[Binghamton Geometry/Topology Seminar] Oleg Lazarev (Columbia U)

[jwilliams at math.binghamton.edu]

Contact manifolds with flexible fillings

Abstract: In this talk, I will show that all flexible Weinstein fillings
of a given contact manifold have isomorphic integral cohomology. As an
application, in dimension at least 5 any almost contact class that has an
almost Weinstein filling has infinitely many exotic contact structures.
Using similar methods, I will also construct an infinite family of almost
symplectomorphic Weinstein domains whose contact boundaries are not
contactomorphic. These results are proven by studying Reeb chords of loose
Legendrians and positive symplectic homology.

Thursday, Sept 28, 2:50pm, WH-100E