On intersection forms of definite 4-manifolds bounded by a rational homology 3-sphere (Q1705849)

Let us assume that all manifolds are compact and oriented. We say that a 4-manifold \(X\) is bounded by a 3-manifold \(Y\) if \(Y\) is homeomorphic to the boundary of \(X\) and \(Y\) inherits the orientation from the orientation of \(X\) in the standard way. \(X\) is negative (resp. positive) definite if \(b_2(X)=b^-_2(X)\) (resp. \(b_2(X)=b^+_2(X)\)). In the paper under review the authors consider intersection forms of 4-manifolds with a fixed boundary. A lattice \(\Lambda\) is smoothly bounded by a 3-manifold \(Y\) if \(\Lambda\) can be realized as the intersection form of a smooth 4-manifold with the boundary \(Y\). Two negative definite lattices \(\Lambda_1\) and \(\Lambda_2\) are stable-equivalent if \(\Lambda_1\oplus \langle -1\rangle^m\simeq\Lambda_2\oplus\langle -1\rangle^n\) for some non-negative integers \(m\) and \(n\). Let \(\mathcal I(Y)\) denote the set of all negative definite lattices that can be smoothly bounded by \(Y\), up to stable-equivalence. From Donaldson's results \(\mathcal I(S^3)=\{[\langle -1\rangle]\}\). The main result of the article under review is the following theorem. Let \(Y_1\) and \(Y_2\) be rational homology 3-spheres. If there is a negative definite smooth cobordism from \(Y_1\) to \(Y_2\) and \(|\mathcal I(Y_2)|<\infty\), then \(|\mathcal I(Y_2)|<\infty\). As a corollary the authors prove that if \(\mathcal I(-Y) \neq\), then \(|\mathcal I(Y)|<\infty\).