The relative \(\mathcal{L} \)-invariant of a compact 4-manifold (Q2077134)

A trisection describes a smooth, closed, orientable 4-manifold as the union of three 1-handlebodies. Trisections are the 4-dimensional analog of Heegaard splittings in dimension 3 and were introduced by \textit{D. Gay} and \textit{R. Kirby} [Geom. Topol. 20, No. 6, 3097--3132 (2016; Zbl 1372.57033)]. \textit{R. Kirby} and \textit{A. Thompson} [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115, No. 43, 10857--10860 (2018; Zbl 1421.57031)] used trisections to define an invariant \(\mathcal L(M)\) of a smooth, closed, orientable 4-manifold \(M\). They showed that for a rational homology sphere \(X\), \(\mathcal L(X) = 0\) if and only if \(X \cong S^4\). The paper under review studies the case of relative trisections. These are the generalizations of trisections to compact 4-manifolds with boundary and were also introduced by Gay and Kirby. In particular the following results are obtained. A relative version \(r\mathcal L\) of the \(\mathcal L\)-invariant is obtained and similar to the closed case the following is shown. If \(X\) is a rational homology ball with \(r\mathcal L(X) = 0\), then \(X \cong B^4\). It is also shown that there exist 4-manifolds with arbitrarily large \(r\mathcal L\)-invariant. The authors introduce a new move on relative trisection diagrams called a relative double twist. They then show that any two relative trisections of a 4-manifold with connected boundary can be made isotopic after a finite number of interior stabilizations, relative stabilizations, relative double twists, and the inverses of these moves. The authors also give an algorithm explicitly describing how to perform the Murasugi sum operation via relative trisection diagrams.