arXiv research

In this paper, we generalize the work of the second author and prove a grading shifting property, in sutured monopole and instanton Floer theories, for general balanced sutured manifolds. This result has a few consequences. First, we offer an algorithm that computes the Floer homologies of a family of sutured handle-bo…

Sutured instanton homology uses Heegaard diagrams to bound homology dimensions.

New homological action on sutured instanton homology defined.

Kronheimer and Mrowka defined invariants of balanced sutured manifolds using monopole and instanton Floer homology. Their invariants assign isomorphism classes of modules to balanced sutured manifolds. In this paper, we introduce refinements of these invariants which assign much richer algebraic objects called projecti…

Proves properties of instanton knot Floer homology and connected sum formula.

This paper studies knots in sutured manifolds achieving minimum instanton homology rank.

We prove an excision theorem for the singular instanton Floer homology that allows the excision surfaces to intersect the singular locus. This is an extension of the non-singular excision theorem by Kronheimer and Mrowka and the genus-zero singular excision theorem by Street. We use the singular excision theorem to def…

Paper proves depth bounds for taut foliations using instanton Floer homology.

Instanton homology detects 2-torsion in fibered knots.

We define an invariant of contact 3-manifolds with convex boundary using Kronheimer and Mrowka's sutured monopole Floer homology theory (SHM). Our invariant can be viewed as a generalization of Kronheimer and Mrowka's contact invariant for closed contact 3-manifolds and as the monopole Floer analogue of Honda, Kazez, a…

New technique connects instanton Floer homology to Heegaard diagrams for knots and 3-manifolds.

We develop monopole and instanton Floer homology groups for balanced sutured manifolds. Applications include a new proof of Property P for knots.

In this paper we construct possible candidates for the minus versions of monopole and instanton knot Floer homologies. For a null-homologous knot $K\subset Y$ and a base point $p\in K$, we can associate the minus versions, $\underline{\rm KHM}^-(Y,K,p)$ and $\underline{\rm KHI}^-(Y,K,p)$, to the triple $(Y,K,p)$. We pr…

Proves a formula for instanton Floer homology of knots.

We use SO(3) gauge theory to define a functor from a category of unoriented webs and foams to the category of finite-dimensional vector spaces over the field of two elements. We prove a non-vanishing theorem for this SO(3) instanton homology of webs, using Gabai's sutured manifold theory. It is hoped that the non-vanis…

Paper classifies Heegaard Floer minimal knots in sutured manifolds.

Study handles in sutured manifolds and knots, finding varied handle numbers and unique surfaces.

We prove that the instanton knot homology KHI(K) as defined by Kronheimer and Mrowka (Knots, sutures and excision, preprint), recovers the Alexander polynomial for knots K in the 3-sphere.

This paper defines and proves properties of Floer homology for sutured manifolds.

Study of instantons and knot representations in 3-manifolds.

Enhanced Euler characteristic improves knot homology detection.

We prove a rank inequality on the instanton knot homology and the Khovanov homology of a link in $S^3$. The key step of the proof is to construct a spectral sequence relating Baldwin-Levine-Sarkar's pointed Khovanov homology to a singular instanton invariant for pointed links.

We define an invariant of contact 3-manifolds with convex boundary using Kronheimer and Mrowka's sutured instanton Floer homology theory. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first invariant of contact manifolds -- with or without boundary -- defined in the instanton Floer setting. We prove that our invariant vani…

For each integer $N\geq 2$, Mariño and Moore defined generalized Donaldson invariants by the methods of quantum field theory, and made predictions about the values of these invariants. Subsequently, Kronheimer gave a rigorous definition of generalized Donaldson invariants using the moduli spaces of anti-self-dual conne…

We recently defined invariants of contact 3-manifolds using a version of instanton Floer homology for sutured manifolds. In this paper, we prove that if several contact structures on a 3-manifold are induced by Stein structures on a single 4-manifold with distinct Chern classes modulo torsion then their contact invaria…

We prove that Khovanov homology detects the trefoils. Our proof incorporates an array of ideas in Floer homology and contact geometry. It uses open books; the contact invariants we defined in the instanton Floer setting; a bypass exact triangle in sutured instanton homology, proven here; and Kronheimer and Mrowka's spe…

Developed a real sutured Heegaard Floer theory.

