Topology of broken Lefschetz fibrations and near-symplectic four-manifolds (Q1011629)

Let \(\omega\) be a closed \(2\)-form on an oriented smooth \(4\)-manifold \(M\) such that \(\omega^2\geq 0\) and \(\omega^2>0\) on \(M\setminus Z_\omega\), where \(Z_\omega\) is the set of points where \(\omega=0\). If local coordinates on a neighborhood \(U\) of a point \(x\in Z_\omega\) are used to identify the map \(\omega : U\to\Lambda^2(T^*U)\) as a smooth map \(\omega: \mathbb R^4\to \mathbb R^6\), then the linearization \(D_{\omega_x} : \mathbb R^4\to \mathbb R^6\) at \(x\) has rank three. Then \(\omega\) is called a near-symplectic structure on \(M\), \((M,\omega)\) is a near-symplectic \(4\)-manifold, and \(Z_\omega\) is the zero locus of \(\omega\). If \(\Gamma\) is a smooth \(1\)-dimensional submanifold of a compact oriented \(4\)-manifold \(M\), \(C\) is a finite set of points in \(M\setminus\Gamma\), and \(S\) is a compact orientable surface, then a smooth map \(f: M\to S\) is called a broken Lefschetz fibration if on \(M\setminus\Gamma\) it has local models of a Lefschetz fibration with the critical set \(C\). The set \(\Gamma\) is called the round singular locus of \(f\), and its image \(f(\Gamma)\) the round singular image. A broken Lefschetz pencil is defined similarly for \(S=S^2\), by assuming that there is also a finite set of points \(B\) in \(M\setminus(\Gamma\cup C)\) and the map \(f\) has local models of a Lefschetz pencil. In [Geom. Topol. 9, 1043--1114 (2005; Zbl 1077.53069)], \textit{D.~Auroux, S.~K.~Donaldson}, and \textit{L.~Katzarkov} introduced broken Lefschetz fibrations and pencils, and showed that they play a similar role in near-symplectic \(4\)-manifolds as Lefschetz fibrations in symplectic \(4\)-manifolds. This paper gives handlebody descriptions of broken Lefschetz fibrations to assist with identifying the total spaces of these fibrations and with calculating smooth invariants. The author establishes simplified handlebody and monodromy representations for a certain subclass of broken Lefschetz fibrations and pencils to show that all near-symplectic closed \(4\)-manifolds can be supported by such objects. Various constructions of broken Lefschetz fibrations and a generalization of the symplectic fiber sum operation to the near-symplectic setting are presented.