Recognition of being fibered for compact 3-manifolds (Q2177707)

It is a classical question, which properties of a finitely presented group are contained in the set of its finite quotients. In more modern terms the question is equivalent to the following: what information is contained in the profinite completion of a finitely presented group? This question is particularly interesting for residually finite groups, and especially for fundamental groups of 3-manifolds. More precisely, suppose that \(M\) and \(N\) are two compact aspherical 3-manifolds such that the profinite completions of \(\pi_1(M)\) and \(\pi_1(N)\) are isomorphic. What topological properties do \(M\) and \(N\) share? One question which garnered a lot of attention over the last few years deals with fiberedness. A 3-manifold \(W\) is called fibered if \(W\) is a surface bundle over \(S^1\). By classical work of \textit{J. Stallings} [in: Topology of 3-manifolds and related topics. Proceedings of the University of Georgia Institute 1961. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 95--100 (1962; Zbl 1246.57049)] a compact aspherical 3-manifold \(W\) is fibered if and only if there exists an epimorphism \(\pi_1(W)\to \mathbb{Z}\) such that the kernel is finitely generated. Now suppose that we have two 3-manifolds \(M\) and \(N\) such that the profinite completions of the fundamental groups are isomorphic and suppose that \(M\) is fibered, i.e.\ suppose that there exists an epimorphism \(\phi\colon \pi_1(M)\to \mathbb{Z}\) such that the kernel is finitely generated. Does it follow that \(N\) is also fibered? If \(b_1(M)=1\), then this question was answered in the affirmative in [\textit{M. Boileau} and \textit{S. Friedl}, Ann. Math. Stud. 205, 21--44 (2020; Zbl 1452.57012)] and [\textit{M. R. Bridson} and \textit{A. W. Reid}, ibid. 205, 45--94 (2020; Zbl 1452.57013)]. The approach taken in these two papers does not extend to the case that \(b_1(M)>1\). The main problem, at least for the reviewer, was that there was no obvious ``candidate'' for an epimorphism \(\pi_1(N)\to \mathbb Z\) which might have finitely generated kernel. This problem was solved brilliantly in the paper under review and the above question was answered in the affirmative without any conditions on the first Betti number. More precisely, in the paper it is shown that if \(M\) and \(N\) are two compact aspherical 3-manifolds, such that the profinite completions of the fundamental groups are isomorphic, then \(M\) is fibered if and only if \(N\) is fibered. As the aforementioned papers, this paper also relies on the breakthroughs obtained by of \textit{I. Agol} [Doc. Math. 18, 1045--1087 (2013; Zbl 1286.57019)] and \textit{D. T. Wise} [Electron. Res. Announc. Math. Sci. 16, 44--55 (2009; Zbl 1183.20043)]