Representing homology classes of simply connected 4-manifolds (Q1601644)

Let \(W\) be a simply connected, compact, piecewise linear (PL) 4-manifold. All 2-dimensional homology classes of \(W\) can be represented by an immersed 2-sphere, and it is a classical question in 4-manifold theory to ask which classes can be represented by a PL embedded 2-sphere. One elementary criterion exists: a given class can be represented by a PL embedded sphere if and only if there is a codimension-0 submanifold \(M\) of \(W\) made up of a PL 4-ball union a single 2-handle such that a generator of \(H_2(M;\mathbb{Z})\cong \mathbb{Z}\) is homologous to that class. The main theorem of this paper asserts that this can nearly be achieved for any class, namely that one can always find such a submanifold \(M\) if a homotopy 4-ball is used in place of an honest PL 4-ball. More precisely, the authors prove that any element of \(H_2(W;\mathbb{Z})\) can be represented by a codimension-0 submanifold \(M\) comprised of a contractible ``Mazur-like'' 4-manifold union a single 2-handle. In addition, they use this to prove a second result: If \(W\) is a compact, simply connected submanifold of \(S^4\), then each 2-dimensional homology class of \(W\) can be represented by a locally flat embedding of a 2-sphere.