scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1057269

MaRDI QIDQ4351007zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Colin Rourke

Publication date 23 February 1999

zbMATH Keywords

3-manifold\(H\)-diagramAN 2-spherecomplete systemhandlebodyhomotopy 3-spherenormal curvenormal surface

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Review text

The author describes an effective algorithm for finding a counterexample to the Poincaré conjecture. This is a consequence of two algorithms: (1) The Rêgo-Rourke algorithm which lists all Heegaard diagrams of homotopy 3-spheres. (2) The Rubinstein-Thompson algorithm which will decide if a given triangulated 3-manifold is homeomorphic to \(S^3\). A Heegaard diagram can be converted into a triangulation in several algorithmic ways and combining all three algorithms the author obtains the following result: Main Theorem. There is an algorithm with no input data which lists all nontrivial homotpy 3-spheres. Thus, if the Poincaré conjecture is false, the algorithm will produce a proven counterexample in finite time. (If it is true, it will continue forever with no results.) The author briefly sketches the two main algorithms (of Rêgo-Rourke and Rubinstein-Thompson) and finishes his paper with some comments on the practicality of the combined algorithm.

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Cited in

(2)

• ON COMPUTING ENCLOSING ISOSCELES TRIANGLES AND RELATED PROBLEMS
• Could the Poincaré conjecture be false?

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