, 1970, Gauthier-Villars, editeur, Paris 6 e ,1971, Volume 2, pp. 133-163.), Robion Kirby ...
Nicolas Boerger's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
91 views

Realizing an amalgamated product of groups by splitting a closed manifold along a codimension 1 submanifold

In the paper "A splitting theorem for manifolds" by S.E. Cappell, https://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/~v1ranick/papers/capsplit.pdf the following "inverse" of the Seifert-van Kampen theorem for closed ...
user147418's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
169 views

Borromean Lines of three $\mathbb{R}^1$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$ and analogous Milnor link invariants

It is know that Borromean rings can be detected by Milnor invariant $$ \bar{\mu}(\gamma_1,\gamma_2,\gamma_3)= \# (\Sigma_1 \cap \Sigma_2 \cap \Sigma_3)-\frac{1}{2}\sum_{I,J,K}\epsilon_{IJK} \sum_{\...
annie marie cœur's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
164 views

Diffeomorphism type of the added sphere in simply connected surgery

A classical result of simply connected surgery theory, is that if two normal maps $f:M_i\rightarrow X$, $i=0,1$ are normally cobordant and if the dimension of the manifolds is odd, there exists a ...
Kafka91's user avatar
  • 93
3 votes
1 answer
234 views

Wall self-intersection invariant for odd-dimensional manifolds?

I am trying to convince myself that a naïve definition of the Wall self intersection number should not work for odd-dimensional manifolds. Namely, let $X^{2n-1}$ be a smooth oriented closed manifold ...
user101010's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
764 views

What are these 3-manifolds from surgery?

I know that surgery on the unlink with +0 slope gives $S^2 \times S^1$ (where all the links above are embedded in $S^3$). I figured (I think) that surgery on the hopf link (with +0 on both) returns $S^...
QCD_IS_GOOD's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
330 views

Chirality and Anti-Chirality of links in 3 and in 5 dimensions

We know there is a chiral knot which is a knot that is not equivalent to its mirror image. It is well known in the mathematical field of knot theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiral_knot My ...
wonderich's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
356 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-...
wonderich's user avatar
  • 10.3k
3 votes
0 answers
80 views

Quartic link in a 5-sphere

In this post I would like to propose a quartic link in a 5-sphere. Let us start with the following gluing into a 5-sphere: $$S^5=(D^2_{} \times T^3_{}) \cup_{T^4} ({S^5 \smallsetminus D^2 \times T^3})...
wonderich's user avatar
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