Pseudoholomorphic punctured spheres in \(\mathbb R\times(S^1\times S^2)\): properties and existence (Q2501699)

Smoothness of the components of the moduli spaces of pseudoholomorphic, multiply punctured spheres in \(\mathbb R\times(S^1\times S^2\)) is proved. An existence theorem of pseudoholomorphic punctured spheres is also given as necessary and sufficient condition for a collection of closed curves in \(S^1\times S^2\) to appear as the set of \(|s|\to\infty\) limits of the constant \(s\in\mathbb R\) slices of pseudoholomorphic, multiply punctured spheres. The author says that pseudoholomorphic curves for certain almost complex structures are code informations about smooth structures on the underlying four-dimensional manifold, and to decipher this code, knowledge of the multi-punctured sphere pseudoholomorphic curve moduli space on the whole \(\mathbb R\times(S^1\times S^2)\) will be needed [cf. \textit{C. H. Taubes}, Doc. Math., J. DMV, Extra Vol. ICM Berlin 1998, Vol. II, 493--504 (1998; Zbl 0899.57020) and \textit{Y. Eliasberg}, \textit{A. Givental} and \textit{H. Hofer}, Introduction to symplectic field theory, GAFA 2000. Visions in mathematics--Towards 2000. Proceedings of a meeting, Tel Aviv, Israel, August 25-September 3, 1999. Part II. Basel: Birkhäuser, 560--673 (2000; Zbl 0989.81114)]. Throughout the paper, descriptions of pseudoholomorphic disks, cylinders and certain of the 3-hold spheres in \(\mathbb R\times(S^1\times S^2)\) from \textit{C. H. Taubes} [Geom. Topol. 6, 657--814 (2002; Zbl 1021.32008)], hereafter referred to as [1], are heavily used. The author announces that a detailed study on the components of the multi-punctured sphere moduli space will follow in the sequel. This paper consists of 5 sections. \S1, Introduction, explains necessary definitions and properties of the ends of pseudoholomorpic subvarieties according to [1]. Then, the smoothness theorem of the moduli space (Th. 1.2) and existence theorem (Th. 1.3) are stated. Th. 1.2 is proved in \S2 (Dimensions and regularity) while to prove Th. 1.3, first an alternative form of the existence theorem (Th. 3.1) is presented in \S3 (Existence), and proved in \S3 and \S4 (Constrained punctured sphere). Then, by using Th. 3.1, Th. 1.3 is proved in \S5. In this paper, \(\mathbb R\times(S^1\times S^2)\) is parametrized by \((s,t,0,0)\), \((s\in\theta,\varphi)\), \(s\in\mathbb R\), \(t\in\mathbb R/(2\pi\mathbb Z)\), \((\theta,\varphi)\in [0,\pi]\times \mathbb R/(2\pi\mathbb Z)\). The symplectic form \(\omega\) on \(\mathbb R\times(S^1\times S^2)\) is \[ \omega= d(e^{-\sqrt{6}s}\alpha)= dt\wedge df+ d\varphi\wedge dh, \] where \(\alpha=-(1- 3\cos^2\theta)\,dt- \sqrt{6}\cos\theta\sin^2\theta d\varphi\) is a contact 1-form on \(S^1\times S^2\). Almost complex structures used in this paper are specified by the relation \[ J\cdot\partial_t= g\partial_f,\quad J\cdot\partial_\varphi= \sin^2\theta_g\partial_h, \] \[ f= e^{-\sqrt{6}s}(1- 3\cos^2\theta),\quad g= \sqrt{6}e^{-\sqrt{6}s}(1+ 3\cos^4\theta),\quad h= \sqrt{6}e^{-\sqrt{6}s}\cos\theta\sin^2 \theta. \] \(J\) is not integrable and invariant under the action of \(\mathbb R\times (S^1\times S^2)\), where the second \(S^1\) is the rotation of \(S^2\) about the axis and \(\theta\in\{0,\pi\}\). Then pseudoholomorphic subvarieties and irreducible pseudoholomorphic varieties are defined according to \textit{H. Hofer}, \textit{K. Wysocki} and \textit{E. Zehnder} [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 13, No. 3, 337--379 (1996); correction ibid. 15, No. 4, 535--538 (1998; Zbl 0861.58018) (Def.1.1)]. Pseudoholomorphic subvarieties \(C\) behave well at large \(|s|\). If \(C\) is irreducible, the \(|s|\) proportion of \(C\) is a finite disjoint union of cylinders if \(|s|\) is large and in \(S^1\times S^2\), such cylinders converge to a closed orbit of the Reeb vector field \[ \widehat\alpha= (1-3\cos^2 \theta)\partial_t+ \sqrt{6}\cos\theta\partial_\varphi. \] Reeb orbits, the