Isotopies of surfaces in 4-manifolds via banded unlink diagrams (Q2004532)

In this paper, the authors study a generalization of banded unlink diagrams to embedded surfaces in an arbitrary 4-manifold equipped with a Morse function, extending the work of \textit{F. J. Swenton} [J. Knot Theory Ramifications 10, No. 8, 1133--1141 (2001; Zbl 1001.57044)] and \textit{C. Kearton} and \textit{V. Kurlin} [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 8, No. 3, 1223--1247 (2008; Zbl 1151.57027)] for the case of \(S^4\). A band for a link \(L\) in a 3-manifold is an embedded 2-disk attached to \(L\) along two segments, and a banded unlink is the union of an unlink \(L\) and a family of disjoint bands for \(L\). The authors describe an embedded surface in a 4-manifold \(X\) by arranging it in banded unlink position, which satisfies that the intersections with the level sets of a given Morse function consist of disjoint unions of embedded disks and banded unlinks. And they represent a surface in banded unlink position by a banded unlink diagram, which is defined in terms of the Kirby diagram in \(S^3\) associated with \(X\), equipped with an unlink \(L\) and a family of bands for \(L\). The main results are as follows. The authors describe a set of moves on banded unlink diagrams, called band moves. Band moves consist of moves established by \textit{K. Yoshikawa} [Osaka J. Math. 31, No. 3, 497--522 (1994; Zbl 0861.57033)] for the case of \(S^4\), and several additional moves. They show that for a smooth 4-manifold \(X\) with a Kirby diagram, the embedded surfaces \(\Sigma\) and \(\Sigma'\) in \(X\) are isotopic if and only if their banded unlink diagrams are related by a finite sequence of band moves. This is shown by case analysis and using for some cases an argument analogous to the one due to Kearton and Kurlin [loc. cit.]. Using this result, the authors consider an embedded surface \(\Sigma\) via a bridge trisection of \(\Sigma\), and they affirmatively prove a conjecture of \textit{J. Meier} and \textit{A. Zupan} [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115, No. 43, 10880--10886 (2018; Zbl 1418.57017)]: for surfaces \(S\) and \(S'\) in bridge position with respect to a trisection \(\mathcal{T}\) of a closed 4-manifold \(X\), if \(S\) and \(S'\) are isotopic, then they are related by a sequence of perturbations and deperturbations, followed by a \(\mathcal{T}\)-regular isotopy. Further, they consider the case of unit surfaces in \(\mathbb{C}P^2\). A unit surface is a surface in \(\mathbb{C}P^2\) which intersects the standard \(\mathbb{C}P^1 \subset \mathbb{C}P^2\) in exactly one pont. In particular, they show that for a genus-\(g\) unit surface-knot \(F=S \# \mathbb{C}P^1 \subset \mathbb{C}P^2\), where \(S \subset S^4\) is an orientable surface that is \(0\)-concordant to a band-sum of twist-spun knots and unknotted surfaces, \(F\) is isotopic to the standard \(\mathbb{C}P^1\) trivially stabilized \(g\) times.