Covering degrees are determined by graph manifolds involved (Q1300306)

In 1976, W. Thurston raised the following question : Suppose that a compact 3-manifold \(M\) is not covered by a (surface)\(\times S^1\) or a torus bundle over \(S^1\). If \(M_1\) and \(M_2\) are two homeomorphic finite covering spaces of \(M\), do they have the same covering degree ? In this paper, the authors prove that the answer is yes if \(M\) is a non-trivial graph manifold. It was known that the answer is yes if \(M\) is not a non-trivial graph manifold and if \(M\) is geometric, that is, if \(M\) is a Haken connected orientable 3-manifold which is either a Seifert manifold, or a hyperbolic manifold, or a Haken manifold, or a connected sum of such manifolds. We recall that a basic conjecture in 3-manifold theory states that any compact connected orientable 3-manifold is geometric. Thus, the answer to the question above is now complete in the case of geometric manifolds. The techniques use the notion and properties of matrices associated to non-trivial graph manifolds. Part of this theory had been done by S. C. Wang and Y. Q. Wu. The authors prove also that if \(M\) is a closed geometric 3-manifold, then \(\pi_1(M)\) has the property that any two isomorphic subgroups have the same index (which may be infinite) if and only if \(M\) is irreducible and any two homeomorphic finite coverings of \(M\) have the same degree. This generalizes results of F. Gonzales-Acuña and W. Whitten, and of S. C. Wang and Y. Q. Wu on the co-Hopfian property of 3-manifold groups.