Daniel Ruberman : Periodic-end Dirac operators and Seiberg-Witten theory (Dec 1, 2009 4:25 PM)

We study the Seiberg-Witten equations on a 4-manifold X with the homology of S1 x S3. The count of such solutions, called the Seiberg-Witten invariant, depends on choices of Riemannian metric and perturbation of the equations to make a smooth moduli space. A similar issue is resolved in dimension 3 by relating the jumps in the Seiberg-Witten invariant to the spectral flow of the Dirac operator. In dimension 4, we use Taubes' theory of periodic-end operators to relate the jumps in the Seiberg-Witten invariant to the index theory of the Dirac operator on the infinite cyclic cover of X. This circle of ideas has applications to classification of smooth manifolds homeomorphic to S1 x S3, to questions about positive scalar curvature, and to homology cobordisms. This is joint work with Tomasz Mrowka and Nikolai Saveliev.

• Category: Geometry and Topology
• Duration: 01:34:52
• Date:  December 1, 2009 at 4:25 PM
• Views: 111
• Tags:   seminar, Geometry/topology Seminar