Minimum ideal triangulations of hyperbolic 3-manifolds

Let σ(n) be the minimum number of ideal hyperbolic tetrahedra necessary to construct a finite volumen-cusped hyperbolic 3-manifold, orientable or not. Let σ_or(n) be the corresponding number when we restrict ourselves to orientable manifolds. The correct values of σ(n) and σ_or(n) and the corresponding manifolds are given forn=1,2,3,4 and 5. We then show that 2n−1≤σ(n)≤σ_or(n)≤4n−4 forn≥5 and that σ_or(n)≥2n for alln. Both authors were supported by NSF Grants DMS-8711495, DMS-8802266 and Williams College Research Funds.     

Pre-Bloch invariants of 3-manifolds with boundary

Let M be an oriented hyperbolic 3-manifold with finite volume. In [W.D. Neumann, J. Yang, Bloch invariants of hyperbolic 3-manifolds, Duke Math. J. 96 (1999) 29-59. [9]], Neumann and Yang defined an element β(M) of Bloch group B(C) for M. For this β(M), volume and Chern-Simons invariant of M is represented by a transcendental function. In this paper, we define β(M,ρ,C,o)∈P(C) for an oriented 3-manifold M with boundary, a representation of its fundamental group , a pants decomposition C of ∂M and an orientation o on simple closed curves of C. Unlike in the case of finite volume, we construct an element of pre-Bloch group P(C), and we need essentially the pants decomposition on the boundary. The volume makes sense for β(M,ρ,C,o) and we can describe the variation of volume on the deformation space.     

Vertex-transitive triangulations of compact orientable 2-manifolds

In this note we construct two infinite families of vertex-transitive triangulations of compact orientable 2-manifolds. Included in these families are two of the best known “classical” examples, viz., the triangulation of the genus 3 surface admitting the group PSL(2, 7) and the triangulation of the genus 7 surface admitting SL(2, 8).     

An inequality for polyhedra and ideal triangulations of cusped hyperbolic 3-manifolds

It is not known whether every noncompact hyperbolic 3-manifold of finite volume admits a decomposition into ideal tetrahedra. We give a partial solution to this problem: Let be a hyperbolic 3-manifold obtained by identifying the faces of convex ideal polyhedra . If the faces of are glued to , then can be decomposed into ideal tetrahedra by subdividing the 's.

     

Construction and recognition of hyperbolic 3-manifolds with geodesic boundary

We extend to the context of hyperbolic 3-manifolds with geodesic boundary Thurston's approach to hyperbolization by means of geometric triangulations. In particular, we introduce moduli for (partially) truncated hyperbolic tetrahedra, and we discuss consistency and completeness equations. Moreover, building on previous work of Ushijima, we extend Weeks' tilt formula algorithm, which computes the Epstein-Penner canonical decomposition, to an algorithm that computes the Kojima decomposition.

Our theory has been exploited to classify all the orientable finite-volume hyperbolic -manifolds with non-empty compact geodesic boundary admitting an ideal triangulation with at most four tetrahedra. The theory is particularly interesting in the case of complete finite-volume manifolds with geodesic boundary in which the boundary is non-compact. We include this case using a suitable adjustment of the notion of ideal triangulation, and we show how this case arises within the theory of knots and links.

     

Moves for standard skeleta of 3-manifolds with marked boundary

A 3-manifold with marked boundary is a pair (M, X), where M is a compact 3-manifold whose (possibly empty) boundary is made up of tori and Klein bottles, and X is a trivalent graph that is a spine of ?M. A standard skeleton of a 3-manifold with marked boundary (M, X) is a standard sub-polyhedron P of M such that P ?? ?M coincides with X and with ?P, and such that ${P \cup \partial M}$ is a spine of ${M\setminus B}$ (where B is a ball). In this paper, we will prove that the classical set of moves for standard spines of 3-manifolds (i.e. the MP-move and the V-move) does not suffice to relate to each other any two standard skeleta of a 3-manifold with marked boundary. We will also describe a condition on the 3-manifold with marked boundary that allows to establish whether the generalised set of moves, made up of the MP-move and the L-move, suffices to relate to each other any two standard skeleta of the 3-manifold with marked boundary. For the 3-manifolds with marked boundary that do not fulfil this condition, we give three other moves: the CR-move, the T₁-move and the T₂-move. The first one is local and, with the MP-move and the L-move, suffices to relate to each other any two standard skeleta of a 3-manifold with marked boundary fulfilling another condition. For the universal case, we will prove that the non-local T₁-move and T₂-move, with the MP-move and the L-move, suffice to relate to each other any two standard skeleta of a generic 3-manifold with marked boundary. As a corollary, we will get that disc-replacements suffice to relate to each other any two standard skeleta of a 3-manifold with marked boundary.     

