Monopole Maps and L² -cohomology

The theme of this book is to establish a link between gauge theory and L²-cohomology theory. Although both theories focus on differential topology, they have been developed rather independently. One of the main reasons lies in the differing characteristics of these theories. This book introduces an integrated theory that bridges these subjects. One goal of the book is to propose differential-topological conjectures that are covering versions of the so-called 10/8-theorem. We include various pieces of evidence to support them. This book is almost self-contained and is accessible not only to graduate students in differential geometry but also to both the experts in L²-cohomology theory and gauge theory. This unique and fundamental book contains numerous unsolved problems, suggesting future directions of topology of smooth 4-manifolds by using various analytic methods.