arXiv research

We compute the rational stable homology of the automorphism groups of free nilpotent groups. These groups interpolate between the general linear groups over the ring of integers and the automorphism groups of free groups, and we employ functor homology to reduce to the abelian case. As an application, we also compute t…

Homological stability fails for Cremona groups, rational varieties, and function fields.

We study here some aspects of the topology of the space of smooth, stable, genus 0 curves in a Riemannian manifold $X$, i.e. the Kontsevich stable curves, which are not necessarily holomorphic. We use the Hofer-Wysocki-Zehnder polyfold structure on this space and some natural characteristic classes, to show that for $X…

Study abelian cycles in Torelli group homology, proving new results in stable rational homology.

We give definitions of moduli spaces of framed, r-Spin and Pin surfaces. We apply earlier work of the author to show that each of these moduli spaces exhibits homological stability, and we identify the stable integral homology with that of certain infinite loop spaces in each case. We further show that these moduli spa…

We construct Bott-type and stable equivariant Seiberg-Witten Floer homology and cohomology for rational homology spheres, and prove their diffeomorphism invariance.

Study determines scalar curvature invariants for 3-spheres embedded in 4-manifolds.

Study rational homology of moduli space via Morse functions, proving stability phenomena.

Homology of abelian differentials stabilizes with more zeros.

Torelli groups' homology is finitely generated in stable range.

For any group, there is a natural (pseudo-)norm on the vector space B1 of real (group) 1-boundaries, called the stable commutator length norm. This norm is closely related to, and can be thought of as a relative version of, the Gromov (pseudo)-norm on (ordinary) homology. We show that for a free group, the unit ball of…

Let G be a group acting on a tree with cyclic edge and vertex stabilizers. Then stable commutator length (scl) is rational in G. Furthermore, scl varies predictably and converges to rational limits in so-called "surgery" families. This is a homological analog of the phenomenon of geometric convergence in hyperbolic Deh…

We exhibit a finitely generated group $\M$ whose rational homology is isomorphic to the rational stable homology of the mapping class group. It is defined as a mapping class group associated to a surface $\su$ of infinite genus, and contains all the pure mapping class groups of compact surfaces of genus $g$ with $n$ bo…

Stability in homology of moduli spaces of admissible covers.

We prove that the homology of the mapping class groups of non-orientable surfaces stabilizes with the genus of the surface. Combining our result with recent work of Madsen and Weiss, we obtain that the classifying space of the stable mapping class group of non-orientable surfaces, up to homology isomorphism, is the inf…

We show that, if a rational homology 3-sphere $Y$ bounds a positive definite smooth 4-manifold, then there are finitely many negative definite lattices, up to the stable-equivalence, which can be realized as the intersection form of a smooth 4-manifold bounded by $Y$. To this end, we make use of constraints on definite…

This paper provides a rational model for fiberwise THH transfer using A-infinity algebras.

The paper constructs new rational homology 3-spheres bounding rational homology 4-balls.

New homotopy theory reveals the structure of stable curves.

New approach connects pseudoisotopy theory to algebraic K-theory.

Let $V$ be a regular neighborhood of a negative chain of $2$-spheres (i.e. exceptional divisor of a cyclic quotient singularity), and let $B_{p,q}$ be a rational homology ball which is smoothly embedded in $V$. Assume that the embedding is simple, i.e. the corresponding rational blow-up can be obtained by just a sequen…

Twenty years ago, Mumford initiated the systematic study of the cohomology ring of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces. Around the same time, Harer proved that the homology of the mapping class groups of oriented surfaces is independent of the genus in low degrees, increasing with the genus. The (co)homology of mapping c…

Classifies torus bundles bounding 4-manifolds with rational homology.

This paper shows how pseudo-Anosov flows represent stable Hamiltonian classes and limits the ways 3-manifolds can be obtained from knots.

