Nonorientable surfaces in homology cobordisms (with an appendix by Ira M. Gessel) (Q2260559)

In this paper, the authors give obstructions for embedding a nonorientable surface in a homology cobordism between two rational homology 3-spheres, extending the result by \textit{G.E. Bredon} and \textit{J.W. Wood} [Invent. Math. 7, 83--110 (1969; Zbl 0175.20504)], where the minimal genus is determined for a nonorientable surface embedded in a lens space \(L(2k,q)\). The first main result is that for a homology cobordism \(W\) between rational homology 3-spheres, a connected nonorientable essential surface \(F\subset W\) with genus \(h\) and normal Euler number \(e\) satisfies \(h \geq 2\Delta\), \(|e| \leq 2h-4\Delta\), \(e \equiv 2h-4\Delta \pmod{4}\), where \(\Delta\) is a numerical invariant determined from the Ozsváth-Szábo \(d\)-invariants associated to spin\(^c\) structures on one of the rational homology spheres \(M\). In particular, for a lens space \(L(2k,q)\), the invariant \(\Delta\) is equal to one-half of the Bredon-Wood minimal genus function \(N(2k,q)\), and it follows as a corollary that the minimal genus of a surface in the lens space cross an interval, \(L(2k,q)\times I\), is the same as the minimal genus of a surface in \(L(2k,q)\). The authors give further embedding obstructions in the homology cobordism \(W\), in terms of the genus, normal Euler number and the Atiyah-Singer \(\rho\)-invariants of the rational homology sphere \(M\). Further, they extend their results to closed 4-manifolds. In the proof, the authors investigate the Heegaard Floer correction terms associated to torsion spin\(^c\) structures on 3-manifolds with positive first Betti number, generalizing the results for rational homology spheres due to \textit{P. Ozsváth} and \textit{Z. Szabó} [Adv. Math. 173, No.2, 179--261 (2003; Zbl 1025.57016)]; in particular they compute the correction terms for circle bundles with orientable total space over nonorientable surfaces. The corollary is shown by combining the first result with the result on rational genus due to \textit{Y. Ni} and \textit{Z. Wu} [Adv. Math. 267, 360-380 (2014; Zbl 1312.57017)]. Further, they use a technique similar to the one used for the application of the G-signature theorem due to \textit{W. S. Massey} [Pac. J. Math. 31, 143--156 (1969; Zbl 0198.56701)], and gauge theory. The paper is closed by an appendix by I.M. Gessel, providing a number-theoretic proof that the invariant \(\Delta\) is equal to one-half of the minimal genus function.