We describe a variety of symplectic surgeries (not a priori compatible with Kahler structures) which are obtained by combining local Kahler degenerations and resolutions of singularities. The effect of the surgeries is to replace configurations of Lagrangian spheres with symplectic submanifolds. We discuss several examples in detail, relating them to existence questions for symplectic manifolds with $c_1>0, c_1=0, c_1<0$ in four and six dimensions.
This paper completely answers the question of when contact (r)-surgery on a Legendrian knot in the standard contact structure on the 3-sphere yields a symplectically fillable contact manifold for r in (0,1]. We also give obstructions for other positive r and investigate Lagrangian fillings of Legendrian knots.
We show that every negative definite configuration of symplectic surfaces in a symplectic 4--manifold has a strongly symplectically convex neighborhood. We use this to show that, if a negative definite configuration satisfies an additional negativity condition at each surface in the configuration, and if the complex singularity with resolution diffeomorphic to a neighborhood of the configuration has a smoothing, then the configuration can be symplectically replaced by the smoothing of the singularity. This generalizes the symplectic rational blowdown procedure used in recent constructions of s…
By a result of Eliashberg, every symplectic filling of a three-dimensional contact connected sum is obtained by performing a boundary connected sum on another symplectic filling. We prove a partial generalization of this result for subcritical contact surgeries in higher dimensions: given any contact manifold that arises from another contact manifold by subcritical surgery, its belt sphere is null-bordant in the oriented bordism group $ΩSO^*(W)$ of any symplectically aspherical filling $W$, and in dimension five, it will even be nullhomotopic. More generally, if the filling is not aspherical b…
We describe the Stein handlebody diagrams of Milnor fibers of Brieskorn singularities $x^p + y^q + z^r = 0$. We also study the natural symplectic operation by exchanging two Stein fillings of the canonical contact structure on the links in the case $p = q = r$, where one of the fillings comes from the minimal resolution and the other is the Milnor fiber. We give two different interpretations of this operation, one as a symplectic sum and the other as a monodromy substitution in a Lefschetz fibration.
In arXiv:1611.09927, we constructed a well-defined Lagrangian Floer invariant for any closed, oriented $3$-manifold $Y$ via the symplectic geometry of so-called traceless $\mathrm{SU}(2)$-character varieties. This invariant, $\mathrm{SI}(Y)$, which we refer to as the symplectic instanton homology of $Y$, was also shown to satisfy an exact triangle for Dehn surgeries on knots which is typical of Floer-theoretic invariants of $3$-manifolds. In this article, we demonstrate further structural properties of this symplectic instanton homology. For example, Floer theories are expected to roughly sati…
We study the local symplectic algebra of the 1-dimensional isolated complete intersection singularity of type Sμ. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic Sμ singularities. We distinguish these symplectic singularities by discrete symplectic invariants. We also give the geometric description of them.
We generalize a theorem of Delzant classifying compact connected symplectic manifolds with completely integrable torus actions to certain singular symplectic spaces. The assumption on singularities is that if they are not finite quotient then they are isolated.
We study the local symplectic algebra of curves. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic $W_8$ and $W_9$ singularities. We use discrete symplectic invariants to distinguish symplectic singularities of the curves. We also give the geometric description of symplectic classes.
We study the local symplectic algebra of the 0-dimensional isolated complete intersection singularities. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify these symplectic singularities. We show that there are non-trivial symplectic invariants in this classification.
We introduce topological notions of normal crossings symplectic divisor and variety and establish that they are equivalent, in a suitable sense, to the desired geometric notions. Our proposed concept of equivalence of associated topological and geometric notions fits ideally with important constructions in symplectic topology. This partially answers Gromov's question on the feasibility of defining singular symplectic (sub)varieties and lays foundation for rich developments in the future. In subsequent papers, we establish a smoothability criterion for symplectic normal crossings varieties, in …
We construct simply connected, minimal, symplectic 4-manifolds with exotic smooth structures and each with one Seiberg-Witten basic class up to sign, on the Noether line and between the Noether and half Noether lines by star surgeries introduced by Karakurt and Starkston, and by using complex singularities. We also construct certain configurations of complex singularities in the rational elliptic surfaces geometrically, without using any monodromy arguments. By using these configurations, we give symplectic embeddings of star shaped plumbings inside (some blow-ups of) elliptic surfaces.
