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Abhishek Mallick

Publications and source records attributed to Abhishek Mallick.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Exotic disks and singular instanton Floer homology

We show that singular instanton Floer homology with the Chern--Simons filtration can be used to produce exotic pairs of slice disks. We moreover construct a strongly invertible $\mathbb{Z}$-slice knot for which any symmetric pair of $\mathbb{Z}$-disks are exotic, and remain exotic after stabilizing by $n\smash{\mathbb{CP}}^2$ or $n\smash{\overline{\mathbb{CP}}}^2$ (or by standard $n\smash{\mathbb{RP}}^2$ or $-n\smash{\mathbb{RP}}^2$) for any $n$. Our methods apply more generally to stabilization by any simply connected definite manifold, or by any number of exotic embedded projective planes of the same sign. We also provide an example of a strongly invertible knot which is $\mathbb{Z}$-slice and equivariantly slice, but not equivariantly $\mathbb{Z}$-slice. Along the way, we partially compute various symmetry actions on the singular instanton Floer complexes of two-bridge knots via an explicit analysis of their traceless $\mathit{SU}(2)$-character varieties.

math.GT↗
arXiv2026

Reidemeister and movie moves for involutive links

An involutive link is a link which is invariant under the standard rotation by 180 degrees in $S^3$. We establish an equivariant analogue of the work of Carter and Saito aimed at studying equivariant cobordisms between involutive links. This gives a set of $39$ equivariant movie moves that suffice to go between any two movie presentations of a pair of equivariantly isotopic cobordisms. Along the way, we give a singularity-theoretic proof of the equivariant Reidemeister theorem and study loops of equivariant Reidemeister moves. Our approach proceeds by analyzing codimension $2$ singularities of equivariant maps from $S^1$ to $\mathbb{R}^2$, as well as utilizing embedded equivariant Morse theory.

math.GT↗
arXiv2025

On absolutely exotic diffeomorphisms of 4-manifolds

We prove that there exist infinitely many contractible compact smooth $4$-manifolds $C$ that admit absolutely exotic diffeomorphisms of infinite order in $π_0(\mathrm{Diff}(C))$. By ``absolutely", we mean that isotopies are not required to be relative to the boundary. This follows from a theorem that produces absolutely exotic diffeomorphisms from relatively exotic diffeomorphisms, analogous to a theorem of Akbulut and Ruberman that produces absolutely exotic 4-manifolds from relatively exotic 4-manifolds.

math.GT↗
arXiv2025

Khovanov homology and equivariant surfaces

We introduce a refinement of Bar-Natan homology for involutive links, extending the work of Lobb-Watson and Sano. We construct a new suite of numerical invariants and derive bounds for the genus of equivariant cobordisms between strongly invertible knots. Our invariants show that the difference between the equivariant slice genus and isotopy-equivariant slice genus can be arbitrarily large, whereas previously these were not known to differ.

math.GT↗
arXiv2025

The link surgery formula and equivariant surgeries

We prove an equivariant version of the Heegaard Floer link surgery formula. As a special case, this gives an equivariant knot surgery formula for equivariant knots in $S^3$. Our proof goes by way of a naturality theorem for certain bordered modules described by the last author. As a sample application, we prove the kernel of the forgetful map from the equivariant homology cobordism group to the homology cobordism group contains a $\Z^\infty$-summand.

math.GT↗
arXiv2025

A note on cables and the involutive concordance invariants

We prove a formula for the involutive concordance invariants of the cabled knots in terms of that of the companion knot and the pattern knot. As a consequence, we show that any iterated cable of a knot with parameters of the form (odd,1) is not smoothly slice as long as either of the involutive concordance invariants of the knot is nonzero. Our formula also gives new bounds for the unknotting number of a cabled knot, which are sometimes stronger than other known bounds coming from knot Floer homology.

math.GT↗
arXiv2025

Characteristics of Rayleigh Waves in Nonlocal Porous Orthotropic Thermoelastic Layer with Diffusion Under Three-Phase-Lag Model

This article delves into the intricate dynamics of Rayleigh wave propagation within a nonlocal orthotropic medium, where the presence of void and diffusion adds an intriguing layer to the analysis. Grounded in Eringen nonlocal elasticity theory and embracing the three-phase-lag model of hyperbolic thermoelasticity, the study focuses on the interplay between the mass diffusion principles of Fick and the Fourier law under the framework of hyperbolic thermoelasticity. The investigation employs a methodological approach centered around normal mode analysis to navigate the complexities of the problem at hand. The derived frequency equation governing Rayleigh waves undergoes meticulous scrutiny through the exploration of specific cases. The elliptical trajectory of surface particles and its eccentricity during Rayleigh wave propagation are identified and calculated.

