arXiv research

We completely determine which simply connected rational homology 5-spheres admit Sasaki-Einstein metrics.

We study the space of deformations of a smooth foliation of the 5-sphere by complex manifolds

We explain an error in our paper "A smooth foliation of the 5-sphere by complex surfaces", Ann. Math 156 (2002), p.915-930.

Study of 3-manifolds in 5-sphere using bridge decompositions.

We obtain the explicit representation of Legendre surfaces in the unit $5$-sphere with harmonic mean curvature vector field, under the condition that the mean curvature function is constant along a certain special direction.

The paper constructs many knotted and linked objects in higher dimensions.

In this paper we study embeddings of contact manifolds using braidings of one manifold about another. In particular we show how to embed many contact 3-manifolds into the standard contact 5-sphere. We also show how to obstruct braidings of one manifold about another using contact geometry.

Topology classifies bipolar surfaces; they are not embedded.

We define two transforms between minimal surfaces with non-circular ellipse of curvature in the 5-sphere, and show how this enables us to construct, from one such surface, a sequence of such surfaces. We also use the transforms to show how to associate to such a surface a corresponding ruled minimal Lagrangian submanif…

We prove that for every integer k>1 there is a simply connected rational homology 5-sphere $\scriptstyle{M^5_k}$ with spin such that $\scriptstyle{H_2(M^5_k,\bbz)}$ has order $\scriptstyle{k^2},$ and $\scriptstyle{M^5_k}$ admits a Riemannian metric of positive Ricci curvature. Moreover, if the prime number decompositio…

The paper proves conditions for closed minimally immersed hypersurfaces in a 5-sphere.

Let $ X: M \hook S^5$ be a compact Legendrian surface in pseudoconformal(CR) 5-sphere. We introduce a pseudoconformally invariant Willmore type second order functional $ \W(X)$, and study its critical points called Willmore Legendrian surfaces. The fifth order structure equations show that Willmore dual can be defined …

The paper proves properties of specific hypersurfaces in a 5-sphere.

The aim of this paper is to show that Lawson's foliation on the 5-sphere admits a smooth leafwise symplectic structure. The main part of the construction is to show that the Fermat type cubic surface admits an end-periodic symplectic structure.

We show that there are no irregular Sasaki-Einstein structures on rational homology 5-spheres. On the other hand, using K-stability we prove the existence of continuous families of non-toric irregular Sasaki-Einstein structures on odd connected sums of $S^2 \times S^3$.

It is known that for every smooth great circle fibration of the 3-sphere, the distribution of tangent 2-planes orthogonal to the fibres is a contact structure, in fact a tight one, but we show here that, beginning with the 5-sphere, there exist smooth great circle fibrations of all odd-dimensional spheres for which the…

We develop techniques for studying fundamental groups and integral singular homology of symmetric Delta-complexes, and apply these techniques to study moduli spaces of stable tropical curves of unit volume, with and without marked points. As one application, we show that Delta_g and Delta_{g,n} are simply connected, fo…

We show that any effective isometric torus action of maximal rank on a compact Riemannian manifold with positive (sectional) curvature and maximal symmetry rank, that is, on a positively curved sphere, lens space, complex or real projective space, is equivariantaly diffeomorphic to a linear action. We show that a compa…

We make some elementary observations concerning subcritically Stein fillable contact structures on 5-manifolds. Specifically, we determine the diffeomorphism type of such contact manifolds in the case the fundamental group is finite cyclic, and we show that on the 5-sphere the standard contact structure is the unique s…

The aim of this paper is to consider a possible extension of the Bogomolov--Miyaoka--Yau inequality to differentiable orbifolds. The conjectured extension is related to the Montgomery--Yang problem about circle actions on the 5--sphere and also to the H--cobordism of Seifert fibered 3--manifolds. Related conjectures on…

By use of a variety of techniques (most based on constructions of quasipositive knots and links, some old and others new), many smooth 3-manifolds are realized as transverse intersections of complex surfaces in complex 3-space with strictly pseudoconvex 5-spheres. These manifolds not only inherit interesting intrinsic …

Mitsumatsu constructed leafwise symplectic structures of certain codimension one foliations of the 5-sphere. This inspired the present author to improve his result on convergence of contact structure to foliation. We describe convergence of contact strcture to leafwise symplectic foliation by means of confoliation equi…

This article is one of three highly influential articles on the topology of manifolds written by Robert D. Edwards in the 1970's but never published. It presents the initial solutions of the fabled Double Suspension Conjecture. (The other two articles are: 'Approximating certain cell-like maps by homeomorphisms' and 'T…

