Round fold maps on 3-manifolds (Q6091928)

The authors characterize \(3\)-dimensional graph manifolds with the help of round fold maps into \(\mathbb R^2\). A round fold map \(f\) into \(\mathbb R^2\) is a simple stable map, which means \(f\) is a smooth map with only fold singularities such that the preimage of every point in \(\mathbb R^2\) has at most one singular point in each of its connected components and the map \(f\) restricted to its singular set is an immersion into \(\mathbb R^2\) in general position. Moreover round fold maps are such that the restriction of a round fold map \(f\) to its singular set \(S_f\) is an embedding onto the disjoint union \(\bigcup_{i=1}^k C_i\) of some concentric circles \(C_i\) in \(\mathbb R^2\). Simple stable maps were introduced and also the relation between graph manifolds and simple stable maps was studied in [\textit{O. Saeki}, Topology 35, No. 3, 671--698 (1996; Zbl 0864.57028); J. Fac. Sci., Univ. Tokyo, Sect. I A 40, No. 1, 73--124 (1993; Zbl 0794.57014); Kodai Math. J. 17, No. 3, 518--529 (1994; Zbl 0856.57005); Topology 35, No. 3, 671--698 (1996; Zbl 0864.57028)], where the author obtained among other results that a closed orientable \(3\)-manifold admits a simple stable map into the plane if and only if it is a graph manifold. Round fold maps were introduced in [\textit{N. Kitazawa}, RIMS Kôkyûroku Bessatsu B38, 45--59 (2013; Zbl 1292.57026); Tokyo J. Math. 37, No. 2, 385--403 (2014; Zbl 1337.57061); Hokkaido Math. J. 43, No. 3, 327--359 (2014; Zbl 1307.57018)] and they can be defined similarly in higher dimensions. In [\textit{N. Kitazawa} and \textit{O. Saeki}, J. Singul. 26, 1--12 (2023; Zbl 1529.57031)], the authors characterized those smooth closed \(n\)-dimensional manifolds that admit round fold maps and directed round fold maps into \(\mathbb R^{n-1}\) for \(n \geq 4\). In the paper under review the authors prove that a closed orientable \(3\)-manifold admits a round fold map into \(\mathbb R^2\) if and only if it is a graph manifold. A round fold map \(f\) on a closed orientable \(3\)-manifold into \(\mathbb R^2\) is called directed if the number of components of the preimages of the points in \(\mathbb R^2\) is increasing by exactly one whenever we cross a circle component \(C_i\) of \(f(S_f)\) toward the common center of \(\bigcup_{i=1}^k C_i\). Let \(P\) denote the compact surface obtained from the \(2\)-sphere by removing three open disks. The authors also prove that a closed connected orientable graph \(3\)-manifold admits a directed round fold map into \(\mathbb R^2\) if and only if it can be decomposed into a union of finite numbers of copies of \(P\times S^1\) and \(D^2\times S^1\) such that the corresponding graph is a tree. Some interesting corollaries are also obtained in the paper: If \(M\) is a closed connected orientable graph \(3\)-manifold and the first homology \(H_1(M; \mathbb Q)\) vanishes, then \(M\) admits a directed round fold map into \(\mathbb R^2\). Also, every closed orientable Seifert \(3\)-manifold over \(S^2\) admits a directed round fold map into \(\mathbb R^2\). Finally, some interesting open problems are listed in the paper.