Flipping bridge surfaces and bounds on the stable bridge number (Q633885)

Let \(H\) be a compression body. A set of properly embedded arcs \(\tau\) in \(H\) is trivial if each arc is parallel to an arc in \(\partial_+ H\) or it is a vertical arc. Let \(T\) be a tangle in a compact orientable 3-manifold \(M\), that is, a collection of properly embedded arcs and circles in \(M\). Let \(\Sigma\) be a connected surface embedded in \(M\). We say that \(\Sigma\) is a bridge surface if \(\Sigma\) splits \(M\) into two compression bodies \(H^{+}\) and \(H^{-}\), it is transverse to \(T\), and \(\tau^{\pm}=H^{\pm}\cap T\) are trivial arcs in the corresponding compression body. For \(\Sigma\) a bridge surface, \(\chi(\Sigma)\) denotes the Euler characteristic of the punctured surface. In this paper the authors consider pairs of bridge splittings and want to determine bounds for a splitting that is obtained from both splittings via stabilizations and perturbations. In particular consider the splittings \((\Sigma, (H^{+},\tau^{+}),(H^{-},\tau^{-}))\) and \((\Sigma, (H^{-},\tau^{-}),(H^{+},\tau^{+}))\). Let \(\Sigma''\) be a surface that determines a splitting that is isotopic to stabilizations and perturbations of both splittings. In one of the main results of the paper, a lower bound for \(2-\chi(\Sigma'')\) is given, which depends on \(\chi(\Sigma)\) and \(d(\Sigma,T)\), the distance of \(T\) in the curve complex of \(\Sigma\). It is also shown that there exist infinitely many manifolds \(M_\alpha\) each containing a knot \(k_\alpha\), which has two bridge surfaces \(\Sigma\) and \(\Sigma'\) with \(\chi(\Sigma)=2s\) and \(\chi(\Sigma')=2s-2\), so that if \(\Sigma''\) is isotopic to stabilizations and perturbations of both surfaces, then \(\chi(\Sigma'')\leq 3s+4\). It follows also that for each \(n\geq 2\) there exists a knot \(K\) in \(S^3\) with bridge spheres \(\Sigma\) and \(\Sigma'\), with bridge numbers \(2n-1\) and \(2n\), so that a sphere that is isotopic to perturbations of both surfaces has at least \(3n-4\) bridges, i.e., for large \(n\) it requires many perturbations. These examples are analogous to the ones given by \textit{J. Hass}, \textit{A. Thompson} and \textit{W. Thurston} [Geom. Topol. 13, No. 4, 2029--2050 (2009; Zbl 1177.57018)], which are examples of Heegaard splittings that require many stabilizations to become equivalent.