The Disc Embedding Theorem

The disc embedding theorem provides a detailed proof of the eponymous theorem in 4-manifold topology. The theorem, due to Michael Freedman, underpins virtually all of our understanding of 4-manifolds in the topological category. Most famously, this includes the 4-dimensional topological Poincaré conjecture. Combined with the concurrent work of Simon Donaldson, the theorem reveals a remarkable disparity between the topological and smooth categories for 4-manifolds. A thorough exposition of Freedman’s proof of the disc embedding theorem is given, with many new details. A self-contained account of decomposition space theory, a beautiful but outmoded branch of topology that produces non-differentiable homeomorphisms between manifolds, is provided. Techniques from decomposition space theory are used to show that an object produced by an infinite, iterative process, which we call a skyscraper, is homeomorphic to a thickened disc, relative to its boundary. A stand-alone interlude explains the disc embedding theorem’s key role in smoothing theory, the existence of exotic smooth structures on Euclidean space, and all known homeomorphism classifications of 4-manifolds via surgery theory and the s-cobordism theorem. The book is written to be accessible to graduate students working on 4-manifolds, as well as researchers in related areas. It contains over a hundred professionally rendered figures.

The Development of Topological 4-manifold Theory

The development of topological 4-manifold theory is described in the form of a flowchart showing the interdependence among many key statements in the theory. In particular, the flowchart demonstrates how the theory crucially relies on the constructions in this book, what goes into the work of Quinn on smoothing, normal bundles, and transversality, and what is needed to deduce the famous consequences, such as the classification of closed, simply connected, topological 4-manifolds, the category preserving Poincaré conjecture, and the existence of exotic smooth structures on 4-dimensional Euclidean space. Precise statements of the results, brief indications of some proofs, and extensive references are provided.

Context for the Disc Embedding Theorem

‘Context for the Disc Embedding Theorem’ explains why the theorem is the central result in the study of topological 4-manifolds. After recalling surgery theory and the proof of the s-cobordism theorem for high-dimensional manifolds, the chapter explains what goes wrong when trying to apply the same techniques in four dimensions and how to start overcoming these problems. The complete statement of the disc embedding theorem is provided. Finally the most important consequences to manifold theory are listed, including a proof of why Alexander polynomial one knots are topologically slice and the existence of exotic smooth structures on 4-dimensional Euclidean space.

Spaces of knotted circles and exotic smooth structures

Suppose that $N_1$ and $N_2$ are closed smooth manifolds of dimension n that are homeomorphic. We prove that the spaces of smooth knots, $ \operatorname {\mathrm {Emb}}(\mathrm {S}^1, N_1)$ and $ \operatorname {\mathrm {Emb}}(\mathrm {S}^1, N_2),$ have the same homotopy $(2n-7)$ -type. In the four-dimensional case, this means that the spaces of smooth knots in homeomorphic $4$ -manifolds have sets $\pi _0$ of components that are in bijection, and the corresponding path components have the same fundamental groups $\pi _1$ . The result about $\pi _0$ is well-known and elementary, but the result about $\pi _1$ appears to be new. The result gives a negative partial answer to a question of Oleg Viro. Our proof uses the Goodwillie–Weiss embedding tower. We give a new model for the quadratic stage of the Goodwillie–Weiss tower, and prove that the homotopy type of the quadratic approximation of the space of knots in N does not depend on the smooth structure on N. Our results also give a lower bound on $\pi _2 \operatorname {\mathrm {Emb}}(\mathrm {S}^1, N)$ . We use our model to show that for every choice of basepoint, each of the homotopy groups, $\pi _1$ and $\pi _2,$ of $ \operatorname {\mathrm {Emb}}(\mathrm {S}^1, \mathrm {S}^1\times \mathrm {S}^3)$ contains an infinitely generated free abelian group.

NONCOMMUTATIVE MIXMASTER COSMOLOGIES

In this paper we investigate a variant of the classical mixmaster universe model of anisotropic cosmology, where the spatial sections are noncommutative 3-tori. We consider ways in which the discrete dynamical system describing the mixmaster dynamics can be extended to act on the noncommutative torus moduli, and how the resulting dynamics differs from the classical one, for example, in the appearance of exotic smooth structures. We discuss properties of the spectral action, focussing on how the slow-roll inflation potential determined by the spectral action affects the mixmaster dynamics. We relate the model to other recent results on spectral action computation and we identify other physical contexts in which this model may be relevant.