A note on the genus of 3-manifolds with boundary

Summary In this paper we prove that the minimum among all regular genera of the graphs representing a 3-manifold with boundaryM ³ can always be obtained by a crystallization. As a consequence, we also prove that every 3-coloured graph representing ∂M ³ is the boundary of a 4-coloured graph which representsM ³ and whose genus equals the regular genus ofM ³.

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Riassunto In questo lavoro si prova che ogni 3-varietà con bordoM ³ ammette sempre una cristallizzazione di genere minimo. Come conseguenza, si ottiene che ogni grafo 3-colorato che rappresenta ∂M ³ è il bordo di un grafo 4-colorato che rappresentaM ³, il cui genere è uguale al genere regolare diM ³.

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Work performed under the auspices of the G.N.S.A.G.A.-C.N.R., and within the Project ?Geometria delle varietà differenziabili?, supported by M.P.I. of Italy.     

On the average length of Delaunay triangulations

We shall show that on the average, the total length of a Delaunay triangulation is of the same order as that of a minimum triangulation, under the assumption that our points are drawn from a homogeneous planar Poisson point distribution.     

Hyperbolic 3-manifolds with geodesic boundary: Enumeration and volume calculation

We describe a natural strategy to enumerate compact hyperbolic 3-manifolds with geodesic boundary in increasing order of complexity. We show that the same strategy can be applied in order to analyze simultaneously compact manifolds and finite-volume manifolds with toric cusps. In contrast, we show that if one allows annular cusps, the number of manifolds grows very rapidly and our strategy cannot be employed to obtain a complete list. We also carefully describe how to compute the volume of our manifolds, discussing formulas for the volume of a tetrahedron with generic dihedral angles in hyperbolic space.     

Q-curvature flow on 4-manifolds with boundary

Given a compact four-dimensional smooth Riemannian manifold (M,g) with smooth boundary, we consider the evolution equation by Q-curvature in the interior keeping the T-curvature and the mean curvature to be zero. Using integral methods, we prove global existence and convergence for the Q-curvature flow to a smooth metric conformal to g of prescribed Q-curvature, zero T-curvature and vanishing mean curvature under conformally invariant assumptions.     

Incompressible surfaces in handlebodies and boundary reducible 3-manifolds

We study the existence of incompressible embeddings of surfaces into the genus two handlebody. We show that for every compact surface with boundary, orientable or not, there is an incompressible embedding of the surface into the genus two handlebody. In the orientable case the embedding can be either separating or non-separating. We also consider the case in which the genus two handlebody is replaced by an orientable 3-manifold with a compressible boundary component of genus greater than or equal to two.     

Enumerating 3-manifolds with lengths up to 9 by a canonical order

On previous works, we enumerated the prime links with lengths up to 10 and the prime link exteriors with lengths up to 9. In this paper, we make an enumeration of the first 133 closed 3-manifolds which are the 3-manifolds with lengths up to 9 by using the enumeration of the prime link exteriors.     

Exceptional Dehn fillings on hyperbolic 3-manifolds with at least two boundary components

We estimate the number of exceptional slopes for hyperbolic 3-manifolds with a torus boundary component and at least one other boundary component.     

Realization of simply-connected 4-manifolds with a given boundary

Partially supported by NSERC grant A7819 and FCAR grant EQ3518.     

Complexity of 3-manifolds and combed 3-manifolds

A new complexity, called a block number, is defined for a combed 3-manifold, and a method for the combinatorial classification of combed 3-manifolds with a given block number is proposed.     

The structure of 3-manifolds with two-generated fundamental group

We provide a structure theorem for 3-manifolds with 2-generated fundamental group and non-trivial JSJ-decomposition. We further give a number of applications.