Homology classes of negative square and embedded surfaces in 4-manifolds

M. J. D. Hamilton

Published 2013-01-16, updated 2013-09-26Version 2

Let X be a simply-connected closed oriented 4-manifold and A an embedded surface of genus g and negative self-intersection -N. We show that for fixed genus g there is an upper bound on N if the homology class of A is divisible or characteristic. In particular, for genus zero, there is a lower bound on the self-intersection of embedded spheres in these kinds of homology classes. This question is related to a problem from the Kirby list.