Trisections of non-orientable 4-manifolds

Abstract

We study trisections of smooth, compact non-orientable 4-manifolds, and introduce trisections of non-orientable 4-manifolds with boundary. In particular, we prove a non-orientable analogue of a classical theorem of Laudenbach-Po\'enaru. As a consequence, trisection diagrams and Kirby diagrams of closed non-orientable 4-manifolds exist. We discuss how the theory of trisections may be adapted to the setting of non-orientable 4-manifolds with many examples.