Counting essential surfaces in \(3\)-manifolds (Q2131230)

The authors are interested in the problem of giving a complete list of isotopy classes of essential surfaces of given Euler characteristic in a given 3-manifold. For a broad class of 3-manifolds, they give a formula for the number of isotopy classes of closed orientable (possibly disconnected) essential surfaces with given Euler characteristic. In terms of the Euler characteristic, they give a generating function which is of an almost polynomial kind. In the particular case of the Conway exterior of the knot K11\(n\)34, they get a precise generating function. They describe practical algorithms based on the techniques of triangulations (and ideal triangulations in the case of hyperbolic manifolds), that allow them to compute the generating functions and the underlying surfaces in a large number of cases. Non-orientable surfaces are also considered. The authors apply their results to provide data for almost 60,000 manifolds. They propose some conjectures concerning the question of counting connected essential surfaces. Their methods involve normal and almost normal surfaces, a new way of testing if a normal surface in an ideal triangulation is essential, and old techniques by Erhart for counting lattice points in polyhedra with rational vertices, see [\textit{E. Ehrhart}, C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris 254, 988--990 (1962; Zbl 0100.27602)].