arXiv research

Constructs exotic proper 2-knots from open 2-handles.

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…

It is known by A. Loi and R. Piergallini that a closed, oriented, smooth 3-manifold is Stein fillable if and only if it has a positive open book decomposition. In the present paper we will show that for every link L in a Stein fillable 3-manifold there exists an additional knot L' to L such that the union of the links …

Proves finiteness for 3-manifolds from handlebodies with 2-handles.

We prove that knots obtained by attaching a band to a split link satisfy the cabling conjecture. We also give new proofs that unknotting number one knots are prime and that genus is superadditive under band sum. Additionally, we prove a collection of results comparing two 2-handle additions to a genus two boundary comp…

A standard convexity condition on the boundary of a symplectic manifold involves an induced positive contact form (and contact structure) on the boundary; the corresponding concavity condition involves an induced negative contact form. We present two methods of symplectically attaching 2-handles to convex boundaries of…

Attaching a 2-handle to a genus two or greater boundary component of a 3-manifold is a natural generalization of Dehn filling a torus boundary component. We prove that there is an interesting relationship between an essential surface in a sutured 3-manifold, the number of intersections between the boundary of the surfa…

We show that the smooth $4$-manifold $M$ obtained by attaching a $2$-handle to $B^4$ along a certain knot $K\subset \partial B^4$ admits infinitely many absolutely exotic copies $M_n$, $n=0,1,2..$, such that each copy $M_n$ is obtained by attaching $2$-handle to a fixed compact smooth contractible manifold $W$ along th…

Study handles in 4-manifolds with cyclic fundamental group.

We solve a strong version of Problem 3.6 (D) in Kirby's list, that is, we show that for any integer $n$, there exist infinitely many mutually distinct knots such that $2$-handle additions along them with framing $n$ yield the same $4$-manifold.

We construct an orientable ribbon surface F in B^4, which is universal in the following sense: any compact orientable pl 4-manifold having a handle decomposition with 0-, 1- and 2-handles can be represented as a cover of B^4 branched over F.

For an integer $n$, write $X_n(K)$ for the 4-manifold obtained by attaching a 2-handle to the 4-ball along the knot $K\subset S^3$ with framing $n$. It is known that if $n< \overline{\text{tb}}(K)$, then $X_n(K)$ admits the structure of a Stein domain, and moreover the adjunction inequality implies there is an upper bo…

D.Nash defined a family of homotopy 4-spheres in [11]. Proving that his manifolds ${\mathcal S}_{m,n,m',n'}$ are all real $S^4$, we find that they have handle decomposition with no 1-handles, two 2-handles and two 3-handles. The handle structures give new potential counterexamples of Property 2R conjecture.

Study on exotic smooth embeddings of surfaces in 4-manifolds, revealing different properties and complexities.

The HKR (Hennings-Kauffman-Radford) framework is used to construct invariants of 4-thickenings of 2-dimensional CW complexes under 2-deformations (1- and 2- handle slides and creations and cancellations of 1-2 handle pairs). The input of the invariant is a finite dimensional unimodular ribbon Hopf algebra A and an elem…

Let $M$ be a simple 3-manifold, and $F$ be a component of $\partial M$ of genus at least 2. Let $α$ and $β$ be separating slopes on $F$. Let $M(α)$ (resp. $M(β)$) be the manifold obtained by adding a 2-handle along $α$ (resp. $β$). If $M(α)$ and $M(β)$ are $\partial$-reducible, then the minimal geometric intersection n…

This paper classifies curves in genus two handlebodies.

Let $M$ be a simple manifold, and $F$ be a component of $\partial M$ of genus two. For a slope $γ$ on $F$, we denote by $M(γ)$ the manifold obtained by attaching a 2-handle to $M$ along a regular neighborhood of $γ$ on $F$. In this paper, we shall prove that there is at most one separating slope $γ$ on $F$ so that $M(γ…

Study Weinstein structures on toric divisors' complements.

We construct a compact, contractible 4-manifold $C$, an infinite-order self-diffeomorphism $f$ of its boundary, and a smooth embedding of $C$ into a closed, simply connected 4-manifold $X$, such that the manifolds obtained by cutting $C$ out of $X$ and regluing it by powers of $f$ are all pairwise nondiffeomorphic. The…

We review Giroux's contact handles and contact handle attachments in dimension three and show that a bypass attachment consists of a pair of contact 1 and 2-handles. As an application we describe explicit contact handle decompositions of infinitely many pairwise non-isotopic overtwisted 3-spheres. We also give an alter…

Introduces Floer lasagna modules using link Floer homology.

