Spotted disk and sphere graphs. I (Q2045875)

In Theorem 2, the author gives the interesting result that the disk complex of the once-spotted handlebody contains a quasi-flat (quasi-isometrically embedded euclidean space) of dimension two. This is in marked contrast to previous work of the author [Groups Geom. Dyn. 10, No. 1, 365--405 (2016; Zbl 1332.05045); J. Topol. 12, No. 2, 658--673 (2019; Zbl 1423.57038)] as well as of \textit{H. Masur} and \textit{S. Schleimer} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 26, No. 1, 1--62 (2013; Zbl 1272.57015)] on ``spotless handlebodies''; there the disk complex is Gromov hyperbolic. This suggests that the disk complex of a spotted handlebody (and similarly the sphere complex of the double of a spotted handlebody) is more subtle, and requires more careful treatment, than the curve complex of a surface. In particular, in Remark 2.7, the author points out that we do not yet know if the disk complex of a once-spotted handlebody contains quasi-flats of dimension greater than two.