Connected sum at infinity and 4-manifolds
arXiv:1304.8097 · doi:10.2140/agt.2014.14.3281
Abstract
We study connected sum at infinity on smooth, open manifolds. This operation requires a choice of proper ray in each manifold summand. In favorable circumstances, the connected sum at infinity operation is independent of ray choices. For each m at least 3, we construct an infinite family of pairs of m-manifolds on which the connected sum at infinity operation yields distinct manifolds for certain ray choices. We use cohomology algebras at infinity to distinguish these manifolds.
17 pages, 12 figures