closed orbits of \(\widehat\alpha\), are listed in [1]. By using these results, properties of ends of pseudoholomorphic subvarieties are studied in chapter 1. They allow to label pseudoholomorphic subvarieties by 4-tuples \((\delta,\varepsilon,(p, p'))\), \(\delta\in\{-1,0,1\}\), \(\varepsilon\in\{+,-\}\), \((p,p')\in\mathbb Z\times \mathbb Z\). \(\widehat A\) denotes the set of 4-tuples augmented with a single pair \(({\mathfrak c}_+,{\mathfrak c}_-)\) of nonnegative integers, which describe the intersection number of \(C\) and \(\mathbb R\times\gamma\), \(\gamma\) is a Reeb orbit. Then the moduli \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) of pseudoholomorphic punctured spheres is defined. \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) is a finite-dimensional smooth manifold. As for a nonempty condition, first the constraints of asymptotic data set are described. Then, regarding elements of \(\widehat A\) to be graphs, the six constraints of positive line graph are listed. \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) is non-empty if and only if \(\widehat A\) has a positive line graph (Th. 1.3). The author claims that a certain subtle constraint is the final one which follows from the fact that the local intersection numbers with such submanifolds are necessarily positive [cf. \textit{D. McDuff}, J. Differ. Geom. 34, No. 1, 143--164 (1991; Zbl 0736.53038)]. To prove Th. 1.2, first by using results in [1], the set of regular points of \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) is shown to have the structure of a smooth manifold of dimension \(\widehat I\); \[ \widehat I= N_++ 2(N_-+\widehat N+ c_{\widehat A}- 1), \] where \(N_{\pm}\) are the number of elements of the form \((0,\pm,\dots)\), \(\widehat N\) is the number of elements in \(\widehat A\) whose first entry is \(1\) or \(-\)1, and \(c_{\widehat A}= c_+ + c_-\) (Prop. 2.6). Next, by using pairing between the fundamental class of a pseudoholomorphic subvariety and certain classes from \(H^2(\mathbb R\times (S^1\times S^2);\mathbb Z)\), \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) is shown to be smooth on some neighborhood of any given subvariety with only immersion singularity (Prop. 2.7). Then, analyzing critical points of \(\theta\), Th. 1.2 is proved. During the proof, various local coordinate charts for \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) that can be constructed from \(\mathbb R/(2\pi\mathbb Z)\) and real-valued parameters that are associated to the ends of the subvarieties in \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) are presented. A smoothness theorem is also true if the almost complex structure \(J\) is changed to admissible almost complex structure \(J'\), which is different from \(J\) only on compact subset of \(\mathbb R\times(S^1\times S^2)\) with some additional conditions. This generalization is used in the proof of the existence theorem in \S3 and \S4. If \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) is non-empty, it is a \((N_+ +2(N_-+\widehat N+ c_{\widehat A}-1))\)-dimensional smooth manifold. In \S3, by using this fact, and regardint the elements of \(\widehat A\) to be graphs, 3 constraints on the elements of \(\widehat A\) are introduced (3.A). The moduli space graph is the graph satisfying these 3 constraints. It is shown that \(\widehat A\) has a positive line graph if and only if it has a moduli space graph (\S5). Then \({\mathcal M}_{\widehat A}\) is shown to be nonempty if and only if \(\widehat A\) has a smooth moduli space graph (Th. 3.1). The proof is done according to the strategy to construct proper immersions of multi-punctured spheres with correct \(|s|\to\infty\) asymptotics and then deform them so that the result is pseudoholomorphic. In \S3, this program is carried out assuming existence of some specific open cylinder in \(\mathbb R\times(S^1\times S^2)\) (3.B, (3--3)). Existence of such a cylinder is proved in \S4.