Branched spines and Heegaard genus of 3-manifolds

We prove that an invariant of closed 3-manifolds, called the block number, which is defined via flow-spines, equals the Heegaard genus, except for S ³ and S ² × S ¹. We also show that the underlying 3-manifold is uniquely determined by a neighborhood of the singularity of a flow-spine. This allows us to encode a closed 3-manifold by a sequence of signed labeled symbols. The behavior of the encoding under the connected sum and a criterion for reducibility are studied.     

A primary obstruction to topological embeddings¶and its applications

For a proper continuous map f:M→N between topological manifolds M and N with m≡ dimM < dimN≡m+k, a primary obstruction to topological embeddings θ(f) ∈H ^c _{m − k} (M; Z ₂) has been defined and studied by the authors in {9, 8, 2, 3], where H ^c _* denotes the singular homology with closed support. In this paper, we study the obstruction from the viewpoint of differential topology and give various applications. We first give some characterizations of embeddings among generic differentiable maps, which are refinements of the results in [9, 10]. Then we give a result concerning the number of connected components of the complement of the image of a codimension-1 continuous map with a normal crossing point, which generalizes the results in [6, 4, 5, 9]. Finally we give a simple proof of a theorem of Li and Peterson [20] about immersions of m-manifolds into (2m-1)-manifolds. Received: 3 December 1999 / Revised version: 10 October 2000     

The amalgamation of high distance Heegaard splittings is always efficient

Let M be a compact orientable manifold, and F be an essential closed surface which cuts M into two 3-manifolds M ₁ and M ₂. Let be a Heegaard splitting for i = 1, 2. We denote by d(S _i ) the distance of . If d(S ₁), d(S ₂) ≥ 2(g(M ₁) + g(M ₂) − g(F)), then M has a unique minimal Heegaard splitting up to isotopy, i.e. the amalgamation of and . Ruifeng Qiu is supported by NSFC(10625102).     

Estimating Matveev's complexity via crystallization theory

In [M.R. Casali, Computing Matveev's complexity of non-orientable 3-manifolds via crystallization theory, Topology Appl. 144(1-3) (2004) 201-209], a graph-theoretical approach to Matveev's complexity computation is introduced, yielding the complete classification of closed non-orientable 3-manifolds up to complexity six. The present paper follows the same point-of view, making use of crystallization theory and related results (see [M. Ferri, Crystallisations of 2-fold branched coverings of S³, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 73 (1979) 271-276; M.R. Casali, Coloured knots and coloured graphs representing 3-fold simple coverings of S³, Discrete Math. 137 (1995) 87-98; M.R. Casali, From framed links to crystallizations of bounded 4-manifolds, J. Knot Theory Ramifications 9(4) (2000) 443-458]) in order to significantly improve existing estimations for complexity of both 2-fold and three-fold simple branched coverings (see [O.M. Davydov, The complexity of 2-fold branched coverings of a 3-sphere, Acta Appl. Math. 75 (2003) 51-54] and [O.M. Davydov, Estimating complexity of 3-manifolds as of branched coverings, talk-abstract, Second Russian-German Geometry Meeting dedicated to 90-anniversary of A.D.Alexandrov, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, June 2002]) and 3-manifolds seen as Dehn surgery (see [G. Amendola, An algorithm producing a standard spine of a 3-manifold presented by surgery along a link, Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo 51 (2002) 179-198]).     

Extending homeomorphisms from punctured surfaces to handlebodies

Let Hg be a genus g handlebody and MCG2n(Tg) be the group of the isotopy classes of orientation preserving homeomorphisms of Tg=∂Hg, fixing a given set of 2n points. In this paper we find a finite set of generators for , the subgroup of MCG2n(Tg) consisting of the isotopy classes of homeomorphisms of Tg admitting an extension to the handlebody and keeping fixed the union of n disjoint properly embedded trivial arcs. This result generalizes a previous one obtained by the authors for n=1. The subgroup turns out to be important for the study of knots and links in closed 3-manifolds via (g,n)-decompositions. In fact, the links represented by the isotopy classes belonging to the same left cosets of in MCG2n(Tg) are equivalent.     

The degrees of maps between manifolds

We study the question: which integers k can be realized as the degree of a map between two given closed (n-1)-connected 2n-manifolds? Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 57R19, 55M25 Received: 9 July 2001; in final form: 21 July 2002 //Published online: 24 February 2003     

Surgery on 3-manifolds with \mathbb{S} 1-actions

We study the topological structure of all 3-manifolds obtained by surgery along principal fibers of a closed orientable -manifold. As a consequence, we give alternative proofs of some classical results due to W. Heil and L. Moser. Moreover, we completely specify the Seifert invariants for the considered manifolds. Finally we classify the manifolds obtained by surgery along certain Seifert links and determine geometric presentations of their fundamental groups.Work performed under the auspices of C.N.R. (National Research Council) of Italy and partially supported by Ministero della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica within the projects Geometria Reale e Complessa and Topologia.     

