Killing handles of index one stably, and \(\pi^ \infty_ 1\) (Q1179173)

The main result of this paper is the following theorem: Let \(V^ 3\) be an open, simply-connected 3-manifold. Assume that for some positive integer \(n\) the manifold \(V^ 3\times D^ n\), where \(D^ n\) is the standard smooth \(n\)-dimensional ball (with its boundary \(S^{n-1}\)), admits a handlebody decomposition having the following two properties: (a) With respect to the standard DIFF product structure of \(V^ 3\times D^ n\), this handlebody decomposition is piecewise smooth. (b) The handlebody decomposition is without handles of index one. Then, for any compact set \(K\subset V^ 3\), there is a compact smooth simply-connected submanifold \(U^ 3\subset V^ 3\) such that \(K\subset\mathring U^ 3\). In other terms, the existence of a handlebody decomposition without handles of index one for \(V^ 3\times D^ n\) implies that \(\pi^ \infty_ 1V^ 3=0\). This theorem shows that \(\pi^ \infty_ 1V^ 3\) is an obstruction for killing stably the handles of index one. It implies, for instance, that, if \(Wh^ 3\) is the standard Whitehead manifold, then \(Wh^ 3\times D^ n\) can never be presented without handles of index one.