We overview our recent work defining and studying normal crossings varieties and subvarieties in symplectic topology. This work answers a question of Gromov on the feasibility of introducing singular (sub)varieties into symplectic topology in the case of normal crossings singularities. It also provides a necessary and sufficient condition for smoothing normal crossings symplectic varieties. In addition, we explain some connections with other areas of mathematics and discuss a few directions for further research.
Let G be a finite group acting on a symplectic complex vector space V. Assume that the quotient V/G has a holomorphic symplectic resolution. We prove that G is generated by "symplectic reflectionsd"', i.e. symplectomorphisms with fixed space of codimension 2 in V. Symplectic resolutions are always semismall. A crepant resolution of V/G is always symplectic. We give a symplectic version of Nakamura conjectures.
We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic $U_7$, $U_8$ and $U_9$ singularities. We use discrete symplectic invariants to distinguish symplectic singularities of the curves. We also give the geometric description of symplectic classes.
We compute symplectic cohomology for Milnor fibres of certain compound Du Val singularities that admit small resolution by using homological mirror symmetry. Our computations suggest a new conjecture that the existence of a small resolution has strong implications for the symplectic cohomology and conversely. We also use our computations to give a contact invariant of the link of the singularities and thereby distinguish many contact structures on connected sums of $S^2 \times S^3$.
In recent work, we introduced topological notions of simple normal crossings symplectic divisor and variety, showed that they are equivalent, in a suitable sense, to the corresponding geometric notions, and established a topological smoothability criterion for them. The present paper extends these notions to arbitrary normal crossings singularities, from both local and global perspectives, and shows that they are also equivalent to the corresponding geometric notions. In subsequent papers, we extend our smoothability criterion to arbitrary normal crossings symplectic varieties and construct a …
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 $(S, 0)$ with resolution graph $Γ_C$, the resulting 4-manifold admits a symplectic structure. This operation generalizes the rational blow-down operation of Fintushel-Stern for other configurations, and therefore extends Symington's result about symplectic rational blow-downs.
In this paper we present a method to obtain resolutions of symplectic orbifolds arising from symplectic reduction of a Hamiltonian S^1-manifold at a regular value. As an application, we show that all isolated cyclic singularities of a symplectic orbifold admit a resolution and that pre-quantisations of symplectic orbifolds are symplectically fillable by a smooth manifold.
We prove the generalised McKay correspondence for isolated singularities using Floer theory. Given an isolated singularity \C^n/G for a finite subgroup G in SL(n,\C) and any crepant resolution Y, we prove that the rank of positive symplectic cohomology SH_+(Y) is the number of conjugacy classes of G, and that twice the age grading on conjugacy classes is the \Z-grading on SH_+(Y) by the Conley-Zehnder index. The generalised McKay correspondence follows as SH_+(Y) is naturally isomorphic to ordinary cohomology H(Y), due to a vanishing result for full symplectic cohomology. In the Appendix we co…
We study the local symplectic algebra of curves. We use the method of algebraic restrictions to classify symplectic $T_7$ singularities. We define discrete symplectic invariants - the Lagrangian tangency orders. We use these invariants to distinguish symplectic singularities of classical $A-D-E$ singularities of planar curves, $S_5$ singularity and $T_7$ singularity. We also give the geometric description of these symplectic singularities.
We study symplectic deformation types of minimal symplectic fillings of links of quotient surface singularities. In particular, there are only finitely many symplectic deformation types for each quotient surface singularity.
For any k<2n we construct a complete system of invariants in the problem of classifying singularities of immersed k-dimensional submanifolds of a symplectic 2n-manifold at a generic double point.
