A standard form of incompressible surfaces in 3-dimensional handlebodies (Q6051325)

Let \(V\) be a 3-dimensional handlebody of genus \(g\) greater than or equal to two. Assuming that \(V\) is placed vertically, the height function \(h:\mathbb{R}^{3}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) with \(h(x,y,z)=z\) is considered and a maximal essential disk system \(\mathcal{D}=\{D_{1},\dots,D_{3g-3}\}\) is defined with respect to \(h,\) as a family of essential disks of \(V\) such that each \(D_{i}\) is a preimage of a regular value of \(h\) at different heights. \(\mathcal{D}\) cuts \(V\) into \(2g-2\) 3-balls. The closures of them are denoted by \(P_{i},\) \(i=1,\dots,2g-2\) and each one is called a pant-shaped ball. A disk \(D\) in \(V\) is called a horizontal disk if it is a component of the preimage of a regular value of \(h.\) A surface \(S\subset V\) is called pseudo-essential if for each horizontal disk \(D\) that intersects \(S\) transversely, the intersection \(S\cap D\) consists of an arc/arcs alone. It is proved that each pseudo-essential surface can be deformed so that each component of \(S\) which is induced in each pant-shaped ball is a disk having a standard form. The exact definition of this standard form is given by applying Morse theory and can be read in detail in the paper. It is worth noting that each incompressible surface properly embedded in \(V\) can be deformed so that it is pseudo-essential. The main result of the paper can be stated as follows: Let \(V\) be a handledody of genus \(g\geq2,\) and \(\mathcal{D}\) be a maximal essential disk system of \(V.\) Suppose that \(S\subset V\) is a connected pseudo-essential surface that is placed in the standard form with respect to \(\mathcal{D}.\) Then there is an algorithm of finitely many steps to determine whether \(S\) is incompressible or not. Notice that this algorithm is very practical and is tested by several examples.