Two-sided bounds for the complexity of cyclic branched coverings of two-bridge links (Q847009)

The authors consider closed orientable hyperbolic 3-manifolds \(M\) that arise as cyclic branched coverings of two-bridge knots (or links) in the 3-sphere. For such manifolds the authors establish upper and lower bounds on the Matveev complexity \(c(M)\) [\textit{S. V. Matveev}, Acta Appl. Math. 19, No. 2, 101--130 (1990; Zbl 0724.57012)], which is an integer representing the minimal number of tetrahedra to triangulate \(M\) (The last statement ignores some exceptional cases and uses the word triangulation in a loose sense, namely just a gluing of tetrahedra along faces). One example of the bounds established in the article is the following upper bound: Let \(K\) be the two bridge knot given by \(K(p,q)\) where \(0<q<p\) and \(M_n\) be the meridian-cyclic \(n\)-fold branched cover of \(K(p,q)\) then: \[ c(M_n)\leq n(p-1). \] This inequality also extends to two-bridge links with an appropriate definition of the covering. The authors show the same upper bound for the Delzant \(T\)-invariant of the fundamental group of the manifold [\textit{T. Delzant}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 470, 153--180 (1996; Zbl 0836.20038)].