Stein fillings of homology 3-spheres and mapping class groups (Q303988)

If \(\Sigma\) is a compact, oriented, connected surface with boundary, then the mapping class group \(\text{Mod}(\Sigma)\) of \(\Sigma\) is the group of isotopy classes of orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms of \(\Sigma\) relative to the boundary \(\partial\Sigma\). A right-handed Dehn twist \(t_\alpha:\Sigma\to\Sigma\) along a simple closed curve \(\alpha\) in \(\Sigma\) is a diffeomorphism obtained by cutting \(\Sigma\) along \(\alpha\), twisting a neighborhood of one of the copies of \(\alpha\) by \(360^\circ\) to the right and regluing. A Lefschetz fibration is said to be allowable if all of the vanishing cycles are homologically non-trivial in the fiber \(\Sigma\). If \(M\) is a closed, oriented, connected 3-manifold, \(L\) is an oriented link in \(M\), and \(\pi:(M\setminus L)\to S^1\) is a smooth map, then a pair \((L,\pi)\) is called an open book decomposition of \(M\) if \(\pi\) is a fibration of the complement of \(L\) such that \(\pi^{-1}(\theta)\) is the interior of a compact surface \(\Sigma_\theta\subset M\) which is diffeomorphic to a compact surface \(\Sigma\) and whose boundary is \(L\) for any \(\theta\in S^1\). The oriented link \(L\) is called the binding and the compact surface \(\Sigma\) is the page of the open book \((L,\pi)\). An open book decomposition \((L,\pi)\) of \(M\) with page \(\Sigma\) may be viewed as a pair of the surface \(\Sigma\) and a diffeomorphism \(\varphi\) of \(\Sigma\) relative to the boundary, called a monodromy of the open book, because \(M\setminus L\) is diffeomorphic to the interior of a mapping torus \([0,1]\times\Sigma/((1,x)\sim(0,\varphi(x))\). The pair \((\Sigma,\varphi)\) is called an abstract open book decomposition of \(M\). Conversely, for any abstract open book decomposition \((\Sigma,\varphi)\) of \(M\) there exists an open book decomposition \((L,\pi)\) of \(M\). A \(2\)-plane field \(\xi\) on an oriented 3-manifold \(M\) is called an oriented contact structure if there exists a 1-form \(\alpha\) such that \(\xi=\ker\alpha\) and \(\alpha\wedge d\alpha>0\) with respect to the orientation of \(M\). The pair \((M,\xi)\) is called a contact manifold. A 2-form \(\omega\) on a 4-manifold \(X\) is a symplectic structure if \(\omega\) is closed and nondegenerate. The pair \((X,\omega)\) is called a symplectic manifold. Two symplectic manifolds \((X,\omega)\) and \((X',\omega')\) are symplectic deformation equivalent if there exists a diffeomorphism \(F:X\to X'\) such that \(F^*(\omega')\) can be connected to \(\omega\) by a smooth 1-parameter family of symplectic structures. A symplectic filling of \((M,\xi)\) is a compact symplectic 4-manifold \((X,\omega)\) such that \(\partial W=M\) as oriented manifolds and \(\omega_{|\xi}>0\). A Stein filling of \((M,\xi)\) is a complex surface \((X,J)\) with a proper plurisubharmonic function \(\Phi:X\to[0,\infty)\) such that for a regular value \(t\), the 3-manifold \(M_t=\Phi^{-1}(t)\) with the 2-plane field of complex tangencies \(T M_t\cap JTM_t\) is contactomorphic to \((M,\xi)\). A contact structure \(\xi\) on \(M\) is said to be symplectically fillable if \((M,\xi)\) admits a symplectic filling, and is Stein fillable if \((M,\xi)\) admits Stein filling. A contact structure \(\xi\) on \(M\) is supported by an open book decomposition \((L,\pi)\) if there exists a contact form \(\alpha\) for \(\xi\) such that \(d\alpha\) is a positive volume form on each page \(\Sigma_\theta\) of the open book and \(\alpha>0\) on the binding \(L\). A 4-manifold \(X\) is called of Mazur type if it is contractible and admits a handle decomposition consisting of one \(0\)-handle, one 1-handle, and one 2-handle, and the boundary \(\partial X\) is not diffeomorphic to \(S^3\). In this paper, the author studies Stein fillings of homology 3-sphere and gives a new family of contact 3-manifolds each of which admits a unique Stein filling up to symplectic deformation. By using combinatorial techniques of mapping class groups, it is proven that if \(M\) is an integral homology 3-sphere and a contact structure \(\xi\) on \(M\) is Stein fillable and supported by an open book decomposition of \(M\) with page \(\Sigma_{0,4}\), then the contact 3-manifold \((M,\xi)\) admits a unique Stein filling up to symplectic deformation. Additionally, the author shows that this Stein filling is diffeomorphic to either the 4-disk \(D^4\) or a Mazur type manifold.