arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Robert E. Gompf.
An open subset U of a complex surface can be topologically perturbed to yield an open subset whose inherited complex structure is Stein, if and only if U is homeomorphic to the interior of a handlebody whose handles all have index equal or less than 2.
A topological condition is given, characterizing which closed manifolds in dimensions < 8 (and conjecturally in general) admit symplectic structures. The condition is the existence of a certain fibration-like structure called a hyperpencil. A deformation class of hyperpencils on a manifold X of any even dimension is shown to determine an isotopy class of symplectic structures on X. This provides an inverse (at least in dimensions < 8) to Donaldson's program for constructing linear systems on symplectic manifolds. It follows that (at least in dimensions < 8) the set of deformation classes of hyperpencils canonically maps onto the set of isotopy classes of rational symplectic forms up to positive scale, topologically determining a dense subset of all symplectic forms up to an equivalence relation on hyperpencils. Other applications of the main techniques are presented, including the construction of symplectic structures on domains of locally holomorphic maps, and on high-dimensional Lefschetz pencils and other linear systems.
For a smooth map $f:X^4\toΣ^2$ that is locally modeled by holomorphic maps, the domain is shown to admit a symplectic structure that is symplectic on some regular fiber, if and only if $f^*[Σ]\ne0$. If so, the space of symplectic forms on $X$ that are symplectic on all fibers is nonempty and contractible. The cohomology classes of these forms vary with the maximum possible freedom on the reducible fibers, subject to the obvious constraints. The above results are derived via an analogous theorem for locally holomorphic maps $f:X^{2n}\to Y^{2n-2}$ with $Y$ symplectic.
We construct closed symplectic manifolds for which spherical classes generate arbitrarily large subspaces in 2-homology, such that the first Chern class and cohomology class of the symplectic form both vanish on all spherical classes. We construct both Kaehler and non-Kaehler examples, and show independence of the conditions that these two cohomology classes vanish on spherical homology. In particular, we show that the symplectic form can pair trivially with all spherical classes even when the Chern class pairs nontrivially.
The topology of Stein surfaces and contact 3-manifolds is studied by means of handle decompositions. A simple characterization of homeomorphism types of Stein surfaces is obtained --- they correspond to open handlebodies with all handles of index lessthan or = 2. An uncountable collection of exotic R^4's is shown to admit Stein structures. New invariants of contact 3-manifolds are produced, including a complete (and computable) set of invariants for determining the homotopy class of a 2-plane field on a 3-manifold. These invariants are applicable to Seiberg-Witten theory. Several families of oriented 3-manifolds are examined, namely the Seifert fibered spaces and all surgeries on various links in S^3, and in each case it is seen that ``most'' members of the family are the oriented boundaries of Stein surfaces.
We show that a homotopy equivalence between manifolds induces a correspondence between their spin^c-structures, even in the presence of 2-torsion. This is proved by generalizing spin^c-structures to Poincare complexes. A procedure is given for explicitly computing the correspondence under reasonable hypotheses.