On the knot complement problem for non-hyperbolic knots

This paper explicitly provides two exhaustive and infinite families of pairs (M,k), where M is a lens space and k is a non-hyperbolic knot in M, which produces a manifold homeomorphic to M, by a non-trivial Dehn surgery. Then, we observe the uniqueness of such knot in such lens space, the uniqueness of the slope, and that there is no preserving homeomorphism between the initial and the final M's. We obtain further that Seifert fibered knots, except for the axes, and satellite knots are determined by their complements in lens spaces. An easy application shows that non-hyperbolic knots are determined by their complement in atoroidal and irreducible Seifert fibered 3-manifolds.     

The hexatangle

We are interested in knowing what type of manifolds are obtained by doing Dehn surgery on closed pure 3-braids in S³. In particular, we want to determine when we get S³ by surgery on such a link. We consider links which are small closed pure 3-braids; these are the closure of 3-braids of the form , where σ₁, σ₂ are the generators of the 3-braid group and e₁, f₁, e are integers. We study Dehn surgeries on these links, and determine exactly which ones admit an integral surgery producing the 3-sphere. This is equivalent to determining the surgeries of some type on a certain six component link L that produce S³. The link L is strongly invertible and its exterior double branch covers a certain configuration of arcs and spheres, which we call the hexatangle. Our problem is equivalent to determine which fillings of the spheres by integral tangles produce the trivial knot, which is what we explicitly solve. This hexatangle is a generalization of the pentangle, which is studied in [C.McA. Gordon, J. Luecke, Non-integral toroidal Dehn surgeries, Comm. Anal. Geom. 12 (2004) 417-485].     

Representing links in 3-manifolds¶ by branched coverings of S3

We introduce a planar coloured-diagram representation of links in 3-manifolds given as branched coverings of the 3-sphere. We also prove an equivalence theorem based on local moves and the existence of a universal configuration for such representation. As an application we give unified proofs of two different results on existence of fibered links in 3-manifolds. Received: 7 April 1997     

Epimorphisms of knot groups onto free products

Let k be a knot in S³. There is an epimorphism from π₁(S³−k) onto a free product of two nontrivial cyclic groups sending a meridian to an element of length two iff k has property Q (Topology of Manifolds, Markham, Chicago, IL, 1970, pp. 195-199) that is if there is a closed surface F in S³ containing k, such that k is imprimitive in H₁(X) and in H₁(Y) where X and Y are the closures of the components of S³−F. We give answers to questions of Simon (1970) about properties Q, Q∗ and Q∗∗. Epimorphisms from knot groups onto torus knot groups are also studied and some results on property P and surgery are included.     

Catégories prémodulaires, modularisations et invariants des variétés de dimension 3

An abelian k-linear semisimple category having a finite number of simple objects, and endowed with a ribbon structure, is called premodular. It is modular (in the sense of Turaev) if the so-called S-matrix is invertible. A modular category defines invariants of 3-manifolds and a TQFT ([T]). When is it possible to construct a modularisation of a given premodular category, i.e. a functor to a modular category preserving the structures and ‘dominant’ in a certain sense? It turns out (2.3) that this amounts essentially to making ‘transparent’ objects trivial. We give a full answer to this problem in the case when k is a field of char. 0 (as well as partial answers in char. p): under a few obvious hypotheses, a premodular category admits a modularisation, which is unique (th. 3.1, and cor. 3.5 in char. 0) The proof relies on two main ingredients: a new and very simple criterion for the S-matrix to be invertible (1.1) and Deligne's internal characterization of tannakian categories in char. 0 [D]. When simple transparent objects are invertible, the criterion is simpler (4.2) and the modularisation can be described more explicitly (prop. 4.4). We conclude with two examples: the premodular categories associated with quantum and at roots of unity; in the first case, we obtain modular categories which were built independently by C. Blanchet [B]; in the second case, we obtain modularizations in all the cases where Y. Yokota [Y] found Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants of 3-manifolds, thereby improving as well as explaining Yokota's results.

Re?u le: 14 juillet 1998 / version définitive: 28 mars 1999     

On the vertex group of n-manifolds

In this paper we obtain the decomposition of the vertex group of n-manifolds, extending the one given by Kauffman and Lins for dimension 3 and solving the related conjecture. The result is obtained in the more general category of gems: the vertex group of a gem , representing an n-manifold M, is the free product of n copies of the fundamental group of M and a free group F of rank N–n, where N is the number of n-residues of . In particular, for crystallizations FZ and consequently the vertex group is an invariant of M.     

