Intersection forms of non-spin four manifolds (Q5929687)

One of the major unsolved conjectures for 4-manifolds is the 11/8 conjecture. It is known that any indefinite intersection form must be of the form \(aE_8 \oplus bH,\) where \(E_8\) is the unique irreducible negative definite quadratic form of rank eight and \(H\) is the hyperbolic form. Rokhlin's theorem asserts that for a smooth spin 4-manifold \(a=2a'\) must be even. The 11/8 conjecture claims that if \(A = 2a'E_8 \oplus bH\) is the intersection form of a smooth spin 4-manifold, then \(b \geq 3|a'|.\) This is called the 11/8 conjecture since it is equivalent to asserting that \(b_2/|sign(M)|\geq 11/8.\) Equality holds in the case of the \(K3\) surface. \textit{T. Furuta} [Math. Res. Lett. 8, No. 3, 279-291 (2001)] has proved a weaker form of the conjecture: Let \(M\) be a smooth spin 4-manifold with both \(b^+,b^-\) nonzero. If \(A = 2a'E_8\oplus bH\) is the intersection form of such a spin 4-manifold, then \(b \geq 2|a'|+1.\) In this paper a covering argument and Furuta's result are used to give a result for non-spin 4-manifolds: Let \(M\) be a smooth, non-spin 4-manifold with even intersection form \(A = aE_8 \oplus bH.\) Suppose the 2-primary torsion part of \(H_1(M)\) is isomorphic to \(\mathbf Z_{2^i}\) for some \(i\) or \(\mathbf Z_2 \oplus \mathbf Z_2;\) then \(b \geq |a|.\) The authors conjecture that the hypothesis on \(H_1(M)\) is not necessary: this conjecture is called the 10/8 conjecture for non-spin manifolds and is sharp in the sense that the \(b\)-fold connected sum of the Enriques surface has intersection form \(bE_8\oplus bH.\) The authors also give an application of results of \textit{J. Bryan} [Seiberg-Witten theory and \(\mathbb{Z}/2^p\) actions of spin 4-manifolds, Math. Res. Lett. 5, No. 1-2, 165-183 (1998; Zbl 1002.57065)] which improves Furuta's results under additional hypotheses to get \(b > |a|\) under a related hypothesis. They note that the 10/8 conjecture, Donaldson's result on definite intersection forms and Furuta's theorem would give a complete classification of the intersection forms of smooth oriented 4-manifolds: Either \(A = n(1)\oplus m(-1), n\geq 0, m \geq 0, \) if \(A\) is of odd type; or \(A = aE_8 \oplus bH, b \geq |a|\) if \(A\) is of even type. \textit{C. Bohr} [arKiv:math.GT/002151,Feb. 2000] has independently announced many of the same results as the authors give.