Four-Manifolds, Curvature Bounds, and Convex Geometry

We extend the vanishing theorem for the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a manifold with positive scalar curvature to the case when the curvature is allowed to be negative on a set of small volume. (The precise curvature bounds are described in the paper.) The idea is to combine the method of `semigroup domination' with the Weitzenbock formula. The same curvature hypothesis implies the vanishing of the Seiberg-Witten invariant of any finite covering space. We also show that, in h...

We present a topological quantum field theory which corresponds to the moduli problem associated to Witten's monopole equations for four-manifolds. The construction of the theory is carried out in purely geometrical terms using the Mathai-Quillen formalism, and the corresponding observables are described. These provide a rich set of new topological quantites.

In a remarkable article published in 1982, M. Gromov introduced the concept of minimal volume, namely, the minimal volume of a manifold $M^n$ is defined to be the greatest lower bound of the total volumes of $M^n$ with respect to complete Riemannian metrics whose sectional curvature is bounded above in absolute value by 1. While the minimal curvature, introduced by G. Yun in 1996, is the smallest pinching of the sectional curvature among metrics of volume 1. The goal of this ...

We study moduli spaces of Seiberg-Witten monopoles over spin^c Riemannian 4-manifolds with long necks and/or tubular ends. This first part discusses compactness, exponential decay, and transversality. As applications we prove two vanishing theorems for Seiberg-Witten invariants.

This paper defines two new extrinsic curvature quantities on the corner of a four-dimensional Riemannian manifold with corner. One of these is a pointwise conformal invariant, and the conformal transformation of the other is governed by a new linear second-order pointwise conformally invariant partial differential operator. The Gauss-Bonnet theorem is then stated in terms of these quantities.

In this paper, we investigate the Seiberg-Witten gauge theory for Seifert fibered spaces. The monopoles over these three-manifolds, for a particular choice of metric and perturbation, are completely described. Gradient flow lines between monopoles are identified with holomorphic data on an associated ruled surface, and a dimension formula for such flows is calculated.

A compact oriented 4-manifold is defined to be of ``superconformal simple type'' if certain polynomials in the basic classes (constructed using the Seiberg-Witten invariants) vanish identically. We show that all known 4-manifolds of $b_2^+>1$ are of superconformal simple type, and that the numerical invariants of 4-manifolds of superconformal simple type satisfy a generalization of the Noether inequality. We sketch how these phenomena are predicted by the existence of certain...

This article is based on a lecture by the first author at the International Georgia Topology Conference 2001 (Athens, Georgia) and the Mathematische Arbeitstagung 2001 (Bonn, Germany). We sketch a proof of Witten's formula relating the Donaldson and Seiberg-Witten series modulo powers of degree c+2, with c = -{1/4}(7 chi + 11 sigma), for four-manifolds obeying some mild conditions, where chi and sigma are their Euler characteristic and signature. We use the moduli space of SO...

These are yet another lecture notes on Seiberg-Witten invariants, where no claim of originality is made, they contain a discussion of some related results from the recent literature.

The monopole map defines an element in an equivariant stable cohomotopy group refining the Seiberg-Witten invariant. This first of two articles presents the details of the definition of the stable cohomotopy invariant and discusses its relation to the integer valued Seiberg-Witten invariant.