On weakly keen Heegaard splittings with distance 2 (Q684022)

Let \(M\) be a compact orientable \(3\)-manifold. If there is an orientable closed surface \(S\) which cuts \(M\) into two compression bodies \(V\) and \(W\) with \(S=\partial_{+} V=\partial_{+}W\), then \(M\) has a Heegaard splitting, denoted by \(M=V\cup_{S} W\). \textit{A. Ido}, \textit{Y. Jang} and \textit{T. Kobayashi} [``On keen Heegaard splittings'', \url{arXiv:1605.04513}] introduced keen Heegaard splittings whose Heegaard distance is realized by a unique disk pair on opposite sides of \(S\) and proved the existence of strongly keen Heegaard splittings of genus \(g\) with distance \(n\) \((n\geq 2, g\geq 3)\). Let \(M\) be a compact orientable \(3\)-manifold with \(\partial M\neq \emptyset\), \(F_{1}\) and \(F_{2}\) be two components of \(\partial M\). A Heegaard splitting \(M=V_{1}\cup_{S} V_{2}\) with \(d(S)=n\) is said to be weakly keen if there are essential separating disks \(D_{1}\subset V_{1}\) and \(D_{2}\subset V_{2}\) satisfying \(d_{\mathcal{C}(S)}(\partial D_{1}, \partial D_{2})=n\) such that a component of \(V_{i}-D_{i}\) \((i=1, 2)\) is homeomorphic to \(F_{i}\times I\) and there is a unique geodesic in \(\mathcal{C}(S)\) connecting \(\partial D_{1}\) to \(\partial D_{2}\). In the paper under review, the authors consider weakly keen Heegaard splittings with distance \(2\) and give sufficient conditions for weakly keen Heegaard splitting to be keen and the self-amalgamation of a weakly keen Heegaard splitting to be unstabilized by using the curve complex [\textit{W. J. Harvey}, Ann. Math. Stud. 97, 245--251 (1981; Zbl 0461.30036)] and subsurface projections [\textit{H. A. Masur} and \textit{Y. N. Minsky}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 10, No. 4, 902--974 (2000; Zbl 0972.32011)] as follows: Let \(V_{1}\cup_{S} V_{2}\) be a weakly keen Heegaard splitting with distance \(2\). Suppose \(D_{i}\) \((i=1, 2)\) is a separating essential disk in \(V_{i}\) defined as above, and \(\{\partial D_{1}, C_{0}, \partial D_{2}\}\) is the unique geodesic in \(\mathcal{C}(S)\) connecting \(\partial D_{1}\) to \(\partial D_{2}\). Denote the component of \(V_{i}-D_{i}\) \((i=1, 2)\) which is not homeomorphic to \(F_{i}\times I\) by \(V_{i}'\). Let \(f_{i}\) \((i=1, 2)\) be the subsurface projection from \(\mathcal{C}(S)\) to \(\mathcal{C}(\partial_{+}V_{i}')\), and \(d_{i}=d_{\mathcal{C}(\partial_{+} V_{i}')}(\mathcal{D}_{V_{i}'}, f_{i}(\mathcal{D}_{V_{j}}))\). \textbf{Theorem 1.1.} Suppose \(V_{1}\cup_{S} V_{2}\) is a weakly keen Heegaard splitting with distance \(2\) and \(d_{i}\geq 7\) \((i=1, 2)\). If \(C_{0}\subset \partial_{+}V_{1}'\cap \partial_{+}V_{2}'\), then \(V_{1}\cup_{S} V_{2}\) is a keen Heegaard splitting. If \(C_{0}\subset \partial_{+} V_{i}'\), then \(d_{\mathcal{C}(S)}(\mathcal{D}_{V_{i}}-\partial D_{i}, \mathcal{D}_{V_{j}})\geq 3\), where \(\{i, j\}=\{1, 2\}\). Suppose \(V_{1}\cup_{S} V_{2}\) is a Heegaard splitting. Let \(F_{1}'\) and \(F_{2}'\) be two disjoint essential homeomorphic subsurfaces in \(F_{2}\) and \(V^{1}\cup_{S'} V^{2}\) be the self-amalgamation of \(V_{1}\cup_{S} V_{2}\) along \(F_{1}'\) and \(F_{2}'\). \textbf{Theorem 1.2.} Suppose \(V_{1}\cup_{S} V_{2}\) is a weakly keen Heegaard splitting with distance \(2\) and \(d_{i}\geq 7\) \((i=1, 2)\). If \(C_{0}\subset \partial_{+}V_{2}'\) or \(d_{\mathcal{C}(F_{2})}(\partial F_{i}', f(C_{0}))\geq 2\), then the self-amalgamation of \(V_{1}\cup_{S} V_{2}\) along \(F_{1}'\) and \(F_{2}'\) is unstabilized.