Small exotic 4-manifolds from lines and quadrics in \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^2\) (Q2221042)

The present paper faces the interesting problem of detecting \textit{small exotic \(4\)-manifolds}, i.e. \(4\)-manifolds with small Euler characteristic and signature, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to some standard \(4\)-manifolds. \par In particular, the author constructs ``potentially new manifolds'' homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to \(\mathbb{CP}^2 \# 8 \overline{\mathbb{CP}^2}\) and \(\mathbb{CP}^2 \# 9 \overline{\mathbb{CP}^2}\) by means of the so called \textit{rational blowdown surgery}, introduced by \textit{R. Fintushel} and \textit{R. J. Stern} [J. Differ. Geom. 46, No. 2, 181--235 (1997; Zbl 08l96.57022)].\par This general technique is applied in an original way, starting with a good configuration of complex lines and quadrics in \(\mathbb{CP}^2\), and using particular plumbings from the graph classes identified as \(\mathcal{B}^4\) and \(\mathcal{C}^4\) by \textit{M. Bhupal} and \textit{A. I. Stipsicz} [Am. J. Math. 133, No. 5, 1259--1297 (2011; Zbl 1227.32033)]. \par Since the first graph class in the quoted paper, identified as \(\mathcal{A}^4\), was already known to produce exotic manifolds via rational blowdown, this property is now proved to hold for all the graph classes from that paper.