High distance Heegaard splittings via Dehn twists (Q2441266)

Let \(S\) be a closed orientable surface of genus \(g\geq 2\). The curve complex of \(S\), \(\mathcal{C}(S)\), is a complex whose vertices are isotopy classes of simple closed curves in \(S\), and \(k\) curves determine a \((k-1)\)-simplex if they can be disjointly embedded in \(S\). The distance \(d(\mathcal{A},\mathcal{B})\) between two sets of curves \(\mathcal{A}\), \(\mathcal{B}\) is defined as the minimal number of edges in a path in \(\mathcal{C}(S)\) from a curve in \(\mathcal{A}\) to one in \(\mathcal{B}\). Let \(M\) be a closed orientable 3-manifold and \(M=H_1\cup_S H_2\) a Heegaard splitting of \(M\), so \(H_1\), \(H_2\) are handlebodies and \(S=\partial H_1 = \partial H_2\). Let \(D(H_i) \subset \mathcal{C}(S)\) be the collection of curves in \(S\) that bound a disk in \(H_i\), \(i=1,2\). The Hempel distance of the Heegaard splitting is defined as \(d(D(H_1),D(H_2))\). There has been interest in finding manifolds having splittings with high Hempel distance. \textit{J. Hempel} [Topology 40, No. 3, 631--657 (2001; Zbl 0985.57014)] proved that there exist Heegaard splittings of arbitrarily high distance by taking a high power of a pseudo-Anosov map as the gluing map between the handlebodies. However this result does not construct concrete examples and the exact Hempel distance is not determined. In the paper under review, examples of Heegaard splittings with prescribed Hempel distance are constructed, where the gluing map of the handlebodies is a power of a Dehn twist. Namely, let \(H\) be a genus \(g\) handlebody, \(g\geq 2\), and \(\gamma\) a simple closed curve in \(\partial H\) such that \(d(D(H),\gamma)=d\), for some \(d\geq 2\). Let \(\tau_\gamma\) be a Dehn twist along \(\gamma\). It is shown that if \(k\geq 2d-2\), then \(d(D(H), \tau_\gamma^k(D(H)))=2d-2\). Then taking a handlebody \(H'\) such that \(D(H')= \tau_\gamma^k(D(H))\), gives a manifold with the desired Heegaard splitting. Similar results have been obtained independently and with different techniques by A. Ido, Y. Jang and T. Kobayashi [\textit{A. Ido} et al., Algebr. Geom. Topol. 14, No. 3, 1395--1411 (2014; Zbl 1297.57029)], and by \textit{R. Qiu, Y. Zou} and \textit{Q. Guo} [``The Heegaard distances cover all non-negative integers'', \url{arXiv:1302.5188}].