Search for: All records

Abstract A subset E of a metric space X is said to be starlike-equivalent if it has a neighbourhood which is mapped homeomorphically into $$\mathbb{R}^n$$ for some n , sending E to a starlike set. A subset $$E\subset X$$ is said to be recursively starlike-equivalent if it can be expressed as a finite nested union of closed subsets $$\{E_i\}_{i=0}^{N+1}$$ such that $$E_{i}/E_{i+1}\subset X/E_{i+1}$$ is starlike-equivalent for each i and $$E_{N+1}$$ is a point. A decomposition $$\mathcal{D}$$ of a metric space X is said to be recursively starlike-equivalent, if there exists $$N\geq 0$$ such that each element of $$\mathcal{D}$$ is recursively starlike-equivalent of filtration length N . We prove that any null, recursively starlike-equivalent decomposition $$\mathcal{D}$$ of a compact metric space X shrinks, that is, the quotient map $$X\to X/\mathcal{D}$$ is the limit of a sequence of homeomorphisms. This is a strong generalisation of results of Denman–Starbird and Freedman and is applicable to the proof of Freedman’s celebrated disc embedding theorem. The latter leads to a multitude of foundational results for topological 4-manifolds, including the four-dimensional Poincaré conjecture. 

Abstract We study embedded spheres in 4–manifolds (2–knots) via doubly pointed trisection diagrams, showing that such descriptions are unique up to stabilisation and handleslides, and we describe how to obtain trisection diagrams for certain cut-and-paste operations along 2–knots directly from doubly pointed trisection diagrams. The operations described are classical surgery, Gluck surgery, blowdown, and (±4)–rational blowdown, and we illustrate our techniques and results with many examples. 

We prove that every smoothly embedded surface in a 4-manifold can be isotoped to be in bridge position with respect to a given trisection of the ambient 4-manifold; that is, after isotopy, the surface meets components of the trisection in trivial disks or arcs. Such a decomposition, which we call a generalized bridge trisection, extends the authors’ definition of bridge trisections for surfaces in S 4 . Using this construction, we give diagrammatic representations called shadow diagrams for knotted surfaces in 4-manifolds. We also provide a low-complexity classification for these structures and describe several examples, including the important case of complex curves inside ℂ ℙ 2 . Using these examples, we prove that there exist exotic 4-manifolds with ( g , 0 ) —trisections for certain values of g. We conclude by sketching a conjectural uniqueness result that would provide a complete diagrammatic calculus for studying knotted surfaces through their shadow diagrams.