The uniqueness of compact cores for 3-manifolds (Q1919890)

A compact core for a 3-manifold \(M\) is a compact submanifold of \(M\) whose inclusion in \(M\) induces an isomorphism of fundamental groups. It is known that the irreducible compact core of a \(\mathbb{P}^2\)-irreducible 3-manifold is unique up to homeomorphism. In this paper it is shown that compact cores of non-orientable 3-manifolds are not unique in any reasonable sense, but a finiteness result on the number of such cores up to an equivalence relation called almost homeomorphism is proved.