Circle-valued Morse theory for frame spun knots and surface-links (Q1687996)

The paper under review extends earlier work of the same two authors in [Osaka J. Math. 54, No. 4, 723--734 (2017; Zbl 1383.57030)] by introducing the Morse-Novikov invariant for orientable codimension-2 submanifolds of the \(n\)-sphere \(S^n\) and relating it to a number of spinning constructions. In particular, the invariant is used to distinguish a substantial class of surface links in 4-space which arise by such constructions. If \(N^k\subset S^{k+2}\) is an oriented submanifold, a Morse map \(f:S^{n+2}\setminus N\to S^1\) is \textit{regular} if there is a tubular neighborhood of \(N\) framed as \(S^1\times N\) so that \(N=S^1\times \{0\}\) and the restriction of \(f\) to \(S^1\times (D^2\setminus \{0\})\) is given by \((x,y)\mapsto \frac{y}{|y|}\). The Morse-Novikov number \(\mathcal{MN}(N)\) of \(N\) is the minimal number of critical points over all such regular Morse maps. By definition, \(\mathcal{MN}(N)=0\) if and only if \(N\) is fibered. Given a knot \(K^k\subset S^{k+2}\) that is equipped with a framed submanifold \(M^m\subset S^{m+k}\) (about which \(K\) is to be ``spun'') together with a twisting component \(\lambda: M\to S^1\), \textit{G. Friedman} [Indiana Univ. Math. J. 52, No. 6, 1479--1578 (2003; Zbl 1065.57026)] constructed a \((k+m)\)-knot \(\sigma(M,K,\lambda)\) in \(S^{k+m+2}\) which generalizes the ``framed spinning'' and ``twist spinning'' constructions of \textit{D. Roseman} [Topology Appl. 31, 225--241 (1989; Zbl 0683.57010)] and \textit{E. C. Zeeman} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 115, 471--495 (1965; Zbl 0134.42902)], respectively. Using only elementary Morse theory, the paper under review proves an upper bound for \(\mathcal{MN}(\sigma(M,K,\lambda))\) (Theorem 2.1) which, in particular, recovers well-known theorems of Roseman (the frame spun 2-knot of a fibered 1-knot is fibered) and Zeeman (a twist-spun 2-knot is fibered). The paper under review also relates the Morse-Novikov number of a knot \(K^{k}\subset S^{k+2}\) with that of its \textit{rotation} \(R(K)\), that is, a copy of \(S^1\times K\) whose construction generalizes the ``spun torus'' surface knot of a classical knot (Theorem 3.1). Together with a similar analysis (Corollary 3.5) for surface links obtained by what they call ``4-thread spinning'', compare with Example 3.K.13 of [\textit{D. Rolfsen}, Knots and links. 2nd print. with corr. Houston, TX: Publish or Perish (1990; Zbl 0854.57002)], these results enable the authors in the final section to compute \(\mathcal{MN}\) for most of the surface links appearing in the tables of \textit{K. Yoshikawa} [Osaka J. Math. 31, No. 3, 497--522 (1994; Zbl 0861.57033)]. Among a number of other applications, the authors use the Morse-Novikov number to obtain a criterion for (classical) tunnel number-1 knots to be fibered (Proposition 4.8), as well as a lower bound on the saddle number of a surface link (Theorem 4.2). Both results draw on Novikov homology and a familiarity with the paper [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 10, No. 2, 627--635 (2010; Zbl 1196.57008)] of the second author.