arXiv research

Using contact surgery we define families of contact structures on certain Seifert fibered three-manifolds. We prove that all these contact structures are tight using contact Ozsath-Szabo invariants. We use these examples to show that, given a natural number n, there exists a Seifert fibered three-manifold carrying at l…

We construct four-dimensional symplectic cobordisms between contact three-manifolds generalizing an example of Eliashberg. One key feature is that any handlebody decomposition of one of these cobordisms must involve three-handles. The other key feature is that these cobordisms contain chains of symplectically embedded …

Determining the associated metrics we get a local classification of contact metric three manifolds.

We show the existence of tight contact structures on infinitely many hyperbolic three-manifolds obtained via Dehn surgeries along sections of hyperbolic surface bundles over circle.

The systolic ratio of a contact form on a closed three-manifold is the quotient of the square of the shortest period of closed Reeb orbits by the contact volume. We show that every co-orientable contact structure on any closed three-manifold is defined by a contact form with arbitrarily large systolic ratio. This shows…

We introduce the notion of $\varepsilonη\,$-Einstein $\varepsilon\,$-contact metric three-manifold, which includes as particular cases $η\,$-Einstein Riemannian and Lorentzian (para) contact metric three-manifolds, but which in addition allows for the Reeb vector field to be null. We prove that the product of an $\vare…

Given a contact structure on a closed, oriented three-manifold $Y$, we describe an invariant which takes values in the three-manifold's Floer homology $\HFa$. This invariant vanishes for overtwisted contact structures and is non-zero for Stein fillable ones. The construction uses of Giroux's interpretation of contact s…

Let Y(r) be the closed, oriented three-manifold obtained by performing rational r-surgery on the right-handed trefoil knot in the three-sphere. Using contact surgery and the Heegaard Floer contact invariants we construct positive, tight contact structures on Y(r) for every r not equal to 1. This implies, in particular,…

We demonstrate how to combinatorially calculate the EH-class of a compatible contact structure in the sutured Floer homology group of a balanced sutured three manifold which is associated to an abstract partial open book decomposition. As an application we show that every contact three manifold (closed or with convex b…

Combinatorial method computes Legendrian knot invariant.

On every compact and orientable three-manifold, we construct total foliations (three codimension 1 foliations that are transverse at every point). This construction can be performed on any homotopy class of plane fields with vanishing Euler class. As a corollary we obtain similar results on bi-contact structures.

We characterize the oriented Seifert-fibered three-manifolds which admit positive, transverse contact structures.

The study proves CR structures on specific three-manifolds are equivalent to standard structures.

The study explores rigid constraints on almost Ricci-Bourguignon solitons on contact metric three-manifolds.

Using the knot Floer homology filtration, we define invariants associated to a knot in a three-manifold possessing non-vanishing Floer co(homology) classes. In the case of the Ozsvath-Szabo contact invariant we obtain an invariant of knots in a contact three-manifold. This invariant provides an upper bound for the Thur…

Suppose that S is a surface with boundary and that g and h are diffeomorphisms of S which restrict to the identity on the boundary. Let Y_g, Y_h, and Y_{hg} be the three-manifolds with open book decompositions given by (S,g), (S,h), and (S,hg), respectively. We show that the Ozsvath-Szabo contact invariant is natural u…

We consider the problem of realizing tight contact structures on closed orientable three-manifolds. By applying the theorems of Hofer et al., one may deduce tightness from dynamical properties of (Reeb) flows transverse to the contact structure. We detail how two classical constructions, Dehn surgery and branched cover…

Innovative contact invariant derived from Heegaard Floer homology.

Given an open book decomposition $(Σ,τ)$ of a three manifold $Y$, Thurston and Winkelnkemper [TW] construct a specific contact form $a$ on $Y$. Given a spin-c Dirac operator $D$ on $Y$, the contact form naturally associates a one parameter family of Dirac operators $D_r = D - \frac{ir}{2}\cl(a)$ for $r\geq0$. When $r>>…

The algorithm given by Akbulut-Ozbagci constructs an explicit open book decomposition on a contact three-manifold described by a contact surgery on a link in the three-sphere. In this article, we will improve this algorithm by using Giroux's contact cell decomposition process. Our algorithm is more economical on choosi…

An Engel structure is a maximally non-integrable field of two-planes tangent to a four-manifold. Any two such structures are locally diffeomorphic. We investigate the space of global deformations of canonical Engel structures arising out of contact three-manifolds. The main tool is Cartan's method of prolongation and d…

The paper introduces foliated open books for contact 3-manifolds with boundary foliations.

In this article, we find the complete list of all contact structures (up to isotopy) on closed three-manifolds which are supported by an open book decomposition having planar pages with three (but not less) boundary components. We distinguish them by computing their first Chern classes and three dimensional invariants …

In this paper we give explicit, handle-by-handle constructions of concave symplectic fillings of all closed, oriented contact 3-manifolds. These constructions combine recent results of Giroux relating contact structures and open book decompositions of 3-manifolds, earlier results of the author on attaching 4-dimensiona…

Whether every hyperbolic 3-manifold admits a tight contact structure or not is an open question. Many hyperbolic 3-manifolds contain taut foliations and taut foliations can be perturbed to tight contact structures. The first examples of hyperbolic 3-manifolds without taut foliations were constructed by Roberts, Sharesh…

We define invariants of null--homologous Legendrian and transverse knots in contact 3--manifolds. The invariants are determined by elements of the knot Floer homology of the underlying smooth knot. We compute these invariants, and show that they do not vanish for certain non--loose knots in overtwisted 3--spheres. More…

We deform the contact form by the amount of the Tanaka-Webster curvature on a closed spherical $CR$ three-manifold. We show that if a contact form evolves with free torsion and positive Tanaka-Webster curvature as initial data, then a certain Harnack inequality for the Tanaka-Webster curvature holds.

