Obstructing pseudoconvex embeddings and contractible Stein fillings for Brieskorn spheres (Q1669050)

A compact 3-manifold \(\Sigma(2,3,6m+1)\) obtained by intersecting the complex algebraic surface \(x^2+y^3+z^{6m+1}=0\) with the unit sphere \(S^3\) is called the Brieskorn integer homology sphere. A smooth plane field \(\xi\) on a 3-manifold \(M\) which is locally defined by a 1-form \(\alpha\) such that \(\alpha\wedge d\alpha\neq 0\) is called a contact structure. An embedded disc \(D\to M\) in a contact manifold \((M,\xi)\) is called overtwisted if \(T_pD=\xi(p)\) for all points \(p\in\partial D\). A contact structure is tight if there is no overtwisted disc, otherwise it is overtwisted. A \(4\)-manifold \(X\) is said to be a Stein filling of a closed contact \(3\)-manifold \((M, \xi)\) if \(X\) is the sub-level set of a plurisubharmonic function on a Stein surface and the contact structure induced on \(\partial X\) by complex tangencies is contactomorphic to \((M, \xi)\). A pair \((C,g)\), where \(C\) is a contractible 4-manifold and \(g\) is a diffeomorphism of \(\partial C\) that extends across \(C\) as a homeomorphism but not as a diffeomorphism is called a cork. In [Ann. Math. (2) 73, 221--228 (1961; Zbl 0127.13604)], \textit{B. C. Mazur} constructed a contractible 4-manifold with boundary a homology 3-sphere made from \(S^1\times B^3\) by adding a 2-handle along a knot \(K\) which cuts a transverse disk \(B^2\subset S^1\times B^2\subset S^1\times\partial B^3\) once algebraically but three times geometrically. In [Mich. Math. J. 26, 259--284 (1979; Zbl 0443.57011)], \textit{S. Akbulut} and \textit{R. Kirby} generalized Mazur's construction by inserting \(l\) full twists in Mazur's knot and allowing for general framing \(k\) as well as possibly switching an overcrossing-undercrossing pair where the knot links itself, naming the resulting manifolds \(B\). In low-dimensional symplectic topology, a question asks whether every compact contractible 4-manifold admits the structure of a Stein domain. In this paper, the authors give the first known example of a contractible, boundary-irreducible 4-manifold that admits no Stein structure with either orientation, though its boundary has Stein fillings with both orientations. The main result shows that the contractible smooth 4-manifold \(B\), constructed by Akbulut and Kirby, with \(\partial B=\Sigma(2,3,13)\) does not admit a Stein structure with either orientation. Next, the authors show that if \(X\) is a smooth compact oriented acyclic 4-manifold whose boundary is the Brieskorn sphere \(-\Sigma(2,3,12n+1)\) with the opposite of its usual orientation, then \(X\) does not admit a symplectic structure weakly filling any contact structure on its boundary. Also, they show that for \(m\geq 1\), the Brieskorn sphere \(\Sigma(2,3,6m+1)\) admits exactly two tight contact structures up to isotopy. Both are Stein fillable and the two contact structures are contactomorphic. Finally, the authors show that there exists a nontrivial cork that does not admit a Stein structure with either orientation, and the Brieskorn manifold \(\Sigma(2,3,6m+1)\) admits at most two tight contact structures.