On Thom spaces, Massey products and non-formal symplectic manifolds

Abstract

In this work we analyze the behavior of Massey products of closed manifolds under the blow-up construction. The results obtained in the article are applied to the problem of constructing closed symplectic non-formal manifolds. The proofs use Thom spaces as an important technical tool. This application of Thom spaces is of conceptual interest.Comment: 16 pages, amstex, changes according to the referee suggestions. accepted by IMR