Let P be a closed smooth (4j-2)-connected 8j-manifold. We complete Wilkens' classification of the manifolds P for j = 1,2 and give an alternative proof to Wall's classification of the manifolds for j > 2. The Hopf-invariant-one dimensions (j=1,2) are characteristed by the fact that the quadratic linking functions which classify may be inhomogeneous. Hence we also extend the classification of (homogeneous) quadratic linking forms on finite abelian groups (due to Nikulin) to the inhomogeneous case.
We study connected sum at infinity on smooth, open manifolds. This operation requires a choice of proper ray in each manifold summand. In favorable circumstances, the connected sum at infinity operation is independent of ray choices. For each m at least 3, we construct an infinite family of pairs of m-manifolds on which the connected sum at infinity operation yields distinct manifolds for certain ray choices. We use cohomology algebras at infinity to distinguish these manifolds.
In this article, we classify 1-connected 8-dimensional Poincaré complexes, topological manifolds and smooth manifolds with the same homology as $S^3\times S^5$. Some questions of Escher-Ziller are also discussed.
We determine loop space decompositions of simply-connected four-manifolds, $(n-1)$-connected $2n$-dimensional manifolds provided $n\notin\{4,8\}$, and connected sums of products of two spheres. These are obtained as special cases of a more general loop space decomposition of certain torsion-free $CW$-complexes with well-behaved skeleta and some Poincaré duality features.
We show that for the Kauffman bracket skein module over the field of rational functions in variable A, the module of a connected sum of 3-manifolds is the tensor product of modules of the individual manifolds.
For each composite number $n\ne 2^k$, there does not exist a single connected closed $(n+1)$-manifold such that any smooth, simply-connected, closed $n$-manifold can be topologically flat embedded into it. There is a single connected closed 5-manifold $W$ such that any simply-connected, 4-manifold $M$ can be topologically flat embedded into $W$ if $M$ is either closed and indefinite, or compact and with non-empty boundary.
Bredon has constructed a 2-dimensional compact cohomology manifold which is not homologically locally connected, with respect to the singular homology. In the present paper we construct infinitely many such examples (which are in addition metrizable spaces) in all remaining dimensions $n \ge 3$.
We show that the classical example $X$ of a 3-dimensional generalized manifold constructed by van Kampen is another example of not homologically locally connected (i.e. not HLC) space. This space $X$ is not locally homeomorphic to any of the compact metrizable 3-dimensional manifolds constructed in our earlier paper which are not HLC spaces either.
In this note we classify the diffeomorphism classes rel. boundary of smooth h-cobordisms between two fixed 1-connected 4-manifolds in terms of isometries between the intersection forms.
We introduce a rational homotopy invariant P of a topological space, which is a quintic tensor on the cohomology. For n > 1, formality of a closed (n-1)-connected manifold of dimension up to 5n-2 is equivalent to vanishing of P and the Bianchi-Massey tensor introduced by Crowley and the second author arXiv:1505.04184. We show also that elements of the group of closed simply-connected spin 8-manifolds with the cohomology of an r-fold connected sum of S^2 x S^6 are determined up to torsion by the value of P.
We give necessary and sufficient conditions for a closed smooth 6-manifold N to be diffeomorphic to a product of a surface F and a simply connected 4-manifold M in terms of basic invariants like the fundamental group and cohomological data. Any isometry of the intersection form of M is realized by a self-diffeomorphism of M x F.
Our goal in this paper is to compute the integral free loop space homology of $(n-1)$-connected $2n$-manifolds $M$, $n\geq 2$. We do this when $n\neq 2,4,8$, or when $n\neq 2$ and $\tilde H^*(M)$ has trivial cup product squares, though the techniques used here should extend to a much wider range of manifolds. We also give partial information concerning the action of the Batalin-Vilkovisky operator.
We construct closed $(k-1)$-connected manifolds of dimensions $\ge 4k-1$ that possess non-trivial rational Massey triple products. We also construct examples of manifolds $M$ such that all the cup-products of elements of $H^k(M)$ vanish, while the group $H^{3k-1}(M;\Q)$ is generated by Massey products: such examples are useful for theory of systols.
