Codimension two souls and cancellation phenomena

Abstract

For each nonnegative integer we find an open (4m+9)-dimensional simply-connected manifold admitting complete nonnegatively curved metrics whose souls are non-diffeomorphic, homeomorphic, and have codimension 2. We give a diffeomorphism classification of the pairs (N, soul) when N is a nontrivial complex line bundle over the product of 7-sphere and complex projective plane: up to diffeomorphism there are precisely three such pairs, distinguished by their non-diffeomorphic souls.