A quadratic bound on the number of boundary slopes of essential surfaces with bounded genus (Q5961889)

Let \(M\) be a compact orientable \(3\)-manifold with \(\partial M\) a single torus. A proper immersion \(f: (F, \partial F) \rightarrow (M, \partial M)\) from a compact surface \(F\) to \(M\) is called essential if it is \(\pi_1\)-injective and \(\partial\)-injective. Let \(N_g(M)\) be the number of slopes in the torus \(\partial M\) that can be realized as boundary slopes of essential immersed surfaces of genus at most \(g\). The paper under review shows that \(N_g(M) \leq C(M) g^2 + C'(M)\) for some constants \(C(M)\) and \(C'(M)\) that depend on \(M\), and that these constants can be algorithmically determined. In the case where \(M\) is hyperbolic, \(N_g \leq C g^2\) for a constant \(C\) independent of \(M\), which was proved by \textit{J. Hass, J. H. Rubinstein} and \textit{S. Wang} [J. Differ. Geom. 52, No.~2, 303--325 (1999; Zbl 0978.57016)]. There they proved that \(N_g(M)\) is finite for general case, but no bound was given. \textit{Q. Zhang} proved \(N_g(M) \leq C''(M) g^3\) for some constant \(C''(M)\) that depends on \(M\) [J. Knot Theory Ramifications 18, No.~5, 591--603 (2009; Zbl 1187.57018)]. The following is a rough sketch of the proof. Let \(M_0\) be the component with \(\partial M \subset M_0\) of the JSJ decomposition of \(M\) by essential tori. When \(M_0\) is hyperbolic, the proof is similar to the case where \(M\) is hyperbolic. When \(M_0\) is a Seifert fiber space, a \(\lq\lq\)special'' horizontal surface \(S\) of reference is taken in \(M_0\). Let \(F\) be an essential immersed surface in \(M\). Then it is shown that the slope of \(\partial F\) intersects both the slope of \(\partial S \cap \partial M\) and the slope of a regular fiber in \(\partial M \subset M_0\) in points the numbers of which are bounded by a linear function of \(g\).