We construct branched double coverings by certain direct products of manifolds for connected sums of copies of sphere bundles over the 2-sphere. As an application we answer a question of Kotschick and Loeh up to dimension five. More precisely, we show that: (1) every simply connected, closed four-manifold admits a branched double covering by a product of the circle with a connected sum of copies of $S^2 \times S^1$, followed by a collapsing map; (2) every simply connected, closed five-manifold admits a branched double covering by a product of the circle with a connected sum of copies of $S^3 \…
An oriented closed connected N-manifold M is inflexible if it does not admit self-maps of unbounded degree. In addition, if all the maps from any other oriented closed connected N-manifold have bounded degree, then M is said to be strongly inflexible. The existence of simply-connected inflexible manifolds was established by Arkowitz and Lupton. However, the existence of simply-connected strongly inflexible manifolds is still an open question. We provide an algorithm relying on Sullivan models that allow us to prove that all, but one, of the known examples of simply-connected inflexible manifol…
The Lusternik-Schnirelmann category and topological complexity are important invariants of manifolds (and more generally, topological spaces). We study the behavior of these invariants under the operation of taking the connected sum of manifolds. We give a complete answer for the LS-categoryof orientable manifolds, $\cat(M\# N)=\max\{\cat M,\cat N\}$. For topological complexity we prove the inequality $\TC (M\# N)\ge\max\{\TC M,\TC N\}$ for simply connected manifolds.
We obtain estimations for isotopy classes of embeddings of closed k-connected n-manifolds into R^{2n-k-1} for n>2k+5 and k\ge0. This is done in terms of an exact sequence involving the Whitney invariants and an explicitly constructed action of H_{k+1}(N;Z_2) on the set of embeddings. (For k\ne1 classification results were obtained by algebraic methods without direct construction of embeddings or homology invariants.) The proof involves reduction to classification of embeddings of punctured manifold and uses parametric connected sum of embeddings.
We define the Bianchi-Massey tensor of a topological space X to be a linear map from a subquotient of the fourth tensor power of H*(X). We then prove that if M is a closed (n-1)-connected manifold of dimension at most 5n-3 (and n > 1) then its rational homotopy type is determined by its cohomology algebra and Bianchi-Massey tensor, and that M is formal if and only if the Bianchi-Massey tensor vanishes. We use the Bianchi-Massey tensor to show that there are many (n-1)-connected (4n-1)-manifolds that are not formal but have no non-zero Massey products, and to present a classification of simply-…
We compute the mapping class group of the manifolds $\sharp^g(S^{2k+1}\times S^{2k+1})$ for $k>0$ in terms of the automorphism group of the middle homology and the group of homotopy $(4k+3)$-spheres. We furthermore identify its Torelli subgroup, determine the abelianisations, and relate our results to the group of homotopy equivalences of these manifolds.
We show, up to h-cobordism, that the existence and uniqueness of connected sum decompositions of oriented 4-dimensional manifolds is an invariant of homotopy equivalence, assuming that the fundamental group of each summand is "good" in the sense of Freedman and Quinn. On a separate note, we observe that the Borel Conjecture is true in dimension 4 up to s-cobordism, assuming that the fundamental group satisfies the Farrell--Jones Conjecture.
We show that the n-homotopy category of connected (n+1)-dimensional Menger manifolds is isomorphic to the homotopy category of connected Hilbert cube manifolds whose k-dimensional homotopy groups are trivial for each k > n.
We consider mapping class groups Γ(M) = pi_0 Diff(M fix \partial M) of smooth compact simply connected oriented 4-manifolds M bounded by a collection of 3-spheres. We show that if M contains CP^2 (with either orientation) as a connected summand then Γ(M) is independent of the number of boundary components. By repackaging classical results of Wall, Kreck and Quinn, we show that the natural homomorphism from the mapping class group to the group of automorphisms of the intersection form becomes an isomorphism after stabilization with respect to connected sum with CP^2 # \bar{CP^2}. We next consid…
We study the classification of closed, smooth, spin, $1$-connected $7$-manifolds whose integral cohomology ring is isomorphic to $H^*(\mathbb{C}P^2\times S^3)$. We also prove that if the integral cohomology ring of a closed, smooth, spin, $1$-connected $7$-manifold is isomorphic to $H^*(\mathbb{C}P^2\times S^3)$ or $H^*(S^2\times S^5)$, this $7$-manifold admits a Riemannian metric with positive Ricci curvature.
The aim of this paper is to classify simply connected 6-dimensional torus manifolds with vanishing odd degree cohomology. It is shown that there is a one-to-one correspondence between equivariant diffeomorphism types of these manifolds and 3-valent labelled graphs, called torus graphs introduced by Maeda-Masuda-Panov. Using this correspondence and combinatorial arguments, we prove that a simply connected 6-dimensional torus manifold with vanishing odd degree cohomology is equivariantly diffeomorphic to the 6-dimensional sphere or an equivariant connected sum of copies of 6-dimensional quasitor…
We prove that an open 3-manifold proper homotopy equivalent to a geometrically simply connected polyhedron is simply connected at infinity, generalizing a theorem of V.Poenaru.
