Rohlin's invariant and gauge theory III. Homology \(4\)--tori (Q813163)

The paper is part of a broader program for relating gauge-theoretic invariants of simple 4-manifolds to Rohlin-type invariants. Let \(X\) be a closed smooth spin 4-manifold which has the integral homology of the 4-torus. Assume that there exists a primitive cohomology class \(\alpha \in H^1(X ; \mathbb Z)\) such that the infinite cyclic covering \(\widetilde{X}_\alpha\) corresponding to \(\alpha\) has the integral homology of the 3-torus. Then \(X\) is called a \(\mathbb Z [\mathbb Z]\)-homology 4-torus. The intersection form on the second homology 4-torus \(X\) is always isomorphic to the sum of three copies of the hyperbolic 2-form, but the cup product on the first cohomology of \(X\) can vary. The authors discuss two invariants of \(\mathbb Z[\mathbb Z]\)-homology 4-tori. The first one is a Rohlin-type invariant \(\overline{\rho} (X, \alpha)\). It is defined in terms of an oriented 3-manifold \(M\) embedded in \(X\) that is the Poincaré dual of \(\alpha\). Each spin structure on \(X\) induces one on \(M\) thus giving rise to a corresponding Rohlin invariant. The sum of these Rohlin invariants over all the spin structures on \(M\) induced from \(X\) is called \(\overline{\rho}(X, \alpha)\). The paper shows that this is a well defined invariant with values in \(\mathbb Z / 2 \mathbb Z\). It extends the classical Rohlin invariant of \(\mathbb Z [\mathbb Z]\)-homology \(S^1 \times S^3\). The other invariant \(\overline{\lambda} (X, P)\) comes from gauge theory. It equals one quarter the signed count of projectively flat (or equivalently, projective anti-self-dual) connections on an admissible \(U(2)\)-bundle \(P\) over \(X\). This invariant can be viewed as either a degree-zero Donaldson polynomial of \(X\), or a four-dimensional analogue of the Casson invariant. Yet another way to view \(\overline{\lambda} (X, P)\) is as an extension of the Furuta-Ohta invariant for \(\mathbb Z[\mathbb Z]\)-homology \(S^1 \times S^3\). The main result is: for any choice of a primitive class class \(\alpha \in H^1(X, \mathbb Z)\), such that \(\widetilde{X}_\alpha\) has the integral homology of the 3-torus, and for any admisible \(U(2)\)-bundle \(P\) over \(X\), \[ \overline{\rho}(X, \alpha) \equiv \overline{\lambda}(X, P) \equiv det X \;(mod \;2) \] where \(det X\) is defined as \((\alpha_1 \cup \alpha_2 \cup \alpha_3 \cup \alpha_4 )[X] \;(mod \;2)\), for any choice of basis \(\{ \alpha_j \}\) of \(H^1(X; \mathbb Z_ 2)\). The authors recall that the invariants \(\overline{\rho}(X, \alpha)\), \(\overline{\lambda}(X, P)\) are independent on the choices of \(\alpha\) and \(P\).