On the linearity problem for mapping class groups.
We show that there exists a family of simply connected, symplectic 4-manifolds such that the (Poincaré dual of the) canonical class admits both connected and disconnected symplectic representatives. This answers a question raised by Fintushel and Stern.
We will show that for every irreducible closed 3-manifold M, other than the real projective space P³, there exists a piecewise linear map f: S → M where S is a non-orientable closed 2-manifold of Euler characteristic χ ≡ 2 (mod 3) such that for all x ∈ M, the closure of the set is a cubic graph G such that consists of 1/3(2-χ) + 2 simply connected regions, M - f(S) consists of two disjoint open 3-cells such that f(S) is the boundary of each of them, and f has some additional interesting properties....