Exotic R4

Short description: A smooth 4-manifold homeomorphic yet not diffeomorphic to euclidean space

In mathematics, an exotic [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4 }[/math] is a differentiable manifold that is homeomorphic (i.e. shape preserving) but not diffeomorphic (i.e. non smooth) to the Euclidean space [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4. }[/math] The first examples were found in 1982 by Michael Freedman and others, by using the contrast between Freedman's theorems about topological 4-manifolds, and Simon Donaldson's theorems about smooth 4-manifolds. There is a continuum of non-diffeomorphic differentiable structures of [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4, }[/math] as was shown first by Clifford Taubes.

Prior to this construction, non-diffeomorphic smooth structures on spheres – exotic spheres – were already known to exist, although the question of the existence of such structures for the particular case of the 4-sphere remained open (and still remains open as of 2023). For any positive integer n other than 4, there are no exotic smooth structures on [math]\displaystyle{ \R^n; }[/math] in other words, if n ≠ 4 then any smooth manifold homeomorphic to [math]\displaystyle{ \R^n }[/math] is diffeomorphic to [math]\displaystyle{ \R^n. }[/math]

Small exotic R⁴s

An exotic [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4 }[/math] is called small if it can be smoothly embedded as an open subset of the standard [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4. }[/math]

Small exotic [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4 }[/math] can be constructed by starting with a non-trivial smooth 5-dimensional h-cobordism (which exists by Donaldson's proof that the h-cobordism theorem fails in this dimension) and using Freedman's theorem that the topological h-cobordism theorem holds in this dimension.

Large exotic R⁴s

An exotic [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4 }[/math] is called large if it cannot be smoothly embedded as an open subset of the standard [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4. }[/math]

Examples of large exotic [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4 }[/math] can be constructed using the fact that compact 4-manifolds can often be split as a topological sum (by Freedman's work), but cannot be split as a smooth sum (by Donaldson's work).

Michael Hartley Freedman and Laurence R. Taylor (1986) showed that there is a maximal exotic [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4, }[/math] into which all other [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4 }[/math] can be smoothly embedded as open subsets.

Related exotic structures

Casson handles are homeomorphic to [math]\displaystyle{ \mathbb{D}^2 \times \R^2 }[/math] by Freedman's theorem (where [math]\displaystyle{ \mathbb{D}^2 }[/math] is the closed unit disc) but it follows from Donaldson's theorem that they are not all diffeomorphic to [math]\displaystyle{ \mathbb{D}^2 \times \R^2. }[/math] In other words, some Casson handles are exotic [math]\displaystyle{ \mathbb{D}^2 \times \R^2. }[/math]

It is not known (as of 2022) whether or not there are any exotic 4-spheres; such an exotic 4-sphere would be a counterexample to the smooth generalized Poincaré conjecture in dimension 4. Some plausible candidates are given by Gluck twists.

See also

• Akbulut cork - tool used to construct exotic [math]\displaystyle{ \R^4 }[/math]'s from classes in [math]\displaystyle{ H^3(S^3,\mathbb{R}) }[/math]
• Atlas (topology)

References

• Freedman, Michael H.; Quinn, Frank (1990). Topology of 4-manifolds. Princeton Mathematical Series. 39. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08577-3. https://archive.org/details/topologyof4manif0000free. 
• Freedman, Michael H.; Taylor, Laurence R. (1986). "A universal smoothing of four-space". Journal of Differential Geometry 24 (1): 69–78. doi:10.4310/jdg/1214440258. ISSN 0022-040X. https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.jdg/1214440258. 
• Kirby, Robion C. (1989). The topology of 4-manifolds. Lecture Notes in Mathematics. 1374. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-51148-2. 
• Scorpan, Alexandru (2005). The wild world of 4-manifolds. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. ISBN 978-0-8218-3749-8. 
• Stallings, John (1962). "The piecewise-linear structure of Euclidean space". Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 58 (3): 481–488. doi:10.1017/s0305004100036756. Bibcode: 1962PCPS...58..481S. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=2053736&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0305004100036756.  MR0149457
• Gompf, Robert E.; Stipsicz, András I. (1999). 4-manifolds and Kirby calculus. Graduate Studies in Mathematics. 20. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. ISBN 0-8218-0994-6. 
• Taubes, Clifford Henry (1987). "Gauge theory on asymptotically periodic 4-manifolds". Journal of Differential Geometry 25 (3): 363–430. doi:10.4310/jdg/1214440981. Template:Project Euclid. http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.jdg/1214440981.