Existence of diffeomorphic but not 1-isotopic ribbon surfaces
Existence of diffeomorphic but not 1-isotopic ribbon surfaces
A ribbon surface is a ribbon surface carried as a -dimensional sub--handlebody of a -dimensional handlebody. A 1-isotopy is a -deformation between ribbon surfaces, allowing embedded -deformations of the surface together with ambient -deformations of the handlebody. The ribbon-surface conjecture. There exist ribbon surfaces that are diffeomorphic but not -isotopic. This would show that diffeomorphism of ribbon surfaces can differ from the equivalence relation generated by the prescribed surface and ambient handlebody deformations; the source provides no resolution.
Sources & referencesView supporting material
Primary source
Anna Beliakova, Marco De Renzi and Quentin Faes, “Quantum Invariants of Ribbon Surfaces in 4-Dimensional 2-Handlebodies”, arXiv:2512.15395 (2025).
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