Embedding infinite cyclic covers of knot spaces into 3-space (Q2498018): Difference between revisions

Let \(K\) be a knot in the \(3\)-sphere \(\mathbb S^3\), \(E(K)\) the exterior of \(K\), and \(S\) a Seifert surface of \(K\). Then \(E(K)\) has a unique infinite cyclic cover, denoted by \(\widetilde{E}(K)\). If \(K\) is a fibred knot with fibre \(S\), then \(\widetilde{E}(K)\) is homeomorphic to \(S\times \mathbb R\) which clearly embeds into \(\mathbb S^3\). The authors study the following question: Suppose that \(K\) is a non-fibred knot, when does \(\widetilde{E}(K)\) embed into \(\mathbb S^3\)? In case of affermative answer, the knot \(K\) is said to have Property I E. It follows that there are infinitely many non-fibred knots with Property I E and infinitely many non-fibred knots without Property I E. In fact, the authors prove that if a genus \(1\) non-fibred knot has Property I E, then its Alexander polynomial \(\Delta_K (t)\) must be either \(1\) or \(2 t^2 - 5 t + 2\). Then they give explicitly two families of non-fibred genus \(1\) knots satisfying the conditions. As a consequence, among genus \(1\) non-fibred knots, no alternating knot has Property I E, and there is only one knot (which is \(9_{46}\)) with Property I E up to ten crossings. Other results concern the connected sums of knots. Suppose \(K_1\) and \(K_2\) are two knots in \(\mathbb S^3\). If \(K_1 \# K_2\) has Property I E, then both \(K_1\) and \(K_2\) have the same property. If \(K_1\) has Property I E and \(K_2\) is fibred, then their connected sum satisfies the named property, too. The authors also give an obstruction to embed infinite cyclic covers of a compact \(3\)-manifold into any compact \(3\)-manifold.