Covering link calculus and the bipolar filtration of topologically slice links (Q2509856)

A knot in \(S^3\) is topologically slice if it bounds a topologically embedded 2-disk in the 4-ball, \(B^4\), and is a slice knot if it bounds a smoothly embedded 2-disk. In order to understand the structure of topologically slice knots and links, T. Cochran, S. Harvey and P. Horn introduced a framework for the study of smooth concordance in their paper [\textit{T. D. Cochran} et al., ``Filtering smooth concordance classes of topologically slice knots'', Geom. Topol. 17, No. 4, 2103--2162 (2013; Zbl 1282.57006)], where they introduced a ``bipolar'' descending filtration by subgroups for the group \(T\) of smooth concordance classes of topologically slice knots. It is known that there are topologically slice 1-bipolar knots which are not 2-bipolar. For knots, this is the highest known level at which the filtration does not stabilize. For the case of links with two or more components, the authors prove that the filtration does not stabilize at any level. The main result of this paper is the following: For any \(m\geq2\) and \(n\geq 0\), there are topologically slice \(m\)-component links which are \(n\)-bipolar but not \((n+1)\)-bipolar. The non-triviality of the filtration at every level for links is shown by using covering link calculus and an explicit geometric construction which raises the bipolar height of certain links exactly by one. Furthermore the authors discover that the bipolar filtration of the group of topologically slice string links modulo smooth concordance has a rich algebraic structure.