Finite type 3-manifold invariants, the mapping class group and blinks (Q1383651)

``The goal of the present paper is to find higher genus surgery formulas for the set of finite type invariants of integral homology 3-spheres, and to develop a theory of finite type invariants which will be applied in a subsequent publication [the authors, Invent. Math. 131, No. 3, 541-594 (1998; Zbl 0895.57004)] in the study of subgroups of the mapping class group. The main result is to show that six filtrations on the vector space generated by oriented integral homology 3-spheres (three coming from surgery on special classes of links and three coming from subgroups of the mapping class group) are equal. En route we introduce the notion of blink (a special case of a link) and of a new subgroup of the mapping class group.'' The notion of blink is used, after the paper under review, in several other papers, so it may be useful to give a definition: A blink, \(L\), in an integral homology 3-sphere, \(M\), is an oriented link the components of which are partitioned into pairs. Furthermore, the pairs bound disjoint oriented surfaces (Seifert surfaces of the blink). When reading the paper a reader is advised to consult the pleasurable survey of quantum invariants and Vassiliev invariants and quantum invariants of 3-manifolds which is given in [\textit{T. Ohtsuki}, Combinatorial quantum method in 3-dimensional topology, MSJ Memoirs, Mathematical Society of Japan, Volume 3, 1999].