Second-order obstruction conjecture for pulling apart four 2-spheres

Let XX be a 44-manifold and let A:⨿4S2XA:\amalg^4 S^2\to X be a quadruple of immersed 22-spheres. Suppose that AA admits an order 22 non-repeating Whitney tower W\mathcal{W}, and let λ2(A):=λ2(W)\lambda_2(A):=\lambda_2(\mathcal{W}) be the order-22 intersection invariant, valued in Λ2(π,4)/INT2(A)\Lambda_2(\pi,4)/\mathrm{INT}_2(A). Second-order obstruction conjecture. The spheres in AA can be pulled apart if and only if

λ2(A):=λ2(W)\lambda_2(A):=\lambda_2(\mathcal{W})

vanishes in Λ2(π,4)/INT2(A)\Lambda_2(\pi,4)/\mathrm{INT}_2(A). Necessary and sufficient algebraic conditions for arbitrary quadruples are not currently known; this conjecture specifies the desired criterion once the order-22 intersection relations are formulated.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Rob Schneiderman and Peter Teichner, “Pulling Apart 2-spheres in 4-manifolds”, arXiv:1210.5534 (2015).

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