arXiv research

We compare the star surgery operations introduced in [KS] to the generalized rational blow-down. We show that star surgery shares the properties that make rational blow-down useful for constructions of small exotic symplectic 4-manifolds. Then we show that star surgery operations provide a strictly more general class o…

We verify that the rational blow-down schemes along certain Seifert fibered 3-manifolds found by the second author, Szabo and Wahl are, in fact, symplectic operations.

Motivated by a result of L.P. Roberts on rational blow-downs in Heegaard-Floer homology, we study such operations along 3-manifolds that arise as branched double covers of $S^{3}$ along several non-alternating, slice knots.

We construct smooth 4-manifolds homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to $CP^2#k\bar{CP^2},k \in {6,7,8,9}$, using the technique of rational blow-down along Wahl type plumbing trees of spheres.

In this paper we give a necessary combinatorial condition for a negative--definite plumbing tree to be suitable for rational blow--down, or to be the graph of a complex surface singularity which admits a rational homology disk smoothing. New examples of surface singularities with rational homology disk smoothings are a…

We construct a Kirby diagram of the rational homology ball used in "generalized rational blow-down" developed by Jongil Park. The diagram consists of a dotted circle and a torus knot. The link is simpler, but the parameters are a little complicate. Euclidean Algorithm is used three times in the construction and the pro…

Due to a significant error in the main result (pointed out by J. Wahl), the paper has been withdrawn by the authors. A corrected and expanded version is 'Rational blow-downs and smoothings of surface singularities' by A. Stipsicz, Z. Szabo and J. Wahl.

The paper describes how known results in Heegaard-Floer homology apply to all known examples of rational blow-downs, and provides several new four dimensional pieces which could be exchanged while preserving some of the Ozsváth-Szabó four manifold invariants, when one of these pieces is found embedded in a smooth four …

The study of symplectic fillings for rational cuspidal curves.

Fintushel and Stern defined the rational blow-down construction [FS] for smooth 4-manifolds, where a linear plumbing configuration of spheres $C_n$ is replaced with a rational homology ball $B_n$, $n \geq 2$. Subsequently, Symington [Sy] defined this procedure in the symplectic category, where a symplectic $C_n$ (given…

Suppose that $C=(C_1,..., C_m)$ is a configuration of 2-dimensional symplectic submanifolds in a symplectic 4-manifold $(X,ω)$ with connected, negative definite intersection graph $Γ_C$. We show that by replacing an appropriate neighborhood of $\cup C_i$ with a smoothing $W_S$ of a normal surface singularity $(S, 0)$ w…

We prove a gluing formula for Seiberg--Witten invariants which describes in particular the behaviour of the invariant under blow-up and rational blow-down.

In this article we construct a new family of simply connected symplectic 4-manifolds with $b_2^+ =1$ and $c_1^2 =2$ which are not diffeomorphic to rational surfaces by using rational blow-down technique. As a corollary, we conclude that a rational surface ${\mathbf CP}^2 \sharp 7{\bar{\mathbf CP}^2}$ admits an exotic s…

We discuss a connection between the lantern relation in mapping class groups and the rational blowing down process for 4-manifolds. More precisely, if we change a positive relator in Dehn twist generators of the mapping class group by using a lantern relation, the corresponding Lefschetz fibration changes into its rati…

We study lens space surgeries along two different families of 2-component links, denoted by $A_{m,n}$ and $B_{p,q}$, related with the rational homology 4-ball used in J.\ Park's (generalized) rational blow down. We determine which coefficient $r$ of the knotted component of the link yields a lens space by Dehn surgery.…

We show that there is a complex structure on the symplectic 4-manifold $W_{4, k}$ obtained from the elliptic surface E(4) by rationally blowing down $k$ sections for $2\le k\le 9$. And we interpret it via ${\mathbb Q}$-Gorenstein smoothing. This answers affirmatively to a question raised by R. Gompf.

The rational homology balls $B_n$ appeared in Fintushel and Stern's rational blow-down construction [FS] and were subsequently used (e.g. Fintushel-Stern[FS4], Park[Pa2]) to construct exotic smooth manifolds with small Euler numbers. We show that a large class of smooth 4-manifolds have all of the $B_n$'s for odd $n \g…

As the sequel to [5, 7], we construct a simply connected minimal complex surface of general type with p_g = 0 and K^2 = 4 by using a rational blow-down surgery and Q-Gorenstein smoothing theory.

In this article we prove that Fintushel-Stern's construction of Horikawa surface, which is obtained from an elliptic surface via a rational blow-down surgery in smooth category, can be performed in complex category. The main technique involved is Q-Gorenstein smoothings.

