A structure theorem for bad 3-orbifolds (Q2157465)

A (closed, orientable) \(3\)-orbifold \(\mathcal{O}\) with non-empty singular set is \textit{bad} if it is not covered by a manifold. Thurston's Orbifold Theorem and Perleman's Geometrization Theorem imply that \(\mathcal{O}\) is bad if and only if it contains an embedded bad \(2\)-orbifold. A teardrop, resp. bad-football, is a (bad) \(2\)-orbifold with underlying topological space the \(2\)-sphere and exactly one singular point of weight \(>1\), resp. exactly two singular points of unequal weight \(>1\). The authors show that a closed, orientable bad \(3\)-orbifold admits an embedded teardrop or bad-football. Using this they explicitly construct twelve families \(\mathcal{X}\) of bad orbifolds such that for any \(X\in\mathcal{X}\), the underlying topological space of \(X\) is homeomorphic to \(S^2{\times}I\) or \((S^2{\times}S^1 )\backslash B^3\) and the boundary of \(X\) consists of one or two good spherical \(2\)-orbifolds. Furthermore, any closed, orientable bad \(3\)-orbifold \(\mathcal{O}\) contains some \(X\in\mathcal{X}\) as a sub-orbifold. Removing \(X\) and capping the resulting boundary results in a new \(3\)-orbifold. Then repeating this process a finite number of times results in a good orbifold. Conversely, any closed, orientable \(3\)-orbifold is obtained from a good \(3\)-orbifold by successively removing one or two orbifold \(3\)-balls and attaching a bad orbifold \(X\) from \(\mathcal{X}\) a finite number of times.