Shrinking of toroidal decomposition spaces

From MaRDI portal



Abstract: Given a sequence of oriented links L^1,L^2,L^3,... each of which has a distinguished, unknotted component, there is a decomposition of the 3-sphere naturally associated to it, which is constructed as the components of the intersection of an infinite sequence of nested solid tori. The Bing and Whitehead continua are simple, well known examples. We give a necessary and sufficient criterion to determine whether such a decomposition is shrinkable, generalising previous work of F. Ancel and M. Starbird and others. This criterion can effectively determine, in many cases, whether the quotient map which identifies the elements of the decomposition to points can be approximated by homeomorphisms.


Let \(X\) be a compact metric space. A collection \(\mathcal{D}= \{ \Delta _i\}\) of pairwise disjoint closed subsets of \(X\) such that \(\cup \mathcal{D} = X\) is called a decomposition of \(X\). A decomposition \(\mathcal{D}\) of a compact manifold \(X\) is shrinkable if the quotient map \(q: X \rightarrow X/\mathcal{D}\) can be approximated by homeomorphisms, that is, there exists a sequence of homeomorphisms which converges to \(q\) in the supremum norm. In particular this implies that \(X\) is homeomorphic to \(X/\mathcal{D}\). Approximating a map by homeomorphisms is possible if and only if the Bing shrinking criterion holds, see \textit{R. D. Edwards} [in: Proc. int. Congr. Math., Helsinki 1978, Vol. 1, 111--127 (1980; Zbl 0428.57004)].NEWLINENEWLINELet \(\mathcal{L}= L^1, L^2, L^3,...\) be a sequence of oriented links in \(S^3\), where \(L^i = L_0^i \cup L_1{}^i\cup \cdots \cup L_ {n_i }^i\) is an oriented \((n_i+1)\)-component link with a specified component \(L_0^i\) unknotted. The aim of the paper is to give general conditions to decide whether the following decomposition \(\mathcal{D}\) of \(S^3\) associated to \(\mathcal{L}\) shrinks. Each link \(L^i\) determines a link \(L_1^i\cup \cdots \cup L_{n_i}^i\) in \(S^3 - \nu L_0^i\), the complement of an open regular neighborhood of \(L_0^i\). The orientation of \(L_0^i\) and the embedding in \(S^3\) determine a canonical diffeomorphism \(S^3 - \nu L_0^i \cong S^1 \times D^2\). A closed regular neighborhood \(cl (\nu ( L^i - L_0^i))\) of \( L^i - L_0^i\) is in the same way canonically diffeomorphic to a disjoint union of solid tori. Therefore, every link \(L^i\) determines an embedding \(\hat {L}^i : \sqcup _{k=1}^{n_i} S^1 \times D^2 \hookrightarrow S^1 \times D^2\). These embeddings determine a sequence \(T_0 \supset T_1 \supset T_2 \cdots\) where \(T_0 \subset S^3\) is a single unknotted solid torus and each subsequent term \(T_s = \sqcup _{I_s} S^1 \times D^2\) is a disjoint union of solid tori, with \(I_s := \Pi_{i=1}