BMT Invariants of Surfaces and 4-Manifolds

Abstract

In this paper we present the Braid Monodromy Type (BMT) of curves and surfaces; past, present and future. The BMT is an invariant that can distinguish between non-isotopic curves; between different families of surfaces of general type; between connected components of moduli space of surfaces and between non symplectmorphic 4-manifolds. BMT is a finer invariant than the Sieberg-Witten invariants. Consider 2 simply connected surfaces of general type with the same Chern classes. It is known that if they are in the same deformation class, they are diffeomorphic to each other. Are there computable invariants distinguishing between these 2 classes? The new invariant, proposed here, is located between the 2 classes. In this paper we shall introduce the new invariant, state the current results and pose an open question.