We recognize the Gromoll-Meyer sphere Sigma^7 as the geodesic join of a simple closed geodesic and a minimal subsphere Sigma^5, which can be equivariantly identified with the Brieskorn sphere W^5_3. As applications we in particular determine the full isometry group of Sigma^7, classify all closed subgroups that act fre…

We compute the sets of degrees of maps between principal $SU(2)$-bundles over $S^5$, i.e. between any of the manifolds $SU(2)\times S^5$ and $SU(3)$. We show that the Steenrod squares provide the only obstruction to the existence of a mapping degree between these manifolds, and construct explicit maps realizing each in…

For smooth embeddings of an integral homology 3-sphere in the 6-sphere, we define an integer invariant in terms of their Seifert surfaces. Our invariant gives a bijection between the set of smooth isotopy classes of such embeddings and the integers. It also gives rise to a complete invariant for homology bordism classe…

Article generalizes open book construction for 5D contact pairs.

We consider pairs (X,Y) where X is a compact, locally CAT(-1) space, and Y is a totally geodesic subspace. The inclusion induces an embedding of the boundaries at infinity of the universal covers; we focus on the case where these are spheres whose dimensions differ by 2. We show that if the embedding is tame, then it i…

Determines regular homotopy classes for link immersions of simple singularities.

According to Giroux, contact manifolds can be described as open books whose pages are Stein manifolds. For 5-dimensional contact manifolds the pages are Stein surfaces, which permit a description via Kirby diagrams. We introduce handle moves on such diagrams that do not change the corresponding contact manifold. As an …

The purpose of this article is to study co-dimension $2$ iso-contact embeddings of closed contact manifolds. We first show that a closed contact manifold $(M^{2n-1}, ξ_M)$ iso-contact embeds in a contact manifold $(N^{2n+1}, ξ_N),$ provided $M$ contact embeds in $(N, ξ_N)$ with a trivial normal bundle and the contact s…

We consider SU(3)-equivariant dimensional reduction of Yang-Mills theory over certain cyclic orbifolds of the 5-sphere which are Sasaki-Einstein manifolds. We obtain new quiver gauge theories extending those induced via reduction over the leaf spaces of the characteristic foliation of the Sasaki-Einstein structure, whi…

The paper studies Legendrian mean curvature flow in η-Einstein Sasakian manifolds.

We compare the isoperimetric profiles of $S^2 \times \re^3$ and of $S^3 \times \re^2$ with that of a round 5-sphere (of appropriate radius). Then we use this comparison to obtain lower bounds for the Yamabe constants of $S^2 \times \re^3$ and $S^3 \times \re^2$. Explicitly we show that $Y(S^3 \times \re^2, [g_0^3 +dx^2…

Quasi-holomorphic homotopies of immersions of 3-manifolds into 5-manifolds

In this note, we construct new examples of Lorentzian Sasaki-Einstein (LSE) metrics on Smale manifolds $M.$ It has already been established in \cite{Gmz2} that such metrics exist on the so-called torsion free Smale manifolds, i.e. the $k$-fold connected sum of $S^{2}\times S^{3}.$ Now, we show that LSE metrics exist on…

A finite nonabelian simple group does not admit a free action on a homology sphere, and the only finite simple group which acts on a homology sphere with at most 0-dimensional fixed point sets ("pseudofree action") is the alternating group A_5 acting on the 2-sphere. Our first main theorem is the finiteness result that…

Let EMBED(k,d) be the following algorithmic problem: Given a finite simplicial complex K of dimension at most k, does there exist a (piecewise linear) embedding of K into R^d? Known results easily imply polynomiality of EMBED(k,2) (k=1,2; the case k=1, d=2 is graph planarity) and of EMBED(k,2k) for all k>2 (even if k i…

New decomposable solutions found in 11D supergravity.

A n n-body system is a labelled collection of n point masses in Euclidean space, and their congruence and internal symmetry properties involve a rich mathematical structure which is investigated in the framework of equivariant Riemannian geometry. Some basic concepts are n-configuration, configuration space, internal s…

After surveying classical notions of PL topology of the Seventies, we clarify the relation between Morse theory and its discretization by Forman. We show that PL handles theory and discrete Morse theory are equivalent, in the sense that every discrete Morse vector on some PL triangulation is also a PL handle vector, an…

Let S^3_i be a 3-sphere embedded in the 5-sphere S^5 (i=1,2). Let S^3_1 and S^3_2 intersect transversely. Then the intersection C of S^3_1 and S^3_2 is a disjoint collection of circles. Thus we obtain a pair of 1-links, C in S^3_i (i=1,2), and a pair of 3-knots, S^3_i in S^5 (i=1,2). Conversely let (L_1,L_2) be a pair …