On manifolds diffeomorphic on the complement of a point (Q1192785)

The author studies the problem of detecting nondiffeomorphic smooth 4- manifolds which are diffeomorphic on the complement of a point. He first observes that if \(M,M'\) are diffeomorphic on the complement of a point, then \(M'\) is diffeomorphic to \(M\#\Sigma\), where \(\Sigma\) is a homotopy 4-sphere. Also, he shows that a diffeomorphism \(\varphi:M\to M'\) can be arranged so that it commutes with translation by one on the end, which is identified with \(S^ 3\times R\) in each case. This means that \(\varphi\) is a diffeomorphism of periodic ends. This allows him to use the work of \textit{C. H. Taubes} [J. Differ. Geom. 25, 363-430 (1987; Zbl 0615.57009)] to study this diffeomorphism using gauge theory. The main result of the paper is then that \(M\) and \(M'\) must have the same Donaldson polynomials, whenever they are defined, and so these can't be used to detect different smooth structures on \(M,M'\).