On elliptic surfaces which have no 1-handles

Abstract

Gompf conjectured that the elliptic surface $E(n)_{p,q}$ has no handle decomposition without 1- and 3-handles. We prove that each of the elliptic surfaces $E(n)_{5,6}$, $E(n)_{6,7}$, $E(n)_{7,8}$ and $E(n)_{8,9}$ has a handle decomposition without 1-handles for $n\geq4$, $n\geq 5$, $n\geq 9$ and $n\geq 24$, respectively.