Positive 2-spheres in 4-manifolds of signature \((1,n)\) (Q689741)

Let \(M\) be a closed oriented smooth 4-manifold of signature \((1,n)\), \(n>0\), and \(\xi\) an integral homology class of \(M\) with \(\xi^ 2>0\). We show that, if \(\xi\) is represented by a smoothly embedded 2-sphere, then either (i) \({1\over 2}\xi\) is a base of a basis which diagonalizes the intersection form \(q_ M\) of \(M\), or (ii) \(\xi\) and some \(\eta\) \((\xi\cdot\eta=1\), \(\eta^ 2=0)\) form a basis of a subspace of \(q_ M\) with orthogonal complement diagonalized. This result is an application of Donaldson's theorem on the standardness of definite intersection forms of smooth 4-manifolds, but implies it in turn. As a corollary, we show that the ``positive'' homology classes of rational surfaces with \(b^ -_ 2\leq 9\) which can be represented by smooth 2-spheres are up to diffeomorphism represented by smooth rational curves. Furthermore, we not only extend part of the corollary to the case \(b^ -_ 2>9\), but also give an algorithm to see whether or not a given \(\xi\) (\(\xi^ 2>0\)) of a rational surface with \(2\leq b^ -_ 2\leq 9\) is represented by a smoothly embedded 2-sphere.