Framed flow categories were introduced by Cohen-Jones-Segal as a way of encoding the flow data associated to a Floer functional. A framed flow category gives rise to a CW-complex with one cell for each object of the category. The idea is that the Floer invariant should take the form of the stable homotopy type of the resulting complex, recovering the Floer cohomology as its singular cohomology. Such a framed flow category was produced, for example, by Lipshitz-Sarkar from the input of a knot diagram, resulting in a stable homotopy type generalizing Khovanov cohomology.
In this paper we give moves that change a framed flow category without changing the associated stable homotopy type. These are inspired by moves that can be performed in the Morse-Smale case without altering the underlying smooth manifold. We posit that if two framed flow categories represent the same stable homotopy type then a finite sequence of these moves is sufficient to connect the two categories. This is directed towards the goal of reducing the study of framed flow categories to a combinatorial calculus.
We provide examples of calculations performed with these moves (related to the Khovanov framed flow category), and prove some general results about the simplification of framed flow categories via these moves.
We give complete geometric invariants of cobordisms of fold maps with oriented singular set and cobordisms of even codimensional fold maps. These invariants are given in terms of cobordisms of stably framed manifolds and cobordisms of immersions with prescribed normal bundles defined by the author in his earlier works.
For each integer q>0 there is a cohomology theory such that the zero cohomology group of a manifold N of dimension n is a certain group of cobordism classes of proper fold maps of manifolds of dimension n+q into N. We prove a splitting theorem for the spectrum representing the cohomology theory of fold maps. For even q, the splitting theorem implies that the cobordism group of fold maps to a manifold N is a sum of q/2 cobordism groups of framed immersions to N and a group related to diffeomorphism groups of manifolds of dimension q+1. Similarly, in the case of odd q, the cobordism group of fol…
We consider the question: "If the zero-framed surgeries on two oriented knots in the 3-sphere are integral homology cobordant, preserving the homology class of the positive meridians, are the knots themselves concordant?" We show that this question has a negative answer in the smooth category, even for topologically slice knots. To show this we first prove that the zero-framed surgery on K is Z-homology cobordant to the zero-framed surgery on many of its winding number one satellites P(K). Then we prove that in many cases the tau and s-invariants of K and P(K) differ. Consequently neither tau …
The following is a long-standing open question: "If the zero-framed surgeries on two knots in the 3-sphere are integral homology cobordant, are the knots themselves concordant?" We show that an obvious rational version of this question has a negative answer. Namely, we give examples of knots whose zero-framed surgeries are rational homology cobordant 3-manifolds, wherein the knots are not rationally concordant (that is not concordant in any rational homology S^3 x [0,1]). Specifically, we prove that, for any positive integer p and any knot K, the zero framed surgery on K is Z[1/p]-homology cob…
We give complete geometric invariants of cobordisms of framed fold maps. These invariants consist of two types. We take the immersion of the fold singular set into the target manifold together with information about non-triviality of the normal bundle of the singular set in the source manifold. These invariants were introduced in the author's earlier works. Secondly we take the induced stable partial framing on the source manifold whose cobordisms were studied in general by Koschorke. We show that these invariants describe completely the cobordism groups of framed fold maps into R^n. Then we a…
We pursue the analogy of a framed flow category with the flow data of a Morse function. In classical Morse theory, Morse functions can sometimes be locally altered and simplified by the Morse moves. These moves include the Whitney trick which removes two oppositely framed flowlines between critical points of adjacent index and handle cancellation which removes two critical points connected by a single flowline. A framed flow category is a way of encoding flow data such as that which may arise from the flowlines of a Morse function or of a Floer functional. The Cohen-Jones-Segal construction as…
Two singular links are cobordant if one can be obtained from the other by singular link isotopy together with a combination of births or deaths of simple unknotted curves, and saddle point transformations. A movie description of a singular link cobordism in 4-space is a sequence of singular link diagrams obtained from a projection of the cobordism into 3-space by taking 2-dimensional cross sections perpendicular to a fixed direction. We present a set of movie moves that are sufficient to connect any two movies of isotopic singular link cobordisms.
Given a set of simplifying moves on 3-manifolds, we apply them to a given 3-manifold M as long as possible. What we get is a root of M. For us, it makes sense to consider three types of moves: compressions along 2-spheres, proper discs and proper annuli having boundary circles in different components of the boundary of M. Our main result is that for the above moves the root of any 3-manifold exists and is unique. The same result remains true if instead of manifolds we apply the moves to 3-cobordisms.
