L-spaces, taut foliations and the Whitehead link (Q6632136)

A part of the \(L\)-space conjecture claims that an irreducible rational homology \(3\)-sphere supports a co-oriented taut foliation if and only if it is not an \(L\)-space.\N\NIn this paper under review, the author studies rational homology \(3\)-spheres obtained from the Whitehead link, which is a hyperbolic, fibered, two-component link, by Dehn surgery on both components.\N\NMore precisely, let \(L\) be the Whitehead link, and let \(M=L(p_1/q_1,p_2/q_2)\) be the \((p_1/q_1,p_2/q_2)\)-surgery on \(L\). Then \(M\) is a rational homology \(3\)-sphere if and only if \(p_1\ne 0\) and \(p_2\ne 0\). The main result shows that \(M\) is an \(L\)-space if and only if \(p_1/q_1\ge 1\) and \(p_2/q_2\ge 1\), and that \(M\) supports a co-oriented taut foliation if and only if \(p_1/q_1<1\) and \(p_2/q_2<1\). Thus this gives the first confirmation for rational homology \(3\)-spheres arisen from a hyperbolic link with at least two components by Dehn surgery that the existence of co-oriented taut foliation is equivalent to be not an \(L\)-space.\N\NFurthermore, when \(M\) admits a co-oriented taut foliation, it has vanishing Euler class if and only if \(|q_i|\equiv 1 \pmod{p_i}\) for \(i=1,2\). In this case, such manifold satisfies the \(L\)-space conjecture. Also, the author states that all the rational homology \(3\)-spheres obtained by integral surgery on the Whitehead link satisfy the \(L\)-space conjecture.\N\NThe proof is separated into two parts. The first part examines \(L\)-space filling slopes, and the second part is the construction of co-oriented taut foliation. Starting from the fact that the Whitehead link is fibered, it uses branched surfaces to construct laminations on the resulting manifolds of Dehn surgery.