Distance of Heegaard splittings of knot complements (Q953099): Difference between revisions

It is well known that any orientable connected compact \(3\)-manifold admits a Heegaard splitting. That is, a \(3\)-manifold is expressed as the union of two compression bodies. When the manifold is closed, it is decomposed into two handlebodies. The distance of a Heegaard splitting was introduced by \textit{J. Hempel} [Topology 40, No.~3, 631--657 (2001; Zbl 0985.57014)], as the minimal distance in the curve complex of the Heegaard surface between a vertex representing a meridian of one compression body and a vertex representing a meridian of the other compression body. By Haken's classical result, if a \(3\)-manifold contains a reducible sphere, then the distance of any Heegaard splitting is zero. Weak reducibility is equivalent to distance one, so strong irreducibility is equivalent to the distance being at least two. Conversely, Hempel observed that if a \(3\)-manifold contains an incompressible torus, then any Heegaard splitting has distance at most two. Thus obtaining bounds on the distance of a Heegaard splitting is an interesting problem. Along this line, \textit{K. Hartshorn} [Pac. J. Math. 204, No.~1, 61--75 (2002; Zbl 1065.57021)] showed that if a closed \(3\)-manifold contains an incompressible surface of genus \(g\), then any Heegaard splitting has distance at most \(2g\). This was generalized by \textit{M. Scharlemann} [ibid. 228, No.~2, 325--348 (2006; Zbl 1127.57010)] to compact \(3\)-manifolds with boundary and essential surfaces. Also, \textit{M. Scharlemann} and \textit{M. Tomova} [Geom. Topol. 10, 593--617 (2006; Zbl 1128.57022)] observed that the existence of another Heegaard surface implies an upper bound on the distance. In the paper under review, the situation of a closed orientable irreducible \(3\)-manifold and a knot is considered. The main theorem essentially claims that the distance of a Heegaard splitting of the knot exterior is bounded above by twice the genus of a bridge surface for the knot.