Heegaard genus of the connected sum of \(m\)-small knots (Q874820)

The authors generalise a result of Morimoto on the Heegaard genus of the exterior of a connected sum of knots [\textit{K. Morimoto}, Math. Ann. 317, No.~3, 489--508 (2000; Zbl 0981.57005)]. More precisely, they prove the following: The exterior of the connected sum of \(n\geq2\) \(m\)-small knots \(K_i\subset M_i\), where the \(M_i\)'s are orientable manifolds, has Heegaard genus strictly smaller than the sum of the Heegaard genera of the \(n\) knot exteriors if and only if a proper sub-knot of the connected sum admits a primitive meridian. Recall that a knot is said to be \textsl{\(m\)-small} if its exterior does not contain essential surfaces whose boundary components are meridians and that a meridian is \textsl{primitive} if the exterior of the knot admits a Heegaard splitting in which a compressing disc of the handlebody meets the Heegaard surface in a circle which intersects transversally in a single point a curve parallel to the meridian. The sufficiency of the condition follows easily from work of Morimoto who proved it in the case \(n=2\) without the hypothesis that the knots are \(m\)-small. The necessity of the condition (which was proved by Morimoto for two \(m\)-small knots in the \(3\)-sphere), is proved by induction on \(n\).