Picture Camp

Abstract

‘Picture Camp’ provides a review of Kirby handle calculus for describing 4-manifolds via decorated link diagrams, as well as techniques for how to simplify such diagrams. This chapter applies these techniques to describe gropes and towers, from the previous chapter, using Kirby diagrams. In addition to decorated links, the diagrams include the information of framings for the attaching and tip regions. In particular, it is shown how to combine two diagrams together when the corresponding spaces are identified along their attaching and tip regions. The chapter also relates the combinatorics of gropes and towers to the combinatorics of the associated link diagrams.