Essential meridional surfaces for tunnel number one knots (Q5931997)

Let \(k\) be a knot in \(S^3\) and \(N(k)\) be a tubular neighbourhood of \(k.\) A meridional surface \(\widehat S\) (that is, with the boundary \(\partial S\subset \partial N(k)\) consisting of meridians of \(k\)) is called meridionally compressible in \((S^3,k)\) if there is an embedded disk \(D\) in \(S^3,\) intersecting \(k\) at most once, with \(\widehat S\cap D=\partial D,\) so that \(\partial D\) is a nontrivial curve on \(\widehat S\), and is not parallel to a component of \(\partial \widehat S\) on \(\partial N(k).\) Otherwise, \(\widehat S\) is called meridionally incompressible. A surface in \(E(k)=S^3\smallsetminus \operatorname {int} N(k) \) is essential if it is incompressible (in the ordinary sense), with incompessible boundary (\(\partial\)-incompressible), and non-boundary parallel. Recall that a knot \(k\) has tunnel number one if there is an arc \(\tau\) properly embedded in \(E(k)\) such that \(E(k)\smallsetminus \tau\) is a genus 2 handlebody. Main results of the paper are the following two theorems Theorem 1. For each pair of integers \(g\geq 1\) and \(n\geq 1,\) there are tunnel number one knots k, such that there is an essential meridional surface \(S\) in the exterior \(E(k)\) of \(k,\) of genus \(g\) and with \(2n\) boundary components. Furthermore, \(S\) is meridionally incompressible. Theorem 2. For each positive integer \(n,\) there are tunnel number one knots \(k,\) such that in the exterior of \(k\) there are \(n\) disjoint, non-parallel, closed incompressible surfaces, each of genus \(n.\) The easy consequence of theorem 2 is the following statement: for each positive integer \(n,\) there is a closed, irreducible 3-manifold \(M,\) with Heegaard genus 2, such that in \(M\) there are \(n\) disjoint, non-parallel, closed incompressible surfaces, each of genus \(n.\)