Four-manifolds as 4-fold branched covers of \(S^ 4\) (Q1897843)

In 1985, Montesinos asked if two special moves suffice to relate any two simple 4-fold coverings \(p_1\), \(p_2: n\# (S^1 \times S^2) \to S^3\) branched over a link and coming from 3-fold coverings by addition of a trivial sheet [\textit{J. M. Montesinos}, Contemp. Math. 44, 345-349 (1985; Zbl 0588.57001)]. In the first section of the paper under review, the author answers affirmatively to Montesinos' question (see Theorem A). In section 2 the author improves the above-mentioned application to 4-manifolds, by showing that in fact all the cusps of the branch surface can be eliminated in such a way that he gets a transversally immersed surface, that is a surface which is locally flat except for a finite number of transversal double points (see Theorem B). In section 3 the author briefly discusses the possibility of getting a locally flat branch surface (see Problem C).