Smooth embeddings of 2-spheres in 4-manifolds (Q1201339)

The author surveys results on representing 2-dimensional homology classes of simply connected 4-manifolds by embedded 2-spheres. The covered material reaches from the classical papers by Kervaire and Milnor in 1961 and Wall in 1964 up to current applications (by the author and others) of Donaldson theory to the problem in the differentiable setting. Since the known results are only complete for very special 4-manifolds, the author formulates at the end of the paper four conjectures which might lead the way in future research on the subject.