We develop the Gompf fiber connected sum operation for symplectic orbifolds. We use it to construct a symplectic 4-orbifold with $b_1=0$ and containing symplectic surfaces of genus 1 and 2 that are disjoint and span the rational homology. This is used in turn to construct a K-contact Smale-Barden manifold with specified 2-homology that satisfies the known topological constraints with sharper estimates than the examples constructed previously. The manifold can be chosen spin or non-spin.
Smale-Barden manifolds are simply-connected closed 5-manifolds. It is an important and difficult question to decide when a Smale-Barden manifold admits a Sasakian or a K-contact structure. The known constructions of Sasakian and K-contact structures are obtained mainly by two techniques. These are either links (Boyer and Galicki), or semi-regular Seifert fibrations over smooth orbifolds (Kollar). Recently, the second named author of this article started the systematic development of quasi-regular Seifert fibrations, that is, over orbifolds which are not necessarily smooth. The present work is devoted to several applications of this theory. First, we develop constructions of a Smale-Barden manifold admitting a quasi-regular Sasakian structure but not a semi-regular K-contact structure. Second, we determine all Smale-Barden manifolds that admit a null Sasakian structure. Finally, we show a counterexample in the realm of cyclic Kahler orbifolds to the algebro-geometric conjecture that claims that for an algebraic surface with $b_1=0$ and $b_2>1$ there cannot be $b_2$ smooth disjoint complex curves of genus g>0 spanning the (rational) homology.
We give the first example of a simply connected compact 5-manifold (Smale-Barden manifold) which admits a K-contact structure but does not admit any Sasakian structure, settling a long standing question of Boyer and Galicki.
Smale-Barden manifolds $M$ are classified by their second homology $H_2(M,{mathbb Z})$ and the Barden invariant $i(M)$. It is an important and dificult question to decide when $M$ admits a Sasakian structure in terms of these data. In this work we show methods of doing this. In particular we realize all $M$ with $H_2(M)={mathbb Z}^koplus(oplus_{i=1}^r{mathbb Z}_{m_i}^{2g_i})$ and $i=0,infty$, provided that $kgeq 1$, $m_igeq 2$, $g_igeq 1$, $m_i$ are pairwise coprime. Using our methods we also contribute to the problem of the existence of definite Sasakian structures on rational homology spheres. Also, we give a complete solution to the problem of the existence of Sasakian structures on rational homology spheres in the class of semi-regular Sasakian structures.
Unlike Legendrian submanifolds, the deformation problem of coisotropic submanifolds can be obstructed. Starting from this observation, we single out in the contact setting the special class of integral coisotropic submanifolds as the direct generalization of Legendrian submanifolds for what concerns deformation and moduli theory. Indeed, being integral coisotropic is proved to be a rigid condition, and moreover the integral coisotropic deformation problem is unobstructed with discrete moduli space.
We introduce and study the notion of contact dual pair adopting a line bundle approach to contact and Jacobi geometry. A contact dual pair is a pair of Jacobi morphisms defined on the same contact manifold and satisfying a certain orthogonality condition. Contact groupoids and contact reduction are the main sources of examples. Among other properties, we prove the Characteristic Leaf Correspondence Theorem for contact dual pairs which parallels the analogous result of Weinstein for symplectic dual pairs.