Universal Quadratic Forms and Untwisting Whitney Towers

Abstract

The first part of this paper completes the classification of Whitney towers in the 4-ball that was started in three related papers. We provide an algebraic framework allowing the computations of the graded groups associated to geometric filtrations of classical link concordance by order n (twisted) Whitney towers in the 4-ball. Higher-order Sato-Levine invariants and higher-order Arf invariants are defined and shown to be the obstructions to framing a twisted Whitney tower. In the second part of this paper, a general theory of quadratic forms is developed and then specialized from the non-commutative to the commutative to finally, the symmetric settings. The intersection invariant for twisted Whitney towers is shown to be the universal symmetric refinement of the framed intersection invariant. UPDATE: The results of the first six sections of this paper have been subsumed into the paper "Whitney tower concordance of classical links."

The results of the first six sections of this paper have been subsumed into the paper arXiv:1207.0109 "Whitney tower concordance of classical links." References have been updated