Let $K$ be a compact Lie group with complexification $G$, and let $V$ be a unitary $K$-module. We consider the real symplectic quotient $M_0$ at level $0$ of the homogeneous quadratic moment map as well as the complex symplectic quotient, defined here as the complexification of $M_0$. We show that if $(V, G)$ is $3$-large, a condition that holds generically, then the complex symplectic quotient has symplectic singularities and is graded Gorenstein. This in particular implies that the real symplectic quotient is graded Gorenstein. In the case that $K$ is a torus or $\operatorname{SU}_2$, we sho…
We explain how a classical theorem by Arnol'd and Melrose on non-singular functions on a symplectic manifold with boundary can be proved in few lines, and we use the same method to obtain a new result, which is a normal form with functional invariants for the first occurring singularities
We determine a one-to-one correspondence between Milnor fibers and minimal symplectic fillings of a quotient surface singularity (up to diffeomorphism type) by giving an explicit algorithm to compare them mainly via techniques from the minimal model program for 3-folds and Pinkham's negative weight smoothing. As by-products, we show that: -- Milnor fibers associated to irreducible components of the reduced versal deformation space of a quotient surface singularity are not diffeomorphic to each other with a few obvious exceptions. For this, we classify minimal symplectic fillings of a quotient …
The goal of this paper is to classify symplectic toric stratified spaces with isolated singularities. This extends a result of Burns, Guillemin, and Lerman which carries out this classification in the compact connected case. In making this classification, it is necessary to classify symplectic toric cones. Via a well-known equivalence between symplectic toric cones and contact toric manifolds, this allows for the classification of contact toric manifolds as well, extending Lerman's classification of compact connected contact toric manifolds.
A log symplectic manifold is a complex manifold equipped with a complex symplectic form that has simple poles on a hypersurface. The possible singularities of such a hypersurface are heavily constrained. We introduce the notion of an elliptic point of a log symplectic structure, which is a singular point at which a natural transversality condition involving the modular vector field is satisfied, and we prove a local normal form for such points that involves the simple elliptic surface singularities $\tilde{E}_6,\tilde{E}_7$ and $\tilde{E}_8$. Our main application is to the classification of Po…
We use the techniques of integration of Poisson manifolds into symplectic Lie groupoids to build symplectic resolutions (= desingularizations) of the closure of a symplectic leaf. More generally, we show how Lie groupoids can be used to lift singularities, in particular when one imposes a compatibility condition with an additional structure given by a multi-vector field.
Our previous papers introduce topological notions of normal crossings symplectic divisor and variety, show that they are equivalent, in a suitable sense, to the corresponding geometric notions, and establish a topological smoothability criterion for normal crossings symplectic varieties. The present paper constructs a blowup, a complex line bundle, and a logarithmic tangent bundle naturally associated with a normal crossings symplectic divisor and determines the Chern class of the last bundle. These structures hav applications in constructions and analysis of various moduli spaces. As a coroll…
Let X be a minimal surface of general type with positive geometric genus ($b_+ > 1$) and let $K^2$ be the square of its canonical class. Building on work of Khodorovskiy and Rana, we prove that if X develops a Wahl singularity of length $\ell$ in a Q-Gorenstein degeneration, then $\ell \leq 4K^2 + 7$. This improves on the current best-known upper bound due to Lee ($\ell \leq 400(K^2)^4$). Our bound follows from a stronger theorem constraining symplectic embeddings of certain rational homology balls in surfaces of general type. In particular, we show that if the rational homology ball $B_{p,1}$…
We define a suitably tame class of singular symplectic curves in 4-manifolds, namely those whose singularities are modeled on complex curve singularities. We study the corresponding symplectic isotopy problem, with a focus on rational curves with irreducible singularities (rational cuspidal curves) in the complex projective plane. We prove that every such curve is isotopic to a complex curve in degrees up to 5, and for curves with one singularity whose link is a torus knot. Classification results of symplectic isotopy classes rely on pseudo-holomorphic curves together with a symplectic version…
We study the existence of symplectic resolutions of quotient singularities V/G where V is a symplectic vector space and G acts symplectically. Namely, we classify the symplectically irreducible and imprimitive groups, excluding those of the form $K \rtimes S_2$ where $K < \SL_2(\C)$, for which the corresponding quotient singularity admits a projective symplectic resolution. As a consequence, for $\dim V \neq 4$, we classify all quotient singularities $V/G$ admitting a projective symplectic resolution which do not decompose as a product of smaller-dimensional quotient singularities, except for …
We establish a connection between smooth symplectic resolutions and symplectic deformations of a (possibly singular) affine Poisson variety. In particular, let V be a finite-dimensional complex symplectic vector space and G\subset Sp(V) a finite subgroup. Our main result says that the so-called Calogero-Moser deformation of the orbifold V/G is, in an appropriate sense, a versal Poisson deformation. That enables us to determine the algebra structure on the rational cohomology H^*(X) of any smooth symplectic resolution X \to V/G (multiplicative McKay correspondence). We prove further that if G i…
We prove that the moduli space of gauge equivalence classes of symplectic vortices with uniformly bounded energy in a compact Hamiltonian manifold admits a Gromov compactification by polystable vortices. This extends results of Mundet i Riera and Tian for circle actions to the case of arbitrary compact Lie groups. Our argument relies on an a priori estimate for vortices that allows us to apply techniques used by McDuff and Salamon in their proof of Gromov compactness for pseudoholomorphic curves. As an intermediate result we prove a removable singularity theorem for vortices.
