No label defined (Q4249154)

The authors study certain \(h\)-cobordisms between smooth closed simply-connected indefinite 4-manifolds, and their effect on the Seiberg-Witten invariants of the underlying 4-manifolds. Due to the special nature of the \(h\)-cobordisms studied here, this paper is just a small step towards understanding the general case. The authors' first observation is that \(h\)-cobordisms of type 0 don't change Seiberg-Witten invariants: Proposition. If \(W\) is an elementary \(h\)-cobordism of type 0 between smooth closed oriented simply-connected indefinite 4-manifolds \(X_0\) and \(X_1\), then for all characteristic elements \(L\in H^2(X_1,\mathbb{Z})\), \(L\equiv w_2(TX)\pmod 2\), one has \(SW_{X_0} (j^* (L))= SW_{X_1}(L)\), where \(j^*\) is induced by the \(h\)-cobordism. (It is understood that in the \(b^+_2(X_1)=1\) case the Seiberg-Witten invariants of \(X_0\) and \(X_1\) are computed in corresponding chambers, where the correspondence is given by \(j^*)\). It follows that the first interesting case is \(k=1\). In this case the authors prove the following Theorem. Suppose that \(W\) is an elementary \(h\)-cobordism of type 1 between smooth closed oriented simply-connected indefinite 4-manifolds \(X_0\) and \(X_1\). Then for all characteristic elements \(L\) of \(X\), with \(L^2> 2e(X_1) +3\text{sign}(X)\), (i.e. the Seiberg-Witten moduli space corresponding to \(L\) is positive dimensional), one has \(SW_{X_0} (j^*(L)) =SW_{X_1} (L)\), where \(j^*\) is induced by the \(h\)-cobordism. It is understood that in the \(b^+_2 (X_1)=1\) case the Seiberg-Witten invariants of \(X_0\) and \(X_1\) are computed in corresponding chambers, where the correspondence is given by \(j^*\). A smooth closed simply-connected 4-manifold \(X\) is called to have Seiberg-Witten simple type if for every characteristic element \(L\) of \(X\) with \(L^2> 2e(X)+ 3\text{sign}(X)\), one has \(SW_X(L)=0\). It is one of the most interesting questions in smooth 4-manifold theory whether there are smooth closed simply-connected 4-manifolds with \(b^+_2>1\) that don't have Seiberg-Witten simple type. Proposition and Theorem give the following Corollary. Suppose \(X_0\) is a simple-connected smooth closed indefinite 4-manifold with \(b^+_2(X_0)>1\), and \(X_0\) has Seiberg-Witten simple type. If \(X_1\) can be connected to \(X_0\) by a sequence of elementary \(h\)-cobordisms of type 0 and 1, then \(X_1\) also has Seiberg-Witten simple type. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0906.00020].