Quadruple points of regular homotopies of surfaces in 3-manifolds

DOI10.1016/S0040-9383(99)00055-5MaRDI QIDQ1571002zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Tahl Nowik

Publication date 26 October 2000

Published in Topology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9808046

zbMATH Keywords

immersionsquadruple pointsregular homotopy

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Embeddings and immersions in topological manifolds (57N35)

Abstract: Let GI denote the space of all generic immersions of a surface F into a 3-manifold M. Let q(H_t) denote the number mod 2 of quadruple points of a generic regular homotopy H_t : F -> M. We are interested in defining an invariant Q : GI -> Z/2 such that q(H_t) = Q(H_0) - Q(H_1) for any generic regular homotopy H_t : F -> M. Such an invariant exists iff q=0 for any "closed" generic regular homotopy (abbreviated CGRH.) Max and Banchoff proved that for any CGRH H_t: S^2 -> R^3 indeed q(H_t)=0. We generalize their result as follows: Theorem 3.9: Let F be a system of closed surfaces, and let H_t : F -> R^3 be any CGRH, then q(H_t)=0. Theorem 3.15: Let M be an orientable irreducible 3-manifold with pi_3(M)=0. Let F be a system of closed orientable surfaces. If H_t : F -> M is any CGRH in the regular homotopy class of an embedding, then q(H_t)=0. We demonstrate the need for the assumptions of Theorem 3.15 in various counter-examples. We give an explicit formula for the above mentioned invariant Q for embeddings of a system of tori in R^3.

Review text

Let \(F\) be a compact, connected surface and \(M\) be a 3-manifold. The author shows that any closed generic regular homotopy \(H_t: F \to M\) has an even number of quadruple points if \(M\) is Euclidean 3-space. The same is true for general 3-manifolds in place of Euclidean 3-space under certain assumptions. Examples are given to show that in some situations the number can be odd. Let \(GI\) denote the space of all generic immersions of the surface \(F\) into a 3-manifold \(M\). In case \(M\) is Euclidean 3-space or another 3-manifold so that closed generic homotopies have an even number of quadruple points, the author defines an invariant \(Q\) from \(GI\) into the integers mod 2 so that if \(H_t\) is a generic regular homotopy between such immersions, then \(Q(H_0) = Q(H_1)\). The author gives an explicit formula for the invariant \(Q\) for embeddings of a torus in Euclidean 3-space.

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Cited in

(8)

• Automorphisms and embeddings of surfaces and quadruple points of regular homotopies
• Symmetric extensions of dihedral quandles and triple points of non-orientable surfaces
• An elementary proof of the Friedman immersion theorem
• Immersions of surfaces into aspherical 3-manifolds
• Regular-equivalence of \(2\)-knot diagrams and sphere eversions
• Formulae for order one invariants of immersions of surfaces
• Immersions of non-orientable surfaces
• Generic immersions of the two-sphere to \(R^{3}\) and their skeletons

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