We prove that every minimal symplectic filling of the link of a quotient surface singularity can be obtained from its minimal resolution by applying a sequence of rational blow-downs and symplectic antiflips. We present an explicit algorithm inspired by the minimal model program for complex 3-dimensional algebraic vari…

We discuss corks, and introduce new objects which we call plugs. Though plugs are fundamentally different objects, they also detect exotic smooth structures in 4-manifolds like corks. We discuss relation between corks, plugs and rational blow-downs. We show how to detect corks and plugs inside of some exotic manifolds.…

The study creates symplectic Lefschetz fibrations and rational blowdowns for new 4-manifolds.

Harer, Kas and Kirby have conjectured that every handle decomposition of the elliptic surface $E(1)_{2,3}$ requires both 1- and 3-handles. In this article, we construct a smooth 4-manifold which has the same Seiberg-Witten invariant as $E(1)_{2,3}$ and admits neither 1- nor 3-handles, by using rational blow-downs and K…

As the sequel to [3], we construct a minimal complex surface of general type with p_g=0, K^2=2 and H_1=Z/2Z using a rational blow-down surgery and Q-Gorenstein smoothing theory. We also present an example of p_g = 0,K^2 = 2 and H_1 = Z/3Z.

Study symplectic 4-orbifolds with vanishing canonical class, finding new structures and resolutions.

Criterion found for blowing down in 6D symplectic geometry.

New exotic 4-manifolds with even $b_2^+$ and $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$ fundamental group.

In this note we complete the discussion of minimality of symplectic fiber sums. We find, that for fiber sums along spheres the minimality of the sum is determined by the cases discussed by M. Usher and one additional case: If the sum is the result of the rational blow-down of a symplectic -4-sphere in X, then it is non…

We construct a minimal complex surface of general type with $p_g=0$, $K^2 =4$, and $π_1=\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$ using a rational blow-down surgery and a $\mathbb{Q}$-Gorenstein smoothing theory. In a similar fashion, we also construct a symplectic 4-manifold with $b_2^+=1$, $K^2=5$, and $π_1=\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$.

We give finiteness results and some classifications up to diffeomorphism of minimal strong symplectic fillings of Seifert fibered spaces over S^2 satisfying certain conditions, with a fixed natural contact structure. In some cases we can prove that all symplectic fillings are obtained by rational blow-downs of a plumbi…

This paper is an addendum to [4], in which the authors constructed a simply connected minimal complex surface of general type with p_g=0 and K^2=3. In this paper we construct a new non-simply connected minimal surface of general type with p_g=0, K^2=3 and H_1=Z/2Z using a rational blow-down surgery and Q-Gorenstein smo…

We define a new 4-dimensional symplectic cut and paste operation which is analogous to Fintushel and Stern's rational blow-down. We use this operation to produce multiple constructions of symplectic smoothly exotic complex projective space blown-up eight times, seven times, and six times. We also show how this operatio…

We construct a new minimal complex surface of general type with $p_g=0$, $K^2=2$ and $H_1=\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}$ (in fact $π_1^{\text{alg}}=\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}$), which settles the existence question for numerical Campedelli surfaces with all possible algebraic fundamental groups. The main techniques involved in th…

The blow-down map is studied in Lie algebroid cohomology.

New surfaces with conjugate points have global blow-down maps in their TT spaces.

Study ancient solutions on noncompact steady Ricci solitons, proving types of ancient solutions.

New techniques create irreducible 4-manifolds with specific properties.

Ancient solutions of Lagrangian mean curvature flow in C^n naturally arise as Type II blow-ups. In this extended note we give structural and classification results for such ancient solutions in terms of their blow-down and, motivated by the Thomas-Yau Conjecture, focus on the almost calibrated case. In particular, we c…

The study examines gradient Ricci solitons with nonnegative curvature, proving properties of their blow-downs.

The article resolves complex structures in transport twistor spaces, proving a Newlander-Nirenberg theorem.

The paper studies a 1D diffusion equation with nonlinear Robin boundary conditions and finds conditions for global and finite time blow-up or blow-down.

The paper proves unique blow-down for critical points of a Yang-Mills-Higgs functional.

Ancient Ricci flows on compact spaces converge to solitons.

Paper finds formulas for minimizing perimeter in special spaces, proving key dimensions and existence.

We show that for an immortal homogeneous Ricci flow solution any sequence of parabolic blow-downs subconverges to a homogeneous expanding Ricci soliton. This is established by constructing a new Lyapunov function based on curvature estimates which come from real geometric invariant theory.

In this paper we study the classification of ancient convex solutions to the mean curvature flow in $\R^{n+1}$. An open problem related to the classification of type II singularities is whether a convex translating solution is $k$-rotationally symmetric for some integer $2\le k\le n$, namely whether its level set is a …

We exhibit a finite set of local moves that connect any two surgery presentations of the same 3-manifold via framed links in the three-sphere. The moves are handle-slides and blow-downs/ups of a particular simple kind.

In this paper we develop a Morse-like theory in order to decompose birational maps and morphisms of smooth projective varieties defined over a field of characteristic zero into more elementary steps which are locally étale isomorphic to equivariant flips, blow-ups and blow-downs of toric varieties. A crucial role in th…