Exotic surfaces

Abstract

We construct the first exotic $\mathbb C \mathbb P^2 \# 4 \overline{\mathbb C \mathbb P^2}$ by means of rational blowdowns. Similarly, we construct the first exotic $3\mathbb C \mathbb P^2 \# b^- \overline{\mathbb C \mathbb P^2}$ for $b^-=9,8,7$ . All of them are minimal and symplectic, as they are produced from projective surfaces $W$ with Wahl singularities, and $K_W$ big and nef. In more generality, we elaborate on the problem of finding exotic $(2\chi(\mathcal{O}_W)-1) \mathbb C \mathbb P^2 \# (10\chi(\mathcal{O}_W)-K^2_W-1) \overline{\mathbb C \mathbb P^2}$ from these Koll\'ar--Shepherd-Barron--Alexeev surfaces $W$, obtaining explicit geometric obstructions.