Homological actions on sutured Floer homology (Q2255340)

A compact oriented \(3\)-manifold \((M,\gamma)\) together with a set \(\gamma\subset\partial M\) of pairwise disjoint annuli is called a sutured manifold. The core of each component of \(\gamma\) is a suture, and \(s(\gamma)\) is the set of sutures. Every component of \(R(\gamma)=\partial M-\text{int}(\gamma)\) is oriented, and \(R_+(\gamma) (R_-(\gamma))\) is the union of those components of \(R(\gamma)\) whose normal vectors point out of (into) \(M\). A sutured manifold \((M,\gamma)\) without closed components, such that \(\chi(R_+(\gamma))=\chi(R_-(\gamma))\) and \(\gamma\) intersects each component of \(\partial M\), is called a balanced sutured manifold. If \((M,\gamma)\) is a sutured manifold and \(S\) is a properly embedded surface in \(M\), then there is a natural way to put a sutured manifold structure on \(M'=M\setminus\nu(S)\). This process is a sutured manifold decomposition \((M,\gamma)\overset{S}\rightsquigarrow (M',\gamma')\). A sutured manifold decomposition is well-groomed, if for every component \(V\) of \(R(\gamma)\), \(V\cap S\) is a union of parallel oriented non-separating simple closed curves or arcs. In [Ann. Math. (2) 159, No. 3, 1027--1158 (2004; Zbl 1073.57009)], \textit{P. Ozsváth} and \textit{Z. Szabó} defined an action \(A_\zeta\) on the Heegaard Floer homology \(HF(Y)\) for any \(\zeta\in H_1(Y,\mathbb Z)/\text{Tors}\) satisfying \(A_\zeta^2=0\) and inducing a \(\Lambda^*(H_1(Y;\mathbb Z)/\text{Tors})\)-module structure on \(HF(Y)\). In this paper, the author defines the action \(A_\zeta\) on the sutured Floer homology \(SFH(M,\gamma)\) for any \(\zeta\) of the homology group \(H_1 (M,\partial M;\mathbb Z)\) making \(SFH(M,\gamma)\) a \(\Lambda^*(H_1(M,\partial M;\mathbb Z)/\text{Tors})\)-module. It turns out that the contact invariant \(EH(M, \gamma, \xi)\) is usually sent to zero by this action. It is proven that, if \((M,\gamma)\) is a balanced sutured manifold, \((M,\gamma)\overset{S}\rightsquigarrow (M',\gamma')\) is a well-groomed sutured manifold decomposition, and \(i_*:H_1(M,\partial M)\to H_1(M,\partial M\cup S)\cong H_1(M',\partial M')\) is the map induced by the inclusion map \(i:(M,\partial M)\to (M,\partial M\cup S)\), then \(\imath\circ A_{i_*(\zeta)}=A_\zeta\circ\imath\) and \(A_{i_*(\zeta)}\circ\pi=\pi\circ A_\zeta\), where \(\imath:SFH(M',\gamma')\to SFH(M,\gamma)\) is the inclusion, \(\pi:SFH(M,\gamma)\to SFH(M',\gamma')\) is the projection such that \(\pi\circ\imath=\text{id}\), and \(\zeta\in H_1(M,\partial M)\) and \(i_*(\zeta)\in H_1(M',\partial M')\). As a consequence of this result, the author also shows that if \(K\) is a nullhomologous knot in a closed oriented manifold \(Y\) such that \(Y-K\) is irreducible, \(F\) is a Thurston norm minimizing Seifert surface for \(K\), \(\text{Ker}\,A=\{x\in \widehat{HFK}(Y,K,[F],-g);\;A_\zeta(x)=0\}\), and \(F\) is not the fiber of any fibration of \(Y-K\), then the rank of \(\text{Ker}\,A\) is at least \(2\), where \(\zeta\in H_1(Y)/\text{Tors}\). \textit{P.~Ghiggini} in [Am. J. Math. 130, No. 5, 1151--1169 (2008; Zbl 1149.57019)] and the present author in [Invent. Math. 170, No. 3, 577--608 (2007; Zbl 1138.57031); erratum ibid. 177, No. 1, 235--238 (2009)] have proven that if \(F\) is not the fiber of any fibration of \(Y-K\), then the rank of \(\widehat{HFK}(Y,K,[F],-g)\) is at least \(2\), and since \(\text{Ker}\,A\) is a subgroup of \(\widehat{HFK}(Y,K,[F],-g)\), the above result can be viewed as a refinement of the theorem of Ghiggini and Ni. Furthermore, the author classifies knots in \(\#^n(S^1 \times S^2)\) which have simple knot Floer homology groups, that is, they are essentially the Borromean knots. Also, it is shown that the only links in \(S^3\) with simple knot Floer homology groups are the unlinks.