We prove that a knot is the unknot if and only if its reduced Khovanov cohomology has rank 1. The proof has two steps. We show first that there is a spectral sequence beginning with the reduced Khovanov cohomology and abutting to a knot homology defined using singular instantons. We then show that the latter homology i…

Detects knots in thickened surfaces using instanton homology.

Generates sutured manifolds from a surface using surgery.

The idea of a sutured topological quantum field theory was introduced by Honda, Kazez and Matić (2008). A sutured TQFT associates a group to each sutured surface and an element of this group to each dividing set on this surface. The notion was originally introduced to talk about contact invariants in Sutured Floer Homo…

We define a "sutured topological quantum field theory", motivated by the study of sutured Floer homology of product 3-manifolds, and contact elements. We study a rich algebraic structure of suture elements in sutured TQFT, showing that it corresponds to contact elements in sutured Floer homology. We use this approach t…

Abstract TQFT for sutured manifolds using Floer homology.

We show that if a surgery on a knot in a product sutured manifold yields the same product sutured manifold, then this knot is a 0-- or 1--crossing knot. The proof uses techniques from sutured manifold theory.

We extend the topological field theory (``itsy bitsy topological field theory"') of our previous work from mod-2 to twisted coefficients. This topological field theory is derived from sutured Floer homology but described purely in terms of surfaces with signed points on their boundary (occupied surfaces) and curves on …

In this paper, we explore the interplay between contact structures and sutured monopole Floer homology. First, we study the behavior of contact elements, which were defined by Baldwin and Sivek, under the operation of performing Floer excisions, which was introduced to the context of sutured monopole Floer homology by …

Contact gluing maps are shown to be equivalent in sutured Floer homology.

New framework for sutured manifolds using handleslides and Heegaard invariants.

It has been a central open problem in Heegaard Floer theory whether cobordisms of links induce homomorphisms on the associated link Floer homology groups. We provide an affirmative answer by introducing a natural notion of cobordism between sutured manifolds, and showing that such a cobordism induces a map on sutured F…

We introduce an sl(n) homology theory for knots and links in the thickened annulus. To do so, we first give a fresh perspective on sutured annular Khovanov homology, showing that its definition follows naturally from trace decategorifications of enhanced sl(2) foams and categorified quantum gl(m), via classical skew Ho…

We recently defined an invariant of contact manifolds with convex boundary in Kronheimer and Mrowka's sutured monopole Floer homology theory. Here, we prove that there is an isomorphism between sutured monopole Floer homology and sutured Heegaard Floer homology which identifies our invariant with the contact class defi…

We use the theory of sutured TQFT to classify contact elements in the sutured Floer homology, with $\Z$ coefficients, of certain sutured manifolds of the form $(Σ\times S^1, F \times S^1)$ where $Σ$ is an annulus or punctured torus. Using this classification, we give a new proof that the contact invariant in sutured Fl…

The paper detects fiberedness in 3-manifolds and extends a torsion invariant to sutured manifolds.

In this paper we construct a Floer-homology invariant for a natural and wide class of sutured manifolds that we call balanced. This generalizes the Heegaard Floer hat theory of closed three-manifolds and links. Our invariant is unchanged under product decompositions and is zero for nontaut sutured manifolds. As an appl…

Sutured manifolds defined by Gabai are useful in the geometrical study of knots and 3-dimensional manifolds. On the other hand, homology cylinders are in an important position in the recent theory of homology cobordisms of surfaces and finite-type invariants. We study a relationship between them by focusing on sutured …

We use sutured manifold theory, essential laminations and essential branched surfaces to establish the upper bounds of distances between certain types of nonsimple Dehn surgery slopes. This is the revised version of an earlier preprint {\it Dehn surgery and simple manifolds.}

Review of instantons in noncommutative gauge theories across 4, 6, and 8 dimensions.

Study $\mathrm{G}_2$-instantons on 7-sphere from 4-sphere instantons.