Smoothly embedded rational homology balls (Q2835289)

A regular neighborhood of a linear chain of \(2\)-spheres is a smooth \(4\)-manifold obtained by taking a finite sequence of disk bundles over the \(2\)-sphere with prescribed Euler characteristic and plumbing each to the next.NEWLINENEWLINELet \(1\leq q<p\) and let \(p\) and \(q\) be coprime. Let \(B_{p,q}\) be a smooth, rational homology \(4\)-ball with boundary the lens space \(L(p^2,pq-1)\).NEWLINENEWLINEUsing techniques from the minimal model program for \(3\)-dimensional complex algebraic varieties, the authors prove that \(B_{p,q}\) can be smoothly embedded in a regular neighborhood of a certain linear chain of \(2\)-spheres.