A solution to a conjecture of Zeeman (Q806110)

Any loop \(\gamma \in S^ 3\) bounds a PL-disk in the 4-ball \(B^ 4\), namely the cone on \(\gamma\). Zeeman conjectured that there exists some contractible 4-manifold W and a loop \(\gamma\subset \partial W\) such that \(\gamma\) cannot bound an imbedded PL-disk in W. In this paper Zeeman's conjecture is proved by constructing such a pair (W,\(\gamma\)). The proof that \(\gamma\) does not bound a PL-disk in W is Theorem 2, from the author's paper ``A fake compact contractible 4-manifold'' [J. Differ. Geom. 33, No.2, 335-356 (1991)]. The main step is the construction of an associated homotopy K3-surface M containing the Brieskorn homology 3- sphere \(\Sigma\) (2,3,7) and a self-diffeomorphism f: \(\partial W\to \partial W\) which extends to a self-homeomorphism of W such that either: (i) M has all its Donaldson polynomial invariants trivial, or (ii) there is no self-diffeomorphism of W extending f. \textit{R. Fintushel} and \textit{R. J. Stern} proved that (i) could not hold [J. Differ. Geom. 34, No.1, 255-265 (1991)], and therefore (ii) must hold, as required for Theorem 2.