Circular thin position for knots in S^3

DOI10.2140/AGT.2009.9.429MaRDI QIDQ1007219zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors F. Manjarrez-Gutiérrez

Publication date 20 March 2009

Published in Algebraic \& Geometric Topology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0810.3742

zbMATH Keywords

circle-valued Morse functionsknotsSeifert surfacesthin position

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Abstract: A regular circle-valued Morse function on the knot complement C(K) = S^3K is a function f from C(K) to S^1 which separates critical points and which behaves nicely in a neighborhood of the knot. Such a function induces a handle decomposition on the knot exterior E(K) = S^3N (K), with the property that every regular level surface contains a Seifert surface for the knot. We rearrange the handles in such a way that the regular surfaces are as simple as possible. To make this precise the concept of circular width for E(K) is introduced. When E(K) is endowed with a handle decomposition which realizes the circular width we will say that the knot K is in circular thin position. We use this to show that many knots have more than one non-isotopic incompressible Seifert surface. We also analyze the behavior of the circular width under some knot operations.

Review text

A \textit{regular} circle-valued Morse function on the knot complement \(C_K = S^3 \setminus K\) is a function \(f : C_K \rightarrow S^1\) which behaves nicely in a neighborhood of the knot. Such a function induces a handle decomposition on the knot exterior \(E(K) = S^3 \setminus N(K)\), with the property that every regular level surface contains a Seifert surface of the knot. Analogous to \textit{D. Gabai} [J. Differ. Geom. 26, 479--536 (1987; Zbl 0639.57008)] and \textit{M. Scharlemann} and \textit{A. Thompson} [Geometric topology. Joint US-Israel workshop on geometric topology, June 10--16, 1992, Technion, Haifa, Israel. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. Contemp. Math. 164, 231--238 (1994; Zbl 0818.57013)], the author introduces the \textit{circular width} and the \textit{circular thin position} of the knot exterior. The author uses this to show that many knots have more than one nonisotopic incompressible Seifert surface. Furthermore, the author analyzes the behavior of the circular width under some knot operations.

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Cited in

(12)

• Thin position for knots, links, and graphs in 3-manifolds
• Counterexamples to Kauffman's conjectures on slice knots
• Additivity of circular width
• Circular characteristics and fibrations of hyperbolic closed 3-manifolds
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5016804 (Why is no real title available?)
• A distance for circular Heegaard splittings
• Detecting surface bundles in finite covers of hyperbolic closed 3-manifolds
• Thin position for knots and 3-manifolds: a unified approach
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