The validity of Freedman's disk theorem is known to depend only on the fundamental group. It was conjectured that it fails for nonabelian free fundamental groups. If this were true then surgery theory would work in dimension four. Recently, Krushkal and Lee proved a surprising result that surgery theory works for a large special class of 4-manifolds with free nonabelian fundamental groups. The goal of this paper is to show that this also holds for other fundamental groups which are not known to be good, and that it is best understood using controlled surgery theory of Pedersen--Quinn--Ranicki. We consider some examples of 4-manifolds which have the fundamental group either of a closed aspherical surface or of a 3-dimensional knot space. A more general theorem is stated in the appendix.
We provide a proof of the controlled surgery sequence, including stability, in the special case that the local fundamental groups are trivial. Stability is a key ingredient in the construction of exotic homology manifolds by Bryant, Ferry, Mio and Weinberger, but no proof has been available. The development given here is based on work of M. Yamasaki.
This paper presents an alternative approach to controlled surgery obstructions. The obstruction for a degree one normal map $(f,b): M^n \rightarrow X^n$ with control map $q: X^n \rightarrow B$ to complete controlled surgery is an element $σ^c (f, b) \in H_n (B, \mathbb{L})$, where $M^n, X^n$ are topological manifolds of dimension $n \geq 5$. Our proof uses essentially the geometrically defined $\mathbb{L}$-spectrum as described by Nicas (going back to Quinn) and some well known homotopy theory. We also outline the construction of the algebraically defined obstruction, and we explicitly describ…
It is well-known that an n-dimensional Poincaré complex $X^n$, $n \ge 5$, has the homotopy type of a compact topological $n$-manifold if the total surgery obstruction $s(X^n)$ vanishes. The present paper discusses recent attempts to prove analogous result in dimension 4. We begin by reviewing the necessary algebraic and controlled surgery theory. Next, we discuss the key idea of Quinn's approach. Finally, we present some cases of special fundamental groups, due to the authors and to Yamasaki.
Following Bryant, Ferry, Mio and Weinberger we construct generalized manifolds as limits of controlled sequences p_i: X_i --> X_{i-1} : i = 1,2,... of controlled Poincaré spaces. The basic ingredient is the epsilon-delta-surgery sequence recently proved by Pedersen, Quinn and Ranicki. Since one has to apply it not only in cases when the target is a manifold, but a controlled Poincaré complex, we explain this issue very roughly. Specifically, it is applied in the inductive step to construct the desired controlled homotopy equivalence p_{i+1}: X_{i+1} --> X_i. Our main theorem requires a suffici…
For a closed topological $n$--manifold $K$ and a map $p:K\to B$ inducing an isomorphism $π_1(K)\toπ_1(B)$, there is a canonicaly defined morphism $b:H_{n+1}(B,K,\mathbb{L})\to \mathbb{S} (K)$, where $\mathbb{L}$ is the periodic simply-connected surgery spectrum and $\mathbb{S} (K)$ is the topological structure set. We construct a refinement $a:H_{n+1}^{+}(B,K,\mathbb{L} )\to \mathbb{S}_{\varepsilon ,δ}(K)$ in the case when $p$ is $UV^1$, and we show that $a$ is bijective if $B$ is a finite-dimensional compact metric ANR. Here, $H_{n+1}^{+}(B,K,\mathbb{L} )\subset H_{n+1}(B,K,\mathbb{L} )$, and…
The Wall surgery obstruction groups have two interesting geometrically defined subgroups, consisting of the surgery obstructions between closed manifolds, and the inertial elements. We show that the inertia group $I_{n+1}(π,w)$ and the closed manifold subgroup $C_{n+1}(π,w)$ are equal in dimensions $n+1\geq 6$, for any finitely-presented group $π$ and any orientation character $w\colon π\to \cy 2$.
Topological surgery in dimension $3$ is intrinsically connected with the classification of $3$-manifolds and with patterns of natural phenomena. In this expository paper, we present two different approaches for understanding and visualizing the process of $3$-dimensional surgery. In the first approach, we view the process in terms of its effect on the fundamental group. Namely, we present how $3$-dimensional surgery alters the fundamental group of the initial manifold and present ways to calculate the fundamental group of the resulting manifold. We also point out how the fundamental group can …
In this note we show that the Lagrangian Luttinger surgery preserves the symplectic Kodaira dimension. Some constraints on Lagrangian tori in symplectic four manifolds with non-positive Kodaira dimension are also derived.
We introduce a collection of 1/2-$π_1$-null 4-dimensional surgery problems. This is an intermediate notion between the classically studied universal surgery models and the $π_1$-null kernels which are known to admit a solution in the topological category. Using geometric applications of the group-theoretic 2-Engel relation, we show that the 1/2-$π_1$-null surgery problems are universal, in the sense that solving them is equivalent to establishing 4-dimensional topological surgery for all fundamental groups. As another application of these methods, we formulate a weaker version of the $π_1$-nul…
Twists of contact structures in dimension 3 and higher are studied in this paper from a viewpoint of contact round surgery. Three kinds of new modifications of contact structures which are higher-dimensional generalizations of the $3$-dimensional Lutz twists are introduced. One of the operations makes a contact manifold overtwisted in any dimension. Another one makes it weakly symplectically non-fillable. And the other one makes it strongly symplectically non-fillable. In other words, they make the overtwisted disc, the bordered Legendrian open books, and the Giroux domains, respectively. The …
Even though the disk embedding theorem is not available in dimension 4 for free fundamental groups, some surgery problems may be shown to have topological solutions. We prove that surgery problems may be solved if one considers closed 4-manifolds and the intersection pairing is extended from the integers, and prove a related splitting result.
