Locally helical surfaces have bounded twisting (Q1684484)

For a separating surface \(H\) properly embedded in a compact orientable \(3\)-manifold, the disk complex of \(H\) is a complex whose vertices are isotopy classes of compression disks of \(H\), and \(m+1\) vertices span an \(m\)-simplex whose representative compressions are pairwise disjoint. In [Geom. Topol. 14, No. 1, 585--609 (2010; Zbl 1206.57020)], \textit{D. Bachman} defined \(H\) to be topologically minimal if this complex is either empty or non-contractible. The topological index of a topologically minimal surface is the smallest \(n\) so that \(\pi_{n-1}\) of the complex is nontrivial. It was shown that if \(M\) is a compact, orientable, irreducible, triangulated 3-manifold with incompressible boundary, then for each \(n\) there exists a finite, constructible set of surfaces in each tetrahedron of \(M\) from which any index \(n\) topologically minimal surface in \(M\), up to isotopy, can be built. Any surface built entirely from triangles or helicoids is called locally helical. Helical surfaces are classified by their axis and twisting. If \(H_*\) is a helicoid then the number of normal arcs comprising \(\partial H_*\) is \(4(n+1)\). The twisting of \(H_*\), denoted by \(t(H_*)\), is the number \(\pm n\), where the sign is determined by the handedness of the helicoid and the orientation of the manifold. If \(H\) is a locally helical surface in a triangulated 3-manifold \(M\), then the net twisting of \(H\) is the sum of the twisting of all of its helical pieces. The total absolute twisting is the sum of the absolute values of the twisting of its helical pieces. It was proved that any topologically minimal surface with index \(n\) that is isotopic to a locally helical surface is isotopic to one with total absolute twisting at most \(n\). In this paper, the author studies locally helical surfaces having bounded twistings. The main result of the paper states that if \(M\) is a closed, oriented, triangulated 3-manifold, \(\Delta\) is a set of tetrahedra in the triangulation of \(M\), and \(H\) is a locally helical surface in \(M\) such that the total absolute twisting of \(H\smallsetminus\Delta\) is at most \(n\), then the net twisting of \(H\cap\delta\) is bounded, where the bound depends only on \(M\) and \(n\). Furthermore, if \(\Delta\) is a single tetrahedron of \(M\), then the total absolute twisting of \(H\) is bounded. If \(\Delta\) is exactly two tetrahedra \(\Delta_1\) and \(\Delta_2\), then \(t(H\cap\Delta_1)=-t(H\cap\Delta_2)+m\), where \(m\) is bounded by a function of \(M\) and \(n\). And if \(\Delta\) is the set of all tetrahedra in \(M\), then the net twisting of \(H\) is bounded, where the bound depends only on \(M\).