The paper connects Kirby diagrams and 5-colored graphs to represent 4-manifolds.

Study uses twisted Alexander polynomials to link fibered classes in 3-manifolds.

The purpose of this paper is to study geometrically simply-connected homotopy 4-spheres by analyzing $n$-component links with a Dehn surgery realizing $\#^n(S^1\times S^2)$. We call such links $n$R-links. Our main result is that a homotopy 4-sphere that can be built without 1-handles and with only two 2-handles is diff…

Paper improves American option valuation in complex models.

Let $M$ be a simple 3-manifold such that one component of $\partial M$, say $F$, has genus at least two. For a slope $α$ on $F$, we denote by $M(α)$ the manifold obtained by attaching a 2-handle to $M$ along a regular neighborhood of $α$ on $F$. If $M(α)$ is reducible, then $α$ is called a reducing slope. In this paper…

For a smoothing Y of a 2-dimensional cyclic quotient singularity X, we construct a simple handle decomposition of Y by using a particular birational map from Y to the projective plane. The manifold Y is built up from the product of an annulus with a disk by attaching 2-handles in a manner which can be described by mean…

Proves finiteness and holonomicity of skein modules for 3-manifolds.

We construct a hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$ (with $\partial M$ totally geodesic) which contains no essential closed surfaces, but for any even integer $g> 0$ there are infinitely many separating slopes $r$ on $\partial M$ so that $M[r]$, the 3-manifold obtained by attaching 2-handle to $M$ along $r$, contains an essential…

The study describes handle decompositions and Kirby diagrams for line arrangements.

We survey aspects of classical combinatorial sutured manifold theory and show how they can be adapted to study exceptional Dehn fillings and 2-handle additions. As a consequence we show that if a hyperbolic knot $β$ in a compact, orientable, hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$ has the property that winding number and wrapping nu…

Kirby color defined in Khovanov homology for 4D handlebodies.

We construct a small, hyperbolic 3-manifold $M$ such that, for any integer $g\geq 2$, there are infinitely many separating slopes $r$ in $\partial M$ so that $M(r)$, the 3-manifold obtained by attaching a 2-handle to $M$ along $r$, is hyperbolic and contains an essential separating closed surface of genus $g$. The resu…

We give a method for constructing many pairs of distinct knots $K_0$ and $K_1$ such that the two 4-manifolds obtained by attaching a 2-handle to $B^4$ along $K_i$ with framing zero are diffeomorphic. We use the d-invariants of Heegaard Floer homology to obstruct the smooth concordance of some of these $K_0$ and $K_1$, …

Paper explores constructing knots with identical traces using specific operations.

The paper constructs contractible manifolds with knotted spheres.

We prove that for any integer $n$ there exist infinitely many different knots in $S^3$ such that $n$-surgery on those knots yields the same 3-manifold. In particular, when $|n|=1$ homology spheres arise from these surgeries. This answers Problem 3.6(D) on the Kirby problem list. We construct two families of examples, t…

New surfaces in a 4-manifold are found that are not isotopic but homotopic.

New method uses Khovanov homology to distinguish exotic 4-manifolds.

New concept of quasi-ribbon surface-links simplifies complex surface-links.

The paper calculates a new invariant for 4-manifolds using handle decompositions and skein relations.

New insights into knot fusion numbers via cabling.

Study of 3-handle attachments in 4D manifolds using Kirby calculus.

We show that only finitely many links in a closed 3-manifold share the same complement, up to twists along discs and annuli. Using the same techniques, we prove that by adding 2-handles on the same link we get only finitely many smooth cobordisms between two given closed 3-manifolds. As a consequence, there are finitel…

From a handlebody-theoretic perspective, the simplest compact, contractible 4-manifolds, other than the 4-ball, are Mazur manifolds. We produce the first pairs of Mazur manifolds that are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic. Our diffeomorphism obstruction comes from our proof that the knot Floer homology concordance inv…

Study on lens spaces bounding 4-manifolds with specific Betti numbers.

The abstract discusses applications of Menke's JSJ decomposition to symplectic fillings of various 3-manifolds.