The symplectic Thom conjecture (Q1972070)

In this paper, the authors prove the symplectic Thom conjecture in its full generality: Theorem. An embedded symplectic surface in a closed, symplectic four-manifold is genus-minimizing in its homology class. As a corollary, they also get the following result in the Kähler case. Corollary. An embedded holomorphic curve in a Kähler surface is genus-minimizing in its homology class. The theorem follows from a relation among Seiberg-Witten invariants, that holds in the case of embedded surfaces in four-manifolds whose self-intersection number is negative. Such a relation also yields a general adjunction inequality for embedded surface of negative self-intersection in four-manifolds.