A characterisation of the \(n\langle1\rangle\oplus \langle3\rangle\) form and applications to rational homology spheres (Q867361)

Elkies has shown that a unimodular (negative) definite integral quadratic form \(Q\) of rank \(n\) has a characteristic vector \(w\) with \(Q(w,w) + n \geq 0\), and that \(w\) can be chosen so that the inequality is strict unless \(Q\) is diagonal. This enters geometric topology as part of the standard shortcut to a theorem of Donaldson's, that the intersection form of a closed oriented 4-manifold, if definite, is diagonal. This can be read so as to determine the definite forms which arise as intersection forms of 4-manifolds bounding the 3-sphere, and it raises the question which definite forms arise as intersection forms of 4-manifolds bounding a given rational homology sphere. In the article under review, the authors propose a conjectural generalisation of Elkies' result from unimodular forms to such with arbitrary determinant, and prove instances of the conjectures for forms of small rank or small determinant. They give applications to Seifert fibred rational homology spheres and the four-ball genus of Montesinos knots.