Thin position for knots and 3-manifolds (Q930740)

The concept of thin position for a knot was first introduced by Gabai. Roughly speaking, \(K \subset S^3 - (\text{two points}) \cong S^2 \times \mathbb{R}\) is said to be in thin position, if it minimizes a certain complexity related to the intersections of \(K\) with the spheres \(S^2 \times \{t\}\) within its isotopy class. An analogous definition of thin position for a handle decomposition of a 3-manifold \(M\) has been given by Scharlemann and Thompson. In this case the complexity is related to the level surfaces of the corresponding Morse function on \(M\). Here the authors compare the two notions of thin position. In particular, they prove that: if \(K \subset S^3\) is a 2- or 3-bridge knot, then the handle decomposition that the double branched cover of \((S^3,K)\) inherits from a thin position of \(K\) is thin. They also observe that this correspondence does not hold in general, counterexamples being provided by torus knots with higher bridge number.