THIN POSITION FOR TANGLES (Q4414979)

It is shown that a tangle exterior contains a meridional planar essential surface if it is in thin position and has a thin level. A similar theorem was shown first by \textit{A. Thompson} for knots in \(S^3\) [Topology 36, 505-507 (1997; Zbl 0867.57009)]. The notion of thin position for knots was originally introduced by \textit{D. Gabai} in [J. Differ. Geom. 26, 479-536 (1987; Zbl 0639.57008)]. A tangle \(K \subset B\) is a compact \(1\)-manifold embedded in the unit \(3\)-ball \(B\) with \(K \cap \partial B = \partial K\). Let \(h : B \to [0,1]\) be the level function such that \(h(x)\) is the distance between \(x\) and the center point. When the restriction \(h|K\) is a Morse function, the width of \(K\) is the sum \(\Sigma_i |K \cap h^{-1}(r_i)|\) of the numbers of intersection points of \(K\) and the level spheres \(S_i = h^{-1}(r_i)\) where one such level \(r_i\) is taken for each interval separated by critical values so that \(r_j < r_{j+1}\). A level \(r_i\) is a thin level if \(|K \cap S_i|< \min(|K \cap S_{i-1} |, |K \cap S_{i+1}|)\). \(K\) is called in thin position if its width is minimal up to ambient isotopy of \(K\) in \(B\). A surface \(P\) embedded in the tangle exterior \(E=\)cl \((B-N(K))\) with \(P \cap \partial E = \partial P \subset (\partial N(K) - \partial B)\) is called meridional if each circle of \(\partial P\) bounds a meridian disc of \(N(K)\). It is essential if it is incompressible and not parallel to a subsurface of the boundary \(\partial E\).