Veering triangulations and the Thurston norm: homology to isotopy (Q2071623)

Veering triangulations are objects that can be thought of as combinatorial versions of both foliations and flows. They were introduced by \textit{I. Agol} [Contemp. Math. 560, 1--17 (2011; Zbl 1335.57026)]. They were used by \textit{F. Guéritaud} in the study of Cannon-Thurston maps (see [J. Topol. 9, No. 3, 957--983 (2016; Zbl 1354.57025)]) and by \textit{Y. N. Minsky} and \textit{S. J. Taylor} in the study of the curve and arc complexes (see [Geom. Funct. Anal. 27, No. 6, 1450--1496 (2017; Zbl 1385.57025)]). In the paper under review, the author shows that a veering triangulation specifies a face of the Thurston norm ball of a closed 3-manifold, and he computes the Thurston norm in the cone over this face. Furthermore, he shows that the veering triangulation collates exactly the taut surfaces representing classes in the cone over the face up to isotopy. He also obtains an analogous theorem for manifolds with boundary that is used in the proof of a theorem of Landry-Minsky-Taylor relating the Thurston norm to the veering polynomial, an object generalizing the McMullen Teichmüller polynomial. Some of the statements in this paper rely on works in progress by several authors.