The curves not carried (Q515281)

For a train track \(\tau\) on a hyperbolic surface \(S\), let the set of essential simple closed curves carried by \(\tau\) be denoted by \(\mathcal{C}(\tau)\), which is a subset of the curve complex \(\mathcal{C}(S)\). In [Invent. Math. 138, No. 1, 103--149 (1999; Zbl 0941.32012) and Contemp. Math. 355, 309--320 (2004; Zbl 1076.57016)], \textit{H. A. Masur} and \textit{Y. N. Minsky} proved that \(\mathcal{C}(S)\) is a \(\delta\)-hyperbolic space, and \(\mathcal{C}(\tau)\subset \mathcal{C}(S)\) is a quasi-convex subset. In this paper, the authors prove that the set of simple closed curves not carried by \(\tau\) also forms a quasi-convex subset \(\mathcal{C}(S)-\mathcal{C}(\tau)\subset \mathcal{C}(S)\). This is a complementary result of the second theorem of Masur and Minsky above. It implies that, for a maximal birecurrent track \(\tau\), \(\mathcal{C}(\tau)\) is kind of a half-space in \(\mathcal{C}(S)\). The proof of the main result relies on a construction of simple closed curves, and a criterion of simple closed curves not carried by a given train track \(\tau\). The criterion is that, if an essential simple closed curve \(\beta\) is in ``efficient position'' with respect to \(\tau\), and there are two negative index components in \(S-N(\beta\cup \tau)\) that are ``close'' to each other and on different sides of \(\beta\), then \(\beta\) is not carried by \(\tau\). A summary of the above construction and criterion is the following statement. Suppose \(\tau\) is a train track on a surface \(S\), and \(\alpha\) is an essential simple closed curve carried by \(\tau\). If \(\text{supp}(\alpha,\tau)\) is a large train track but not a maximal track, then there exists an essential simple closed curve \(\beta\) not carried by \(\tau\), and the geometric intersection number \(i(\alpha,\beta)\leq 1\).