arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Maciej Borodzik.
In this survey article we present connections between Picard--Lefschetz invariants of isolated hypersurface singularities and Blanchfield forms for links. We emphasize the unifying role of Hermitian Variation Structures introduced by Némethi.
For a prime number $q\neq 2$ and $r>0$ we study, whether there exists an isometry of order $q^r$ acting on a free $\mathbb{Z}_{p^k}$-module equipped with a scalar product. We investigate, whether there exists such an isometry with no non-zero fixed points. Both questions are completely answered in this paper if $p\neq 2,q$. As an application we refine Naik's criterion for periodicity of links in $S^3$. The periodicity criterion we obtain is effectively computable and gives concrete restrictions for periodicity of low-crossing knots.
We study the cobordism of manifolds with boundary, and its applications to codimension 2 embeddings $M^m\subset N^{m+2}$, using the method of the algebraic theory of surgery. The first main result is a splitting theorem for cobordisms of algebraic Poincaré pairs, which is then applied to describe the behaviour on the chain level of Seifert surfaces of embeddings $M^{2n-1} \subset S^{2n+1}$ under isotopy and cobordism. The second main result (update: which is false) is that the $S$-equivalence class of a Seifert form is an isotopy invariant of the embedding, generalizing the Murasugi--Levine result for knots and links. The third main result is a generalized Murasugi--Kawauchi inequality giving an upper bound on the difference of the Levine--Tristram signatures of cobordant embeddings.
We generalize an algorithm of Rudolph to establish that every link is topologically concordant to a strongly quasipositive link.
In this note we use Blanchfield forms to study knots that can be turned into an unknot using a single $\overline{t}_{2k}$ move.
For a smooth complex curve C, we consider the link L(r) intersection of C with the boundary of B(r), where B(r) denotes an Euclidean ball of radius r>0. We prove that the diagram D(r) obtained from L(r) by a complex stereographic projection satisfies that the Euler characteristic of the part of C in B(r) equals the rotation number of D(r) minus the writhe of D(r). As a consequence we show that if D(r) has no negative Seifert circles and L(r) is strongly quasipositive and fibred, then the Yamada-Vogel algorithm applied to D(r) yields a quasipositive braid.
Based on the results of the second author, we define an equivariant version of Lee and Bar-Natan homology for periodic links and show that there exists an equivariant spectral sequence from the equivariant Khovanov homology to equivariant Lee homology. As a result we obtain new obstructions for a link to be periodic. These obstructions generalize previous results of Przytycki and of the second author.
Given a smooth closed oriented manifold $M$ of dimension $n$ embedded in $\mathbb{R}^{n+2}$ we study properties of the `solid angle' function $Φ\colon\mathbb{R}^{n+2}\setminus M\to S^1$. It turns out that a non-critical level set of $Φ$ is an explicit Seifert hypersurface for $M$.
This is an expanded version of the lecture course the second author gave at Winterbraids VI in Lille in February 2016. Version 2: revision incorporating referee remarks.
We use invariants of Hendricks and Manolescu coming from involutive Heegaard Floer theory to find constraints on possible configurations of singular points of a rational cuspidal curve of odd degree in the projective plane. We show that the results do not carry over to rational cuspidal curves of even degree.
When $\mathbb{Z}^d$ is represented as a finite disjoint union of translated integer sublattices, the translated sublattices must possess some special properties. Such a representation is called a \emph{lattice tiling}. We develop a theoretical framework, based on multiple residues and dual groups, to provide a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for such a lattice tiling to exist. We also investigate the question of when a lattice tiling must possess at least two translated sublattices which are translates of one another.
An immersed concordance between two links is a concordance with possible self-intersections. Given an immersed concordance we construct a smooth four-dimensional cobordism between surgeries on links. By applying $d$-invariant inequalities for this cobordism we obtain inequalities between the $H$-functions of links, which can be extracted from the link Floer homology package. As an application we show a Heegaard Floer theoretical criterion for bounding the splitting number of links. The criterion is especially effective for L-space links, and we present an infinite family of L-space links with vanishing linking numbers and arbitrary large splitting numbers. We also show a semicontinuity of the $H$-function under $δ$-constant deformations of singularities with many branches.
We study rational cuspidal curves in projective surfaces. We specify two criteria obstructing possible configurations of singular points that may occur on such curves. One criterion generalizes the result of Fernandez de Bobadilla, Luengo, Melle--Hernandez and Nemethi and is based on the Bezout theorem. The other one is a generalization of the result obtained by Livingston and the author and relies on Ozsvath--Szabo inequalities for $d$-invariants in Heegaard Floer homology. We show by means of explicit calculations that the two approaches give very similar obstructions.
Given an L-space knot we show that its Upsilon function is the Legendre transform of a counting function equivalent to the d-invariants of its large surgeries. The unknotting obstruction obtained for the Upsilon function is, in the case of L-space knots, contained in the d-invariants of large surgeries. Generalizations apply for connected sums of L-space knots, which imply that the slice obstruction provided by Upsilon on the subgroup of concordance generated by L-space knots is no finer than that provided by the d-invariants.
We study rational cuspidal curves in Hirzebruch surfaces. We provide two obstructions for the existence of rational cuspidal curves in Hirzebruch surfaces with prescribed types of singular points. The first result comes from Heegaard--Floer theory and is a generalization of a result by Livingston and the first author. The second criterion is obtained by comparing the spectrum of a suitably defined link at infinity of a curve with spectra of its singular points.
Given a link in $S^3$ we will use invariants derived from the Alexander module and the Blanchfield pairing to obtain lower bounds on the Gordian distance between links, the unlinking number and various splitting numbers. These lower bounds generalise results recently obtained by Kawauchi. We give an application restricting the knot types which can arise from a sequence of splitting operations on a link. This allows us to answer a question asked by Colin Adams in 1996.
We develop Morse theory for manifolds with boundary. Besides standard and expected facts like the handle cancellation theorem and the Morse lemma for manifolds with boundary, we prove that, under a topological assumption, a critical point in the interior of a Morse function can be moved to the boundary, where it splits into a pair of boundary critical points. As an application, we prove that every cobordism of manifolds with boundary splits as a union of left product cobordisms and right product cobordisms.
Suppose C is a singular curve in CP^2 and it is topologically an embedded surface of genus g; such curves are called cuspidal. The singularities of C are cones on knots K_i. We apply Heegaard Floer theory to find new constraints on the sets of knots {K_i} that can arise as the links of singularities of cuspidal curves. We combine algebro-geometric constraints with ours to solve the existence problem for curves with genus one, d>33, that possess exactly one singularity which has exactly one Puiseux pair (p;q). The realized triples (p,d,q) are expressed as successive even terms in the Fibonacci sequence.