Surgery obstruction of a normal map to a simple Poincare pair $(X,Y)$ lies in the relative surgery obstruction group $L_*(π_1(Y)\toπ_1(X))$. A well known result of Wall, the so called $π$-$π$ theorem, states that in higher dimensions a normal map of a manifold with boundary to a simple Poincare pair with $π_1(X)\congπ_1(Y)$ is normally bordant to a simple homotopy equivalence of pairs. In order to study normal maps to a manifold with a submanifold, Wall introduced surgery obstruction group for manifold pairs $LP_*$ and splitting obstruction groups $LS_*$. In the present paper we formulate and …
If a closed, orientable hyperbolic 3--manifold M has volume at most 1.22 then H_1(M;Z_p) has dimension at most 2 for every prime p not 2 or 7, and H_1(M;Z_2) and H_1(M;Z_7) have dimension at most 3. The proof combines several deep results about hyperbolic 3--manifolds. The strategy is to compare the volume of a tube about a shortest closed geodesic C in M with the volumes of tubes about short closed geodesics in a sequence of hyperbolic manifolds obtained from M by Dehn surgeries on C.
Consider a three dimensional cusped spherical $\mathrm{CR}$ manifold $M$ and suppose that the holonomy representation of $π_1(M)$ can be deformed in such a way that the peripheral holonomy is generated by a non-parabolic element. We prove that, in this case, there is a spherical $\mathrm{CR}$ structure on some Dehn surgeries of $M$. The result is very similar to R. Schwartz's spherical $\mathrm{CR}$ Dehn surgery theorem, but has weaker hypotheses and does not give the unifomizability of the structure. We apply our theorem in the case of the Deraux-Falbel structure on the Figure Eight knot comp…
Topological 4-dimensional surgery is conjectured to fail, in general, for free fundamental groups. M. Freedman and P. Teichner have shown that surgery problems with an arbitrary fundamental group have a solution, provided they satisfy a certain condition on Dwyer's filtration on second homology. We give a new geometric proof of this result, and analyze its relation to the canonical surgery problems.
Surgery, as developed by Browder, Kervaire, Milnor, Novikov, Sullivan, Wall and others is a method for comparing homotopy types of topological spaces with diffeomorphism or homeomorphism types of manifolds of dimension >= 5. In this paper, a modification of this theory is presented, where instead of fixing a homotopy type one considers a weaker information. Roughly speaking, one compares n-dimensional compact manifolds with topological spaces whose k-skeletons are fixed, where k is at least [n/2]. A particularly attractive example which illustrates the concept is given by complete intersection…
The A-B slice problem, a reformulation of the 4-dimensional topological surgery conjecture for free groups, is shown to admit a link-homotopy+ solution. The proof relies on geometric applications of the group-theoretic 2-Engel relation. Implications for the surgery conjecture are discussed.
In the singularity and differential topological theory of Morse functions and higher dimensional versions or fold maps and application to algebraic and differential topology of manifolds, constructing explicit fold maps and investigating their source manifolds is fundamental, important and difficult. The author has introduced surgery operations (bubbling operations) to fold maps, motivated by studies of Kobayashi, Saeki etc. since 1990 and has explicitly shown that homology groups of Reeb spaces of maps constructed by iterations of these operations are flexible in several cases. Such operation…
We give two applications of the 2-Engel relation, classically studied in finite and Lie groups, to the 4-dimensional topological surgery conjecture. The A-B slice problem, a reformulation of the surgery conjecture for free groups, is shown to admit a homotopy solution. We also exhibit a new collection of universal surgery problems, defined using ramifications of homotopically trivial links. More generally we show how n-Engel relations arise from higher order double points of surfaces in 4-space.
In this paper, as a fundamental study on the theory of Morse functions and their higher dimensional versions or fold maps and applications to geometric theory of manifolds, which were started in 1950s by differential topologists such as Thom and Whitney and have been studied actively, we study algebraic and differential topological properties of certain fold maps and their source manifolds. More precisely, we investigate fold maps obtained by surgery operations to fundamental fold maps and especially, homology groups of Reeb spaces, which are defined as the space of all connected components of…
For a 3-manifold M and a subsurface $X$ of the boundary of M with empty or incompressible boundary we use surgery to identify a graph whose vertices are disks with boundary in X and which is quasi-isometrically embedded in the curve graph of X.
The theory of Morse functions and their higher dimensional versions or fold maps on manifolds and its application to geometric theory of manifolds is one of important branches of geometry and mathematics. Studies related to this was started in 1950s by differential topologists such as Thom and Whitney and they have been studied actively. In this paper, we study fold maps obtained by surgery operations to fundamental fold maps, and especially Reeb spaces, defined as the spaces of all connected components of preimages and in suitable situations inheriting fundamental and important algebraic inva…
The main purpose of this article is to classify contact structures on some 3-manifolds, namely lens spaces, most torus bundles over a circle, the solid torus, and the thickened torus T^2 x [0,1]. This classification completes earlier work (by Etnyre [math.DG/9812065], Eliashberg, Kanda, Makar-Limanov, and the author) and results from the combination of two techniques: surgery, which produces many contact structures, and tomography, which allows one to analyse a contact structure given a priori and to create from it a combinatorial image. The surgery methods are based on a theorem of Y. Eliashb…
