UC Berkeley

Rochlin proved that a closed 4-dimensional connected smooth oriented manifold $X^4$ with vanishing second Stiefel-Whitney class has signature $\sigma(X)$ divisible by 16. This was generalized by Kervaire and Milnor to the statement that if $\xi \in H_2(X;\mathbb{Z})$ is an integral lift of an element in $H_2(X; \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})$ that is dual to $w_2(X)$, and if $\xi$ can be represented by an embedded sphere in $X$, then the self-intersection number $\xi^2$ is divisible by 16. This was subsequently generalized further by Rochlin and various alternative proofs of this result where given by Freedman and Kirby, Matsumoto, and Kirby.

We give further generalizations of this result concerning 4-manifolds with boundary. Given a smooth compact orientable four manifold $X^4$ with integral homology sphere boundary and a connected orientable characteristic surface with connected boundary $F^2$ properly embedded in $X$, we prove a theorem relating the Arf invariant of $\partial F$, and the Arf invariant of $F$, and the Rochlin invariant of $\partial X$. We then proceed to generalize this result to the case where $X$ is a topological compact orientable 4-manifold (which brings in the Kirby-Siebenmann invariant), $\partial F$ is not connected (which brings in the condition of being proper as a link), $F$ is not orientable (which brings in Brown invariants), and finally, where $\partial X$ is an arbitrary 3-manifold (which brings in pin structures). The final result gives a ``combinatorial'' description of the Kirby-Siebenmann invariant of a compact orientable 4-manifold with nonempty boundary.