Abhishek Mallick (Dartmouth College) - Instanton Floer homology, involutions, and exotica

Speaker: Abhishek Mallick

Abstract: Instanton Floer homology together with the Donaldson-invariant has played a central role in understanding many exotic phenomena in 4-manifold topology. In this talk, I will discuss some recent applications of instanton Floer homology to studying exotica via the TQFT-like structures within the theory together with actions of symmetry. In particular, we will discuss exotic smooth structures and exotic disks surviving stabilization by projective planes. This is based on a joint work with Alfieri, Dai, and Taniguchi and an ongoing work with Dai and Taniguchi.