On the cut number of a \(3\)-manifold (Q1811528)

The cut number of a closed orientable manifold \(M\) is the maximal number of components of an embedded closed orientable submanifold \(F\) of codimension one that does not separate \(M\) (i.e. \(M-F\) has only one component). The paper under review constructs examples of 3-manifolds with cut number one but arbitrarily large first Betti number. This gives a negative answer to the question as to whether the cut number is bounded below by one third of the first Betti number. There were some reasons to raise this question: it is true for manifolds with solvable fundamental group and both numbers are additive under connected sums. In addition, for a surface, the cut number equals one half the first Betti number. The manifolds are explicitly constructed by Dehn surgery on a link. The fact that the examples have cut number one is proved by analyzing the first homology of every infinite cyclic covering.