Donaldson's theorem
In mathematics, and especially differential topology and gauge theory, Donaldson's theorem states that a definite intersection form of a compact, oriented, simply connected, smooth manifold of dimension 4 is diagonalisable. If the intersection form is positive (negative) definite, it can be diagonalized to the identity matrix (negative identity matrix) over the integers.
History[]
The theorem was proved by Simon Donaldson. This was a contribution cited for his Fields medal in 1986.
Idea of proof[]
Donaldson's proof utilizes the moduli space of solutions to the anti-self-duality equations on a principal -bundle over the four-manifold . By the Atiyah–Singer index theorem, the dimension of the moduli space is given by
where , is the first Betti number of and is the dimension of the positive-definite subspace of with respect to the intersection form. When is simply-connected with definite intersection form, possibly after changing orientation, one always has and . Thus taking any principal -bundle with , one obtains a moduli space of dimension five.
This moduli space is non-compact and generically smooth, with singularities occurring only at the points corresponding to reducible connections, of which there are exactly many.[1] Results of Clifford Taubes and Karen Uhlenbeck show that whilst is non-compact, its structure at infinity can be readily described.[2][3][4] Namely, there is an open subset of , say , such that for sufficiently small choices of parameter , there is a diffeomorphism
- .
The work of Taubes and Uhlenbeck essentially concerns constructing sequences of ASD connections on the four-manifold with curvature becoming infinitely concentrated at any given single point . For each such point, in the limit one obtains a unique singular ASD connection, which becomes a well-defined smooth ASD connection at that point using Uhlenbeck's removable singularity theorem.[4][1]
Donaldson observed that the singular points in the interior of corresponding to reducible connections could also be described: they looked like cones over the complex projective plane , with its orientation reversed.
It is thus possible to compactify the moduli space as follows: First, cut off each cone at a reducible singularity and glue in a copy of . Secondly, glue in a copy of itself at infinity. The resulting space is a cobordism between and a disjoint union of copies of with its orientation reversed. The intersection form of a four-manifold is a cobordism invariant up to isomorphism of quadratic forms, from which one concludes the intersection form of is diagonalisable.
Extensions[]
Michael Freedman had previously shown that any unimodular symmetric bilinear form is realized as the intersection form of some closed, oriented four-manifold. Combining this result with the and Donaldson's theorem, several interesting results can be seen:
1) Any non-diagonalizable intersection form gives rise to a four-dimensional topological manifold with no differentiable structure (so cannot be smoothed).
2) Two smooth simply-connected 4-manifolds are homeomorphic, if and only if, their intersection forms have the same rank, signature, and parity.
See also[]
- Unimodular lattice
- Donaldson theory
- Yang–Mills equations
- Rokhlin's theorem
Notes[]
- ^ a b Donaldson, S. K. (1983). An application of gauge theory to four-dimensional topology. Journal of Differential Geometry, 18(2), 279-315.
- ^ Taubes, C. H. (1982). Self-dual Yang–Mills connections on non-self-dual 4-manifolds. Journal of Differential Geometry, 17(1), 139-170.
- ^ Uhlenbeck, K. K. (1982). Connections with L p bounds on curvature. Communications in Mathematical Physics, 83(1), 31-42.
- ^ a b Uhlenbeck, K. K. (1982). Removable singularities in Yang–Mills fields. Communications in Mathematical Physics, 83(1), 11-29.
References[]
- Donaldson, S. K. (1983), "An application of gauge theory to four-dimensional topology", Journal of Differential Geometry, 18 (2): 279–315, doi:10.4310/jdg/1214437665, MR 0710056, Zbl 0507.57010
- Donaldson, S. K.; Kronheimer, P. B. (1990), The Geometry of Four-Manifolds, Oxford Mathematical Monographs, ISBN 0-19-850269-9
- Freed, D. S.; Uhlenbeck, K. (1984), Instantons and Four-Manifolds, Springer
- Freedman, M.; Quinn, F. (1990), Topology of 4-Manifolds, Princeton University Press
- Scorpan, A. (2005), The Wild World of 4-Manifolds, American Mathematical Society
- Differential topology
- Theorems in topology
- Quadratic forms