In this paper, we prove (1): for any closed contact three-manifold with a $C^\infty$-generic contact form, the union of periodic Reeb orbits is dense, (2): for any closed surface with a $C^\infty$-generic Riemannian metric, the union of closed geodesics is dense. The key observation is $C^\infty$-closing lemma for 3D R…

These are lecture notes from the Clay Mathematics Institute summer school ``Floer Homology, Gauge Theory, and Low Dimensional Topology'' Alfred Renyi Institute; www.claymath.org/programs/summer_school/2004/. The main goal of these notes is to sketch a proof of Giroux correspondence between open book decompositions of t…

We characterize L-spaces which are Seifert fibered over the 2-sphere in terms of taut foliations, transverse foliations and transverse contact structures. We give a sufficient condition for certain contact Seifert fibered 3-manifolds with e_0=-1 to have nonzero contact Ozsvath--Szabo invariants. This yields an algorith…

We prove that an infinite family of virtually overtwisted tight contact structures discovered by Honda on certain circle bundles over surfaces admit no symplectic semi-fillings. The argument uses results of Mrowka, Ozsvath and Yu on the translation-invariant solutions to the Seiberg-Witten equations on cylinders and th…

Let p and n be positive integers with p>1, and let E(p,n) be the oriented 3-manifold obtained by performing pn(p-1)-1 surgery on a positive torus knot of type (p, pn+1). We prove that E(2,n) does not carry tight contact structures for any n, while E(p,n) carries tight contact structures for any n and any odd p. In part…

New contact structures extend supergravity solutions.

Chern-Simons theory on a closed contact three-manifold is studied when the Lie group for gauge transformations is compact, connected and abelian. A rigorous definition of an abelian Chern-Simons partition function is derived using the Faddeev-Popov gauge fixing method. A symplectic abelian Chern-Simons partition functi…

We completely describe paracontact metric three-manifolds whose Reeb vector field satisfies the Ricci soliton equation. While contact Riemannian (or Lorentz\-ian) Ricci solitons are necessarily trivial, that is, $K$-contact and Einstein, the paracontact metric case allows nontrivial examples. Both homogeneous and inhom…

We study pairs of Engel structures on four-manifolds whose intersection has constant rank one and which define the same even contact structure, but induce different orientations on it. We establish a correspondence between such pairs of Engel structures and a class of weakly hyperbolic flows. This correspondence is ana…

The paper classifies K-contact forms on 3-manifolds and connects their orbits to spectral invariants.

The contact invariant is an element in the monopole Floer homology groups of an oriented closed three manifold canonically associated to a given contact structure. A non-vanishing contact invariant implies that the original contact structure is tight, so understanding its behavior under symplectic cobordisms is of inte…

Let S^3_r(K) be the oriented 3--manifold obtained by rational r-surgery on a knot K in S^3. Using the contact Ozsvath-Szabo invariants we prove, for a class of knots K containing all the algebraic knots, that S^3_r(K) carries positive, tight contact structures for every r not= 2g_s(K)-1, where g_s(K) is the slice genus…

We show that two open books in a given closed, oriented three-manifold admit isotopic stabilizations, where the stabilization is made by successive plumbings with Hopf bands, if and only if their associated plane fields are homologous. Since this condition is automatically fulfilled in an integral homology sphere, the …

Let $α$ be a contact form on a connected closed three-manifold $Σ$. The systolic ratio of $α$ is defined as $ρ_{\mathrm{sys}}(α):=\tfrac{1}{\mathrm{Vol}(α)}T_{\min}(α)^2$, where $T_{\min}(α)$ and $\mathrm{Vol}(α)$ denote the minimal period of periodic Reeb orbits and the contact volume. The form $α$ is said to be Zoll …

We study contact structures compatible with genus one open book decompositions with one boundary component. Any monodromy for such an open book can be written as a product of Dehn twists around dual non-separating curves in the once-punctured torus. Given such a product, we supply an algorithm to determine whether the …

We prove that, like the Seiberg-Witten monopole homology, the Heegaard Floer homology for a three-manifold determines its Thurston norm. As a consequence, we show that knot Floer homology detects the genus of a knot. This leads to new proofs of certain results previously obtained using Seiberg-Witten monopole Floer hom…

We apply a local systolic-diastolic inequality for contact forms and odd-symplectic forms on three-manifolds to bound the magnetic length of closed curves with prescribed geodesic curvature (also known as magnetic geodesics) on an oriented closed surface. Our results hold when the prescribed curvature is either close t…

We study an explicit construction of planar open books with four binding components on any three-manifold which is given by integral surgery on three component pure braid closures. This construction is general, indeed any planar open book with four binding components is given this way. Using this construction and resul…

The Thurston-Bennequin invariant provides one notion of self-linking for any homologically-trivial Legendrian curve in a contact three-manifold. Here we discuss related analytic notions of self-linking for Legendrian knots in Euclidean space. Our definition is based upon a reformulation of the elementary Gauss linking …

Generalizes Fefferman's structure to CR three-manifolds with additional data.

A two-dimensional open book (S,h) determines a closed, oriented three-manifold Y(S,h) and a contact structure C(S,h) on Y(S,h). The contact structure C(S,h) is Stein fillable if h is positive, i.e. h can be written as a product of right-handed Dehn twists. Work of Wendl implies that when S has genus zero the converse s…