Sewn-up r-link exteriors (Q794025)

Suppose two solid handlebodies, each of genus r, are disjointly embedded in \(S^ 3\). If the interiors of the handlebodies are removed and the boundary components of the remaining space are identified via an orientation reversing homeomorphism, then a closed connected orientable 3-manifold results. Such a manifold is called a sewn-up r-link exterior. The author shows that a closed connected orientable 3-manifold M can be realized as a sewn-up r-link exterior if and only if the first homology of M is infinite. He examines framed link descriptions of sewn-up r-link exteriors to prove this theorem. A knot K in \(S^ 3\) is said to have property R if the 3-manifold \(K_ 0\) obtained by performing zero surgery on K is not homeomorphic to \(S^ 1\times S^ 2\). K is said to have homotopy property R if \(K_ 0\) is not homotopy equivalent to \(S^ 1\times S^ 2\) and is said to have the Poenaru property if there is no properly embedded planar surface in the knot exterior E(K) whose boundary circles are longitudes of K having algebraic sum one. It is known that if K has the Poenaru property then it has homotopy property R, and clearly if K has homotopy property R then it has property R. However it is not known whether the reverse implications are true. The author gives a criterion that a knot fails to have the Poenaru property, and a criterion that a knot has the Poenaru property.