Stein surfaces as open subsets of \(\mathbb C^2\) (Q862192)

In this interesting paper, the author discusses several topics concerning the Stein manifold structures on 4-manifolds by using the language of the handlebody theory. Thus, he shows that an open subset \(U\) of a complex surface \(X\) can be topologically perturbed to yield an open subset of \(X\) whose inherited complex structure is Stein iff \(U\) is homeomorphic to the interior of a handlebody whose handles all have index \(\leq 2\). However, the differential topology is altered and frequently there are uncountably many possibilities for the resulting diffeomorphism type of \(U\). Several results which will be presented in a forthcoming paper are also described.