Rotation numbers and the Euler class in open books (Q2075269)

The Thurston-Bennequin and rotation numbers are classical invariants of null-homologous Legendrian knots in \(3\)-dimensional contact manifolds. In the case of the Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^3\) equipped with the standard tight contact structure, these invariants can be easily computed via simple combinatorial formulas from the front or Lagrangian projections. The main aim of the paper under review is to use the notion of Morse structures on contact open books, developed in [\textit{D.\ T.\ Gay} and \textit{J.\ E.\ Licata}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 370, No. 6, 3771--3802 (2018; Zbl 1451.53103)], in order to generalize such formulas to the setting of arbitrary contact 3-manifolds; an explicit description of the Euler class of the contact structure itself in terms of the auxiliary Morse structure is also given. As defined by Gay-Licata, given a contact manifold \((M,\xi)\), a \textit{Morse structure} on an open book \((B,\pi\colon M\setminus B \to \mathbb{S}^1)\) is (up to technical conditions) the data of a smooth function \(F\), which defines a Morse function on each page \(\pi^{-1}(\theta)\) with a single index \(0\) critical point and without index \(2\) ones, and of a vector field \(V\) tangent to each page, which is gradient-like for \(F\) and Liouville for the symplectic form on the pages determined by the contact structure \(\xi\). (The here unspecified technical conditions tell in particular that the vector field \(V\) is Morse-Smale at all but finitely many pages, where a single handle-slide phenomenon occurs.) The union of all the flow lines of \(V\) between the links \(L_0\) and \(L_1\), which are made respectively of the index \(0\) and \(1\) critical points on each page, determines a \(2\)-complex, called \textit{skeleton}, in the \(3\)-manifold. Given a Legendrian knot \(\Lambda\subset (M,\xi)\) which is \textit{generic}, i.e.\ disjoint from \(B\) and transverse to the skeleton, the \textit{front projection} \(\mathcal{F}(\Lambda)\) is the torus graph given by the image of \(\Lambda\), via the flow of \( V\), to the finite union of embedded tori \(\mathcal{T}\) given by the boundary components of a small neighborhood of \(B\). A formula for the Thurston-Bennequin invariant of an oriented null-homologous \(\Lambda\subset (M,\xi)\) in terms of combinatorial data of the front projection \(\mathcal{F}(\Lambda)\) on \(\mathcal{T}\) was already given in the work of Gay-Licata. The first result in the paper under review is then a formula for the rotation number: if \(M\) is an integer homology \(3\)-sphere, then \(\mathrm{rot}(\Lambda)=\frac{1}{2}(D-U) + \mathrm{lk}(B\cup \mathcal{L},\Lambda)\), where \(D\) and \(U\) are the number of cusps of \(\mathcal{F}(\Lambda)\) oriented respectively down and up, \(\mathrm{lk}\) denotes the linking number, and \(\mathcal{L}=L_0\cup \overline{L_1}\). This formula is then generalised to the case of arbitrary contact \(3\)-manifolds, where the invariant depends on the choice of a homology class in \(H_2(M,\Lambda)\). More precisely, after fixing an auxiliary link, which is homologous to \(\Lambda\) on the complement of a page and encodes the choice of class in \(H_2(M,\Lambda)\), the authors prove that the previous formula needs to be corrected by an additional term given by the intersection number of \(\mathcal{L}\) with the null-homology of \(\Lambda\cup X\) in the complement of a page. Moreover, in order for these formulas to be given only in terms of combinatorial data of graphs on the tori \(\mathcal{T}\), the authors describe an efficient way of computing the needed linking and intersection numbers in terms of combinatorial data of the front projections of the knots involved. The second main result is a combinatorial formula for the Euler class of \(\xi\) in terms of the Morse structure: the link \(\mathcal{L}\) is Poincaré dual to \(e(\xi)\). This is derived by the authors from the previous result, by computing the homology class \([\mathcal{L}]\in H_1(M)\) in terms of combinatorial data of the intersection of the unstable manifold of \(L_1\) with the union of tori \(\mathcal{T}\). Lastly, the authors define the notion of \textit{Lagrangian projection} for Legendrian knots disjoint from a page \(\Sigma_0\) of the open book, by projecting the Legendrian to \(\Sigma_0\) via the monodromy flow of the open book. Formulas for the Thurston-Bennequin and rotation invariants are then given in terms of combinatorial data of this Lagrangian projection as well.