We introduce a new knot diagram invariant called the Self-Crossing Index (SCI). Using SCI, we provide bounds for unknotting two families of framed unknots. For one of these families, unknotting using framed Reidemeister moves is significantly harder than unknotting using regular Reidemeister moves. We also investigate the relation between SCI and Arnold's curve invariant St, as well as the relation with Hass and Nowik's invariant, which generalizes cowrithe. In particular, the change of SCI under Ω3 moves depends only on the forward/backward character of the move, similar to how the change of …
There are two categorifications of the Jones polynomial: "even" discovered by M.Khovanov in 1999 and "odd" dicovered by P.Ozsvath, J.Rasmussen and Z.Szabo in 2007. The first one can be fully constructed in the category of cobordisms (strictly: in the additive closure of that category), where we can build a complex for a given tangle and show its invariance under Reidemeister moves. The even link homology is given by a monoidal functor from cobordisms into modules. However, odd link homology cannot be obtained in this way. In this paper I fill this gap. I enrich cobordisms with chronologies (pr…
The notion of the geometrical $\Z/2 \oplus \Z/2$--control of self-intersection of a skew-framed immersion and the notion of the $\Z/2 \oplus \Z/4$-structure (the cyclic structure) on the self-intersection manifold of a $\D_4$-framed immersion are introduced. It is shown that a skew-framed immersion $f:M^{\frac{3n+q}{4}} \looparrowright \R^n$, $0 < q <<n$ (in the $\frac{3n}{4}+ε$-range) admits a geometrical $\Z/2 \oplus \Z/2$--control if the characteristic class of the skew-framing of this immersion admits a retraction of the order $q$, i.e. there exists a mapping $κ_0: M^{\frac{3n+q}{4}} \to \…
In arXiv:1905.07734 we presented a construction that is an analogue of Pontryagin's for proper maps in stable dimensions. This gives a bijection between the cobordism set of framed embedded compact submanifolds in $W\times\mathbb{R}^n$ for a given manifold $W$ and a large enough number $n$, and the homotopy classes of proper maps from $W\times\mathbb{R}^n$ to $\mathbb{R}^{k+n}$. In the present paper we generalise this result in a similar way as Thom's construction generalises Pontryagin's. In other words, we present a bijection between the cobordism set of submanifolds embedded in $W\times\mat…
Kirby proved that two framed links in S^3 give orientation-preserving homeomorphic results of surgery if and only if these two links are related by a sequence of two kinds of moves called stabilizations and handle-slides. Fenn and Rourke gave a necessary and sufficient condition for two framed links in a closed, oriented 3-manifold to be related by a finite sequence of these moves. The purpose of this paper is twofold. We first give a generalization of Fenn and Rourke's result to 3-manifolds with boundary. Then we apply this result to the case of framed links whose components are null-homotopi…
We describe a calculus of moves for modifying a framed flow category without changing the associated stable homotopy type. We use this calculus to show that if two framed flow categories give rise to the same stable homotopy type of homological width at most three, then the flow categories are move equivalent. The process we describe is essentially algorithmic and can often be performed by hand, without the aid of a computer program.
We develop a calculus of surgery data, called bridged links, which involves besides links also pairs of balls that describe one-handle attachements. As opposed to the usual link calculi of Kirby and others this description uses only elementary, local moves(namely modifications and isolated cancellations), and it is valid also on non-simply connected and disconnected manifolds. In particular, it allows us to give a presentation of a 3-manifold by doing surgery on any other 3-manifold with the same boundary. Bridged link presentations on unions of handlebodies are used to give a Cerf-theoretical…
We give a presentation of the $n$-dimensional oriented cobordism category $\text{Cob}_n$ with generators corresponding to diffeomorphisms and surgeries along framed spheres, and a complete set of relations. Hence, given a functor $F$ from the category of smooth oriented manifolds and diffeomorphisms to an arbitrary category $C$, and morphisms induced by surgeries along framed spheres, we obtain a necessary and sufficient set of relations these have to satisfy to extend to a functor from $\text{Cob}_n$ to $C$. If $C$ is symmetric and monoidal, then we also characterize when the extension is a T…
We provide combinatorial realizations, according to the usual objects/moves scheme, of the following three topological categories: (1) pairs (M,v) where M is a 3-manifold (up to diffeomorphism) and v is a (non-singular vector) field, up to homotopy; here possibly the boundary of M is non-empty and v may be tangent to the boundary, but only in a concave fashion, and homotopy should preserve tangency type; (2) framed links L in M, up to framed isotopy; (3) triples (M,v,L), with (M,v) as above and L transversal to v, up to pseudo-Legendrian isotopy (transversality-preserving simultaneous homotopy…
