Lefschetz pencils, branched covers and symplectic invariants
Abstract
Description
This set of lectures aims to give an overview of Donaldson's theory of linear systems on symplectic manifolds and the algebraic and geometric invariants to which they give rise. After collecting some of the relevant background, we discuss topological, algebraic and symplectic viewpoints on Lefschetz pencils and branched covers of the projective plane. The later lectures discuss invariants obtained by combining this theory with pseudo-holomorphic curve methods.
44 pages; lectures given at the CIME summer school "Symplectic 4-manifolds and algebraic surfaces", Cetraro (Italy), September 2-10, 2003
44 pages; lectures given at the CIME summer school "Symplectic 4-manifolds and algebraic surfaces", Cetraro (Italy), September 2-10, 2003