University of Arkansas Topology Seminar: 2/11/2021

Speaker: Nickolas Castro

Title: Relative group trisections and 4-manifolds with boundary

A trisection of a smooth, compact, 4–manifold is a decomposition into three diffeomorphic pieces, where the complexity of the 4–manifold lies in how these pieces are attached to one another. In the case of a manifold with boundary, a relative trisection induces a structure on the boundary known as an open book decomposition. In this talk, we will provide a correspondence between relative trisections of 4–manifolds with boundary and commutative cubes of groups, known as relative group trisections. The interesting feature of a (relative) group trisection is that it encodes all of the smooth topology of the 4–manifold. This extends group trisections of closed 4–manifolds, due to work of Abrams, Gay, and Kirby, to the relative setting. The key difference in the relative case is that a relative group trisection also encapsulate the data of the induced open book decomposition. We will also discuss open questions relating to relative group trisections.



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