Knot concordance invariants from Seiberg–Witten theory and slice genus bounds in 4-manifolds

Abstract

We construct a new family of knot concordance invariants [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is a prime number. Our invariants are obtained from the equivariant Seiberg–Witten–Floer cohomology, constructed by the author and Hekmati, applied to the degree [Formula: see text] cyclic cover of [Formula: see text] branched over [Formula: see text]. In the case [Formula: see text], our invariant [Formula: see text] shares many similarities with the knot Floer homology invariant [Formula: see text] defined by Hom and Wu. Our invariants [Formula: see text] give lower bounds on the genus of any smooth, properly embedded, homologically trivial surface bounding [Formula: see text] in a definite [Formula: see text]-manifold with boundary [Formula: see text].