We produce infinite families of exotic actions of finite cyclic groups on simply connected smooth 4-manifolds with nontrivial Seiberg-Witten invariants.
We record an answer to the question "In which dimensions is the connected sum of two closed almost complex manifolds necessarily an almost complex manifold?". In the process of doing so, we are naturally led to ask "For which values of l is the connected sum of l closed almost complex manifolds necessarily an almost complex manifold?". We answer this question, along with its non-compact analogue, using obstruction theory and Yang's results on the existence of almost complex structures on (n-1)-connected 2n-manifolds. Finally, we partially extend Datta and Subramanian's result on the nonexisten…
For $k \ge 2,$ let $M^{4k-1}$ be a $(2k{-}2)$-connected closed manifold. If $k \equiv 1$ mod $4$ assume further that $M$ is $(2k{-}1)$-parallelisable. Then there is a homotopy sphere $Σ^{4k-1}$ such that $M \sharp Σ$ admits a Ricci positive metric. This follows from a new description of these manifolds as the boundaries of explicit plumbings.
In this paper, we describe geometrical constructions to obtain triangulations of connected sums of closed orientable triangulated 3-manifolds. Using these constructions, we show that it takes time polynomial in the number of tetrahedra to check if a closed orientable 3-manifold, equipped with a minimal triangulation, is reducible or not. This result can easily be generalized to compact orientable 3-manifolds with non-empty boundary.
We generalize a result of the author about the classification of 1-connected 7-manifolds and demonstrate its use by two concrete applications, one to 2-connected 7-manifolds (a new proof -- and slightly different formulation -- of an up to now unpublished Theorem by Crowley and Nordstroem and one to simply connected 7-manifolds with the cohomology ring of $S^2 \times S^5 \sharp S^3 \times S^4$. The answer is in terms of generalized Kreck-Stolz invariants, which in the case of 2-connected 7-manifolds is equivalent to a quadratic refinement of the linking form and a generalized Eells-Kuiper inva…
In this article we prove that, if $X$ is a smooth $4$-manifold containing an embedded double node neighborhood, all knot surgery $4$-manifolds $X_K$ are mutually diffeomorphic to each other after a connected sum with $\mathbb{CP}^2$. Hence, by applying to the simply connected elliptic surface $E(n)$, we also show that every knot surgery $4$-manifold $E(n)_K$ is almost completely decomposable.
We construct infinitely many smooth 4-manifolds which are homotopy equivalent to $S^2$ but do not admit a spine, i.e., a piecewise-linear embedding of $S^2$ which realizes the homotopy equivalence. This is the remaining case in the existence problem for codimension-2 spines in simply-connected manifolds. The obstruction comes from the Heegaard Floer $d$ invariants.
In this note we study whether specific elements in the second homology of specific simply connected closed $4$-manifolds can be represented by smooth or topologically flat embedded spheres.
This is primarily an exposition, combining work of several authors (Curtis, Hsiang, Freedman, Stong, Matveyev, and Bizaca), of the proof that a smooth 5-dimensional h-cobordism between simply connected 4-manifolds is a product off of a contractible piece which itself is diffeomorphic to the 5-ball.
The classical Kneser-Milnor theorem says that every closed oriented connected 3-dimensional manifold admits a unique connected sum decomposition into manifolds that cannot be decomposed any further. We discuss to what degree such decompositions exist in higher dimensions and we show that in many settings uniqueness fails in higher dimensions.
We prove that an injective map $f:X\to Y$ between connected metrizable spaces $X,Y$ is continuous if for every connected subset $C\subset X$ the image $f(C)$ is connected and one of the following conditions is satisfied: (1) $Y$ is a 1-manifold and $X$ is compact; (2) $Y$ is a 2-manifold and $X$ is a closed $n$-manifold of dimension $n\ge 2$; (3) $Y$ is a 3-manifold and $X$ is a simply-connected closed $n$-manifold of dimension $n\ge 3$. This gives a partial answer to a problem of Willie Wong, posed on Mathoverflow.
