The co-rank conjecture for 3-manifold groups (Q5954970)

The co-rank \(c_1(G)\) of a group \(G\) is the maximal rank of a free group which is a surjective image of \(G\). For the fundamental group of a compact 3-manifold \(M\), this is also called the cut-number of \(M\) and is equal to the maximal number of components of an embedded surface whose complement is connected (also, the co-rank of the fundamental group of a closed surface is equal to its genus). Clearly, \(c_1(M) = c_1(\pi_1M)\) is smaller or equal to the first Betti number \(b_1(M)\) of \(M\), and, in the context of quantum invariants of 3-manifolds, it has been conjectured that \(c_1(M) \geq b_1(M)/3\). In the present paper it is shown that this conjecture is not true: examples of closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds \(M\) (resp. compact 3-manifolds with toroidal boundary) are constructed with \(b_1(M) = 5\) (resp. \(b_1(M) = 4\)) but \(c_1(M)=1\) (other recent examples are due to A. Sikora and, independently, S. Harvey who constructs closed 3-manifolds with \(b_1\) arbitrarily large yet \(c_1=1\)). The construction of the examples in the present paper is based on an unpublished result of Johannson and Johnson and, independently, Casson stating that there exist (pseudo-Anosov) mapping classes of every closed surface of genus at least two which act trivially on the homology of the surface and do not extend over any 3-dimensional handlebody (a proof of this result is sketched in the present paper). Taking such a pseudo-Anosov map \(f\) of a surface of genus two as the monodromy of a surface bundle \(M\) over the circle (so \(b_1(M) = 5\)), it is shown that \(\pi_1M\) does not surject onto a free group of rank two (otherwise the fundamental group of the fiber would also surject which contradicts the fact that \(f\) does not extend to any handlebody of genus two).