We consider the canonical contact structures on links of rational surface singularities with reduced fundamental cycle. These singularities can be characterized by their dual resolution graphs: the graph is a tree, and the weight of each vertex is no greater than its negative valency. In a joint work with Starkston, we previously showed that if the weight of each vertex in the graph is at most -5, the contact structure has a unique symplectic filling (up to symplectic deformation and blow-up). The proof was based on a symplectic analog of de Jong-van Straten's description of smoothings of thes…
We prove that any two irreducible cuspidal Hurwitz curves $C_0$ and $C_1$ (or more generally, curves with A-type singularities) in the Hirzebruch surface $F_N$ with coinciding homology classes and sets of singularities are regular homotopic; and symplectically regular homotopic if $C_0$ and $C_1$ are symplectic with respect to a compatible symplectic form.
An important class of contact 3--manifolds are those that arise as links of rational surface singularities with reduced fundamental cycle. We explicitly describe symplectic caps (concave fillings) of such contact 3--manifolds. As an application, we present a new obstruction for such singularities to admit rational homology disk smoothings.
In the present paper, we consider a smooth $C^\infty$ symplectic classification of Lagrangian fibrations near cusp singularities, parabolic orbits and cuspidal tori. We show that for these singularities as well as for an arrangement of singularities known as a flap, which arises in the integrable subcritical Hamiltonian Hopf bifurcation, the action variables form a complete set of $C^\infty$ symplectic invariants. We also give a symplectic classification for parabolic orbits in the real-analytic case. Namely, we prove that a complete symplectic invariant in this case is given by a real-analyti…
This article gives a classification, up to symplectic equivalence, of singular Lagrangian foliations given by a completely integrable system of a 4-dimensional symplectic manifold, in a full neighbourhood of a singular leaf of focus-focus (=nodal) type.
For a finite subgroup $Γ\subset \mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ and for $n\geq 1$, we use variation of GIT quotient for Nakajima quiver varieties to study the birational geometry of the Hilbert scheme of $n$ points on the minimal resolution $S$ of the Kleinian singularity $\mathbb{C}^2/Γ$. It is well known that $X:=\mathrm{Hilb}^{[n]}(S)$ is a projective, crepant resolution of the symplectic singularity $\mathbb{C}^{2n}/Γ_n$, where $Γ_n=Γ\wr\mathfrak{S}_n$ is the wreath product. We prove that every projective, crepant resolution of $\mathbb{C}^{2n}/Γ_n$ can be realised as the fine moduli space of $…
We survey the theory of Poisson traces (or zeroth Poisson homology) developed by the authors in a series of recent papers. The goal is to understand this subtle invariant of (singular) Poisson varieties, conditions for it to be finite-dimensional, its relationship to the geometry and topology of symplectic resolutions, and its applications to quantizations. The main technique is the study of a canonical D-module on the variety. In the case the variety has finitely many symplectic leaves (such as for symplectic singularities and Hamiltonian reductions of symplectic vector spaces by reductive gr…
We present a collection of examples borrowed from celestial mechanics and projective dynamics. In these examples symplectic structures with singularities arise naturally from regularization transformations, Appell's transformation or classical changes like McGehee coordinates, which end up blowing up the symplectic structure or lowering its rank at certain points. The resulting geometrical structures that model these examples are no longer symplectic but symplectic with singularities which are mainly of two types: $b^m$-symplectic and $m$-folded symplectic structures. These examples comprise t…
The first part of this paper deals with electrical networks and symplectic reductions. We consider two operations on electrical networks (the "trace map" and the "gluing map") and show that they correspond to symplectic reductions. We also give several general properties about symplectic reductions, in particular we study the singularities of symplectic reductions when considered as rational maps on Lagrangian Grassmannians. This is motivated by [23] where a renormalization map was introduced in order to describe the spectral properties of self-similar lattices. In this text, we show that this…
