Construction of symplectic structures on 4-manifolds with a free circle action

Abstract

Let $M$ be a closed 4-manifold with a free circle action. If the orbit manifold $N^3$ satisfies an appropriate fibering condition, then we show how to represent a cone in $H^2(M;\R)$ by symplectic forms. This generalizes earlier constructions by Thurston, Bouyakoub and Fern\'andez-Gray-Morgan. In the case that $M$ is the product 4-manifold $S^1\times N$ our construction complements the results of \cite{FV08} (arXiv:0805:1234 [math.GT]) and allows us to completely determine the symplectic cone of such 4-manifolds. The content of this paper partly overlaps with the content of the unpublished preprint "Symplectic 4-manifolds with a free circle action" (arXiv:0801.1313 [math.GT]).