Incompressible maps of surfaces and Dehn filling. (Q1421993)

This paper proves some results about incompressible maps of surfaces into a \(3\)-manifold, analogous to those about embedded incompressible surfaces. Let \(M\) be an orientable \(3\)-manifold with torus boundary components, and let \(\overline{M}\) be the manifold obtained by Dehn fillings on some torus boundary components. The author shows that if a map \(f\) from an orientable connected surface \(S\) to \(\overline{M}\), sending \(\partial S\) to the cores of the attached solid tori, is essential and has minimal complexity in some sense defined in the paper, then the restriction of \(f\) to \(f^{-1}(M)\) is still essential. In fact, more details appear in the paper. This main result generalizes a previous result, Proposition 1.1 of [\textit{U. Oertel}, Topology Appl. 78, 215--234 (1997; Zbl 0879.57014)] by the same author. An interesting corollary of the main theorem states that for any knot exterior in the \(3\)-sphere, there is an essential map from a planar surface such that one boundary component is mapped to an integral slope embedded simple closed curve on the boundary torus of the knot exterior and all other boundary components are mapped to embedded meridians.