Variants of Heegaard Floer homology ($H{F}^{-},H{F}^{\infty },H{F}^{+},\widehat{HF}$)

Use the convention that $C{F}^{-}$ is generated by $[\mathbf{x},i]$ with $i<0$, and $U[\mathbf{x},i]=[\mathbf{x},i-1]$. The chain complexes areThe last complex is generated by $[\mathbf{x},0]$. Equivalently it is $C{F}^{-}/UC{F}^{-}$ with its absolute grading shifted up by two. The short exact sequence $0\to C{F}^{-}\to C{F}^{\infty }\to C{F}^{+}\to 0$ gives the fundamental long exact sequence. For a rational homology sphere in each Spin-c structure, $H{F}^{\infty }\cong \mathbb{Z}[U,U^{-1}]$. The plus tower is ${\mathcal{T}}_d^{+}=\mathbb{Z}[U,U^{-1}]/U\mathbb{Z}[U]$, with bottom degree $d$; its corresponding minus tower is a free $\mathbb{Z}[U]$ module with top degree $d-2$.

Let ${\mathfrak{s}}_k$ on $S^1\times S^2$ have $⟨c_1({\mathfrak{s}}_k),[S^2]⟩=2k\ne 0$. The ordinary groups areA sufficiently wound genus-one diagram gives a two-generator summand whose chain differential is multiplication by $1-U^{|k|}$: the two relevant disks have opposite coherent signs and basepoint multiplicities differing by $|k|$. The map is injective over $\mathbb{Z}[U]$, so its homology is the displayed quotient. Multiplication by $U$ is invertible in the quotient, showing that minus-to-infinity is an isomorphism and that the plus and hat groups vanish. In the U-adic completion of Heegaard Floer homology, $1-U^{|k|}$ is a unit, so both completed minus and infinity groups vanish. This example shows why genus bounds for the completed-minus or plus groups must not be transferred unchanged to the ordinary minus theory.

The reduced minus and plus groups areThe connecting homomorphism of the fundamental long exact sequence induces an isomorphism $\delta :H{F}_{\mathrm{red}}^{+}\to H{F}_{\mathrm{red}}^{-}$ of degree $-1$. This follows immediately from exactness: its image is the indicated kernel, and its kernel is precisely the image quotiented out on the plus side. These groups isolate the information lost by inverting $U$.

Completing the minus chain complex in powers of $U$ replaces $\mathbb{Z}[U]$ by the formal power series ring $\mathbb{Z}[[U]]$; its homology is written ${\mathbf{HF}}^{-}$. This permits infinite sums of Heegaard Floer cobordism maps whose exponents tend to infinity, as occur in surgery formulas. A series with constant coefficient $\pm 1$ is a unit: its inverse is found recursively, or by the geometric series for its positive-order part. Such a series need not have a polynomial inverse, which is why exact triangles involving sums over all Spin-c extensions require a completion in the minus theory. Individual homogeneous cobordism maps are still defined on the ordinary minus groups.