Geometry/Dynamical Systems Seminar

There is a way to specify any smooth, closed oriented four-manifold using a surface decorated with simple closed curves, something I call a surface diagram. In this talk I will describe three moves on these objects, two of which are reminiscent of Heegaard diagrams for three-manifolds. These may form part of a uniqueness theorem for such diagrams that is likely to be useful for understanding Floer theories for non-symplectic four-manifolds.