We consider simply-connected $4$-manifolds admitting Lefschetz fibrations over the $2$-sphere. We explicitly construct nonhyperelliptic and hyperelliptic Lefschetz fibrations of genus $4$ on simply-connected $4$-manifolds which are exotic symplectic $4$-manifolds in the homeomorphism classes of $\mathbb{C}P^{2}\#8\overline{\mathbb{C} P^{2}}$ and $\mathbb{C} P^{2}\#9\overline{\mathbb{C} P^{2}}$, respectively. From these, we provide upper bounds for the minimal number of singular fibers of such fibrations. In addition, we prove that this number is equal to $18$ for $g=3$ when such fibrations are…
In this paper we study colored triangulations of compact PL 4-manifolds with empty or connected boundary which induce handle decompositions lacking in 1-handles or in 1- and 3-handles, thus facing also the problem, posed by Kirby, of the existence of {\it special handlebody decompositions} for any simply-connected closed PL 4-manifold. In particular, we detect a class of compact simply-connected PL 4-manifolds with empty or connected boundary, which admit such decompositions and, therefore, can be represented by (undotted) framed links. Moreover, this class includes any compact simply-connecte…
The aim of this paper is to study compact 5--manifolds which admit fixed point free circle actions. The first result implies that the torsion in the second homology and the second Stiefel--Whitney class have to satisfy strong restrictions. We then show that for simply connected 5--manifolds these restrictions are necessary and sufficient.
We discuss generic smooth maps from smooth manifolds to smooth surfaces, which we call "Morse 2-functions", and homotopies between such maps. The two central issues are to keep the fibers connected, in which case the Morse 2-function is "fiber-connected", and to avoid local extrema over 1-dimensional submanifolds of the range, in which case the Morse 2-function is "indefinite". This is foundational work for the long-range goal of defining smooth invariants from Morse 2-functions using tools analogous to classical Morse homology and Cerf theory.
A theorem on the existence of the unique minimal topologic handle decomposition of differentiable simply connected five-dimensional manifolds is proved. For a decomposition of this sort, the number of handles of each index is given.
On a smooth closed oriented $4$-manifold $M$ with a smooth action of a finite group $G$ on a Spin$^c$ structure, $G$-monopole invariant is defined by "counting" $G$-invariant solutions of Seiberg-Witten equations for any $G$-invariant Riemannian metric on $M$. We compute $G$-monopole invariants on some $G$-manifolds. For example, the connected sum of $k$ copies of a 4-manifold with nontrivial mod 2 Seiberg-Witten invariant has nonzero $\Bbb Z_k$-monopole invariant mod 2, where the $\Bbb Z_k$-action is given by cyclic permutations of $k$ summands.
In this paper we construct non-simply connected contact manifolds $M$ of dimension $\geq5$ such that $M\times S^1$ does not admit a symplectic structure.
It is well known that Sullivan showed that the mapping class group of a simply connected high-dimensional manifold is commensurable with an arithmetic group, but the meaning of "commensurable" in this statement seems to be less well known. We explain why this result fails with the now standard definition of commensurability by exhibiting a manifold whose mapping class group is not residually finite. We do not suggest any problem with Sullivan's result: rather we provide a gloss for it.
This paper pays a visit to a famous contractible open 3-manifold $W^3$ proposed by R. H. Bing in 1950's. By the finiteness theorem \cite{Hak68}, Haken proved that $W^3$ can embed in no compact 3-manifold. However, until now, the question about whether $W^3$ can embed in a more general compact space such as a compact, locally connected and locally 1-connected metric 3-space was not known. Using the techniques developed in Sternfeld's 1977 PhD thesis \cite{Ste77}, we answer the above question in negative. Furthermore, it is shown that $W^3$ can be utilized to produce counterexamples for every co…
We recall an extension of Kirby's Calculus on non-simply connected 3-manifolds given in [FR], and the surgery calculus of bridged links from [Ke], which involves only local moves. We give a short combinatorial proof that the two calculi are equivalent, and thus describe the same classes of 3-manifolds. This makes the proofs for the validity of surgery calculi in [FR] and [Ke] interchangeable.
In this paper, we construct simply connected symplectic Calabi-Yau 6-manifolds by applying Gompf's symplectic fiber sum operation along $T^4$. Using our construction, we also produce symplectic non-Kähler Calabi-Yau 6-manifolds with fundamental group $\Z$. In this paper, we also produce the first examples of simply connected symplectic Calabi-Yau and non-Calabi-Yau 6-manifolds via coisotropic Luttinger surgery.
In a recent paper, {\it Algorithms for Deforming and Contracting Simply Connected Discrete Closed Manifolds (II)}, we discussed two algorithms for deforming and contracting a simply connected discrete closed manifold into a discrete sphere. The first algorithm was a continuation of work that began in {\it Algorithms for Deforming and Contracting Simply Connected Discrete Closed Manifolds (I)}, the second algorithm contained a more direct treatment of contraction for discrete manifolds. In this paper, we clarify that we can use this same method on standard piecewise linear (PL) complexes on the…