physics.class-ph↗
arXiv2024

Exotically knotted closed surfaces from Donaldson's diagonalization for families

We introduce a method to detect exotic surfaces without explicitly using a smooth 4-manifold invariant or an invariant of a 4-manifold-surface pair in the construction. Our main tools are two versions of families (Seiberg-Witten) generalizations of Donaldson's diagonalization theorem, including a real and families version of the diagonalization. This leads to an example of a pair of exotically knotted $\mathbb{R}P^2$'s embedded in a closed 4-manifold whose complements are diffeomorphic, making it the first example of a non-orientable surface with this property. In particular, any invariant of a 4-manifold-surface pair (including invariants from real Seiberg-Witten theory such as Miyazawa's invariant) fails to detect such an exotic $\mathbb{R} P^2$. One consequence of our construction reveals that non-effective embeddings of corks can still be useful in pursuit of exotica. Precisely, starting with an embedding of a cork $C$ in certain a 4-manifold $X$ where the cork-twist does not change the diffeomorphism type of $X$, we give a construction that provides examples of exotically knotted spheres and $\mathbb{R}P^2$'s with diffeomorphic complements in $ C \# S^2 \times S^2 \subset X \# S^2 \times S^2$ or $C \# \mathbb{C}P^2 \subset X \# \mathbb{C}P^2 $. In another direction, we provide infinitely many exotically knotted embeddings of orientable surfaces, closed surface links, and 3-spheres with diffeomorphic complements in once stabilized corks, and show some of these surfaces survive arbitrarily many internal stabilizations. By combining similar methods with Gabai's 4D light-bulb theorem, we also exhibit arbitrarily large difference between algebraic and geometric intersections of certain family of 2-spheres, embedded in a 4-manifold.

math.GT↗
arXiv2024

Gompf's cork and Heegaard Floer homology

Gompf showed that for $K$ in a certain family of double-twist knots, the swallow-follow operation makes $1/n$-surgery on $K \# -K$ into a cork boundary. We derive a general Floer-theoretic condition on $K$ under which this is the case. Our formalism allows us to produce many further examples of corks, partially answering a question of Gompf. Unlike Gompf's method, our proof does not rely on any closed 4-manifold invariants or effective embeddings, and also generalizes to other diffeomorphisms.

math.GT↗
arXiv2024

On localizing groups of exotic diffeomorphisms of 4-manifolds

Ruberman in the 90's showed that the group of exotic diffeomorphisms of closed 4-manifolds can be infinitely generated. We provide various results on the question of when such infinite generation can localize to a smaller embedded submanifold of the original manifold. Our results include: (1) All known infinitely generated groups of exotic diffeomorphisms of 4-manifolds detected by families Seiberg-Witten theory do not localize to any topologically (locally-flatly) embedded rational homology balls in the ambient 4-manifold. (2) Many exotic diffeomorphisms cannot be obtained as Dehn twists along homology spheres (under mild assumptions). (3) There is no contractible 4-manifolds with Seifert fibered boundary that have a universal property for exotic diffeomorphisms analogous to a universal cork. In addition, there is no universal compact 4-manifold $W$ such that the set of exotic diffeomorphisms of a 4-manifold can localize to an embedding of $W$. (4) Certain infinite generations of exotic diffeomorphism groups do localize to a non-compact subset $V$ with a small Betti number, but not to any compact subset of $V$. (5) An analogous result holds for mapping class groups of 4-manifolds.

math.GT↗
arXiv2024

Exotic Dehn twists on 4-manifolds

We initiate the study of exotic Dehn twists along 3-manifolds $\neq S^3$ inside $4$-manifolds, which produces the first known examples of exotic diffeomorphisms of contractible 4-manifolds, more generally of definite 4-manifolds, and exotic diffeomorphisms of 4-manifolds with $\neq S^3$ boundary that survive after one stabilization. We also construct the smallest closed 4-manifold known to support an exotic diffeomorphism. These exotic diffeomorphisms are the Dehn twists along certain Seifert fibered 3-manifolds. As a consequence, we get loops of diffeomorphisms of 3-manifolds that topologically extend to some 4-manifolds $X$ but not smoothly so, implying the non-surjectivity of $π_1(\mathrm{Diff}(X)) \to π_1(\mathrm{Homeo}(X))$. Our method uses $2$-parameter families Seiberg-Witten theory over $\mathbb{RP}^2$, while known methods to detect exotic diffeomorphisms used $1$-parameter families gauge-theoretic invariants. Using a similar strategy, we construct a new kind of exotic diffeomorphisms of 4-manifolds, given as commutators of diffeomorphisms.

