$4$-manifolds with boundary and fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}$

Abstract

We classify topological $4$-manifolds with boundary and fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}$, under some assumptions on the boundary. We apply this to classify surfaces in simply-connected $4$-manifolds with $S^3$ boundary, where the fundamental group of the surface complement is $\mathbb{Z}$. We then compare these homeomorphism classifications with the smooth setting. For manifolds, we show that every Hermitian form over $\mathbb{Z}[t^{\pm 1}]$ arises as the equivariant intersection form of a pair of exotic smooth 4-manifolds with boundary and fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}$. For surfaces we have a similar result, and in particular we show that every $2$-handlebody with $S^3$ boundary contains a pair of exotic discs.

v1: 61 pages, 13 figures. v2 Implements suggestions by an anonymous referee. New Section 5.7. 64 pages, 14 figures. To appear in Comment. Math. Helv