Symplectic structure on ruled surfaces and a generalized adjunction formula (Q1902235)

This short but compendious paper is concerned with applications of Seiberg-Witten (SW) invariance [cf. \textit{N. Seiberg} and \textit{E. Witten}, Nucl. Phys. B 426, No. 1, 19-52 (1994), or \textit{C. H. Taubes}, Math. Res. Lett. 2, No. 1, 9-13 (1995)] to the differential topology of symplectic 4-manifolds. As the main tool, the authors use the wall-crossing formula: let \(M\) be an oriented 4-manifold with \(b^+_2= 1\) and \(b_1\) even, \({\mathcal L}\in H^2(M, Z)\) be a spin\(_C\) structure with \(\dim {\mathcal M}({\mathcal L})\geq 2\); then, after crossing a wall, \(\text{SW}({\mathcal L})\) changes by \[ \pm (\textstyle{{1\over 2}} \Omega^2\cdot {\mathcal L}[M])^{b_1/2}/(b_1/2)! [T^{b_1}]. \] The proof is not presented but many applications are discussed; we state a few examples. Theorem B: For an \(S^2\)-bundle over a Riemann surface, the symplectic structure is unique. Theorem C: The same conclusion for blow-ups of ruled surfaces. Theorem E (the adjunction inequality): Let \(M\) be a symplectic 4-manifold with \(b^+_2= 1\) and the symplectic form \(\omega\), let \(C\) be a smooth and connected embedded surface with nonnegative self-intersection. Assuming moreover \([C]\cdot \omega> 0\), then \[ 2g(C)- 2> K\cdot [C]+ [C]^2 \] is valid for the canonical class \(K\).