Taut normal surfaces (Q1910441)

Let \(M\) be a compact 3-manifold. Fixing a triangulation \(T\) of \(M\), one can associate a compact, convex, linear cell, \(P_T\), of solutions to the normalized matching equations for \(T\) from normal surface theory. The authors study the faces of \(P_T\) associated to taut normal surfaces having minimal weight. They show that if \(M\) is a compact, oriented 3-manifold which is a connected sum of irreducible 3-manifolds and for which all compressible boundary components are tori, then there is associated to each nontrivial homology class \(f\in H_2(M,\partial M;\mathbb{Z})\) a face of \(P_T\) with some strong properties. They apply this result to the construction of a minimal Seifert surface for a link, a construction of the unit sphere of the Thurston norm, and a study of branched surfaces.