A Convex decomposition theorem for four-manifolds

Abstract

We show that every smooth closed oriented four-manifold admits a decomposition into two co- dimension zero submanifolds with common boundary. Each of these submanifolds carries a structure of a symplectic manifold with pseudo-convex boundary. This imply, in particular, that every smooth closed simply-connected four-manifold is a Stein domain in the the complement of a certain contractible 2-complex.