math.GT↗
arXiv2023

Involutions and the Chern-Simons filtration in instanton Floer homology

Building on the work of Nozaki, Sato and Taniguchi, we develop an instanton-theoretic invariant aimed at studying strong corks and equivariant bounding. Our construction utilizes the Chern-Simons filtration and is qualitatively different from previous Floer-theoretic methods used to address these questions. As an application, we give an example of a cork whose boundary involution does not extend over any 4-manifold $X$ with $H_1(X, \mathbb{Z}_2) = 0$ and $b_2(X) \leq 1 $, and a strong cork which survives stabilization by either of $n\smash{\mathbb{CP}^2}$ or $n\smash{\overline{\mathbb{CP}}}^2$. We also prove that every nontrivial linear combination of $1/n$-surgeries on the strongly invertible knot $\smash{\overline{9}_{46}}$ constitutes a strong cork. Although Yang-Mills theory has been used to study corks via the Donaldson invariant, this is the first instance where the critical values of the Chern-Simons functional have been utilized to produce such examples. Finally, we discuss the geography question for nonorientable surfaces in the case of extremal normal Euler number.

math.GT↗
arXiv2023

Equivariant knots and knot Floer homology

We define several equivariant concordance invariants using knot Floer homology. We show that our invariants provide a lower bound for the equivariant slice genus and use this to give a family of strongly invertible slice knots whose equivariant slice genus grows arbitrarily large, answering a question of Boyle and Issa. We also apply our formalism to several seemingly non-equivariant questions. In particular, we show that knot Floer homology can be used to detect exotic pairs of slice disks, recovering an example due to Hayden, and extend a result due to Miller and Powell regarding stabilization distance. Our formalism suggests a possible route towards establishing the non-commutativity of the equivariant concordance group.

math.GT↗
arXiv2023

From diffeomorphisms to exotic phenomena in small 4-manifolds

We provide an approach to study exotic phenomena in relatively small 4-manifolds that captures many different exotic behaviors under one umbrella. These phenomena include exotic smooth structures on 4-manifolds with $b_2=1$, examples of strong corks, and exotic codimension-$1$ embeddings into $\mathbb{C} P^2 \# - \mathbb{C} P^2$ that survive external stabilization. We also give a new way to detect a homeomorphism of a 4-manifold that is not topologically isotopic to any diffeomorphism and give lower bounds of relative genera of certain knots. Our primary tools are constraints on diffeomorphisms of 4-manifolds obtained from families Seiberg-Witten theory.

math.GT↗
arXiv2022

Rank-expanding satellites, Whitehead doubles, and Heegaard Floer homology

We show that a large class of satellite operators are rank-expanding; that is, they map some rank-one subgroup of the concordance group onto an infinite linearly independent set. Our work constitutes the first systematic study of this property in the literature and partially affirms a conjecture of the second author and Pinzón-Caicedo. More generally, we establish a Floer-theoretic condition for a family of companion knots to have infinite-rank image under satellites from this class. The methods we use are amenable to patterns which act trivially in topological concordance and are capable of handling a surprisingly wide variety of companions. For instance, we give an infinite linearly independent family of Whitehead doubles whose companion knots all have negative $τ$-invariant. Our also results recover and extend several theorems in this area established using instanton Floer homology.

math.GT↗
arXiv2022

Knot Floer homology and surgery on equivariant knots

Given an equivariant knot $K$ of order $2$, we study the induced action of the symmetry on the knot Floer homology. We relate this action with the induced action of the symmetry on the Heegaard Floer homology of large surgeries on $K$. This surgery formula can be thought of as an equivariant analog of the involutive large surgery formula proved by Hendricks and Manolescu. As a consequence, we obtain that for certain double branched covers of $S^{3}$ and corks, the induced action of the involution on Heegaard Floer homology can be identified with an action on the knot Floer homology. As an application, we calculate equivariant correction terms which are invariants of a generalized version of the spin rational homology cobordism group, and define two knot concordance invariants. We also compute the action of the symmetry on the knot Floer complex of $K$ for several equivariant knots.

math.GT↗
arXiv2021

Corks, involutions, and Heegaard Floer homology

Building on the algebraic framework developed by Hendricks, Manolescu, and Zemke, we introduce and study a set of Floer-theoretic invariants aimed at detecting corks. Our invariants obstruct the extension of a given involution over any homology ball, rather than a particular contractible manifold. Unlike previous approaches, we do not utilize any closed 4-manifold topology or contact topology. Instead, we adapt the formalism of local equivalence coming from involutive Heegaard Floer homology. As an application, we define a modification $Θ^τ_{\mathbb{Z}}$ of the homology cobordism group which takes into account an involution on each homology sphere, and prove that this admits a $\mathbb{Z}^\infty$-subgroup of strongly non-extendable corks. The group $Θ^τ_{\mathbb{Z}}$ can also be viewed as a refinement of the bordism group of diffeomorphisms. Using our invariants, we furthermore establish several new families of corks and prove that various known examples are strongly non-extendable. Our main computational tool is a monotonicity theorem which constrains the behavior of our invariants under equivariant negative-definite cobordisms, and an explicit method of constructing such cobordisms via equivariant surgery.

math.GT↗