Complexity of 3-orbifolds

We extend Matveev's theory of complexity for 3-manifolds, based on simple spines, to (closed, orientable, locally orientable) 3-orbifolds. We prove naturality and finiteness for irreducible 3-orbifolds, and, with certain restrictions and subtleties, additivity under orbifold connected sum. We also develop the theory of handle decompositions for 3-orbifolds and the corresponding theory of normal 2-suborbifolds.     

Topology of compact space forms from Platonic solids. II

The problem of classifying, up to isometry, the orientable 3-manifolds that arise by identifying the faces of a Platonic solid was completely solved in a nice paper of Everitt [B. Everitt, 3-manifolds from Platonic solids, Topology Appl. 138 (2004) 253-263]. His work completes the classification begun by Best [L.A. Best, On torsion-free discrete subgroups of PSL₂(C) with compact orbit space, Canad. J. Math. 23 (1971) 451-460], Lorimer [P.J. Lorimer, Four dodecahedral spaces, Pacific J. Math. 156 (2) (1992) 329-335], Prok [I. Prok, Classification of dodecahedral space forms, Beiträge Algebra Geom. 39 (2) (1998) 497-515; I. Prok, Fundamental tilings with marked cubes in spaces of constant curvature, Acta Math. Hungar. 71 (1-2) (1996) 1-14], and Richardson and Rubinstein [J. Richardson, J.H. Rubinstein, Hyperbolic manifolds from a regular polyhedron, preprint]. In a previous paper we investigated the topology of closed orientable 3-manifolds from Platonic solids in the spherical and Euclidean cases, and completely classified them, up to homeomorphism. Here we describe many topological properties of closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds arising from Platonic solids. As a consequence of our geometric and topological methods, we improve the distinction between the hyperbolic “Platonic” manifolds with the same homology, which up to this point was only known by computational means.     

Dimensions of fixed point sets of involutions

Suppose the fixed point set F of a smooth involution T:M → M on a smooth, closed and connected manifold M decomposes into two components Fⁿ and F² of dimensions n and 2, respectively, with n > 2 odd. We show that the codimension k of Fⁿ is small if the normal bundle of F² does not bound; specifically, we show that k≦ 3 in this case. In the more general situation where F is not a boundary, n (not necessarily odd) is the dimension of a component of F of maximal dimension and k is the codimension of this component, and fixed components of all dimensions j, 0≦ j≦ n, may occur, a theorem of Boardman gives that . In addition, we show that this bound can be improved to k≦ 1 (hence k = 1) for some specific values of n and some fixed stable cobordism classes of the normal bundle of F² in M; further, we determine in these cases the equivariant cobordism class of (M, T). Received: 25 August 2005     

High distance Heegaard splittings of 3-manifolds

J. Hempel [J. Hempel, 3-manifolds as viewed from the curve complex, Topology 40 (3) (2001) 631-657] used the curve complex associated to the Heegaard surface of a splitting of a 3-manifold to study its complexity. He introduced the distance of a Heegaard splitting as the distance between two subsets of the curve complex associated to the handlebodies. Inspired by a construction of T. Kobayashi [T. Kobayashi, Casson-Gordon's rectangle condition of Heegaard diagrams and incompressible tori in 3-manifolds, Osaka J. Math. 25 (3) (1988) 553-573], J. Hempel [J. Hempel, 3-manifolds as viewed from the curve complex, Topology 40 (3) (2001) 631-657] proved the existence of arbitrarily high distance Heegaard splittings.In this work we explicitly define an infinite sequence of 3-manifolds {Mn} via their representative Heegaard diagrams by iterating a 2-fold Dehn twist operator. Using purely combinatorial techniques we are able to prove that the distance of the Heegaard splitting of Mn is at least n.Moreover, we show that π₁(Mn) surjects onto π₁(Mn−1). Hence, if we assume that M⁰ has nontrivial boundary then it follows that the first Betti number β₁(Mn)>0 for all n?1. Therefore, the sequence {Mn} consists of Haken 3-manifolds for n?1 and hyperbolizable 3-manifolds for n?3.     

Nonnegative curvature and cobordism type

We show that in each dimension n = 4k, k≥ 2, there exist infinite sequences of closed simply connected Riemannian n-manifolds with nonnegative sectional curvature and mutually distinct oriented cobordism type. W. Tuschmann’s research was supported in part by a DFG Heisenberg Fellowship.