We compute the groups $H^*(\mathrm{Aut}(F_n); M)$ and $H^*(\mathrm{Out}(F_n); M)$ in a stable range, where $M$ is obtained by applying a Schur functor to $H_\mathbb{Q}$ or $H^*_\mathbb{Q}$, respectively the first rational homology and cohomology of $F_n$. For reasons which are not conceptually clear, taking coefficient…

Paper proves a conjecture about a Heegaard Floer invariant for certain rational homology spheres.

We give a complete classification of the spherical 3-manifolds that bound smooth rational homology 4-balls. Furthermore, we determine the order of spherical 3-manifolds in the rational homology cobordism group of rational homology 3-spheres. To this end, we use constraints for 3-manifolds to bound rational homology bal…

Instanton Floer homology matches Heegaard Floer for almost-rational plumbings.

New 3-manifolds bound rational 4-balls through specific operations.

Classifies surgeries on torus knots and cables that bound rational homology balls.

Researchers found the second homology of Torelli groups for large g.

In this paper we demonstrate the existence of Sasakian-Einstein structures on certain 2-connected rational homology 7-spheres. These appear to be the first non-regular examples of Sasakian-Einstein metrics on simply connected rational homology spheres. We also briefly describe the rational homology 7-spheres that admit…

Study shows no smooth embeddings of rational homology balls into complex projective plane.

New examples show non-locally-flat PL-disk bounds in rational homology balls but not in integer homology balls.

The study explores pinwheels in symplectic surfaces and non-squeezing of rational homology balls.

We classify the resolution graphs of weighted homogeneous surface singularities which admit rational homology disk smoothings. The nonexistence of rational homology disk smoothings is shown by symplectic geometric methods, while the existence is verified via smoothings of negative weights. In particular, it is shown th…

We consider the question of when a rational homology 3-sphere is rational homology cobordant to a connected sum of lens spaces. We prove that every rational homology cobordism class in the subgroup generated by lens spaces is represented by a unique connected sum of lens spaces whose first homology embeds in any other …

Study shows Seifert fibered spaces don't bound rational homology balls.

Fintushel and Stern showed that the Brieskorn sphere $Σ(2,3,7)$ bounds a rational homology ball, while its non-trivial Rokhlin invariant obstructs it from bounding an integral homology ball. It is known that their argument can be modified to show that the figure-eight knot is rationally slice, and we use this fact to p…

In this paper we show that if the minimal good resolution graph of a normal surface singularity contains at least two nodes (i.e. vertex with valency at least 3) then the singularity does not admit a smoothing with Milnor fiber having rational homology equal to the rational homology of the 4-disk $D^4$ (called a ration…

Study on rational projective planes with small index singularities.

For each rational homology 3-sphere $Y$ which bounds simply connected definite 4-manifolds of both signs, we construct an infinite family of irreducible rational homology 3-spheres which are homology cobordant to $Y$ but cannot bound any simply connected definite 4-manifold. As a corollary, for any coprime integers $p,…

In this paper, we develop a method for constructing left-orders on the fundamental groups of rational homology 3-spheres. We begin by constructing the holonomy extension locus of a rational homology solid torus $M$, which encodes the information about peripherally hyperbolic $\widetilde{\text{PSL}_2\mathbb{R}}$ represe…

The paper reconfirms a lower bound on rational genus using Heegaard Floer homology.

We give simple homological conditions for a rational homology 3-sphere Y to have infinite order in the rational homology cobordism group, and for a collection of rational homology spheres to be linearly independent. These translate immediately to statements about knot concordance when Y is the branched double cover of …

New families of Brieskorn spheres bound rational homology balls.

We investigate rational homology cobordisms of 3-manifolds with non-zero first Betti number. This is motivated by the natural generalization of the slice-ribbon conjecture to multicomponent links. In particular we consider the problem of which rational homology $S^1\times S^2$'s bound rational homology $S^1\times D^3$'…

The stable 4-genus of a knot K in 3-space is the limiting value of g_4(nK)/n, where g_4 denotes the 4-genus and n goes to infinity. This induces a seminorm on CQ, the concordance group tensored with the rational numbers. Basic properties of the stable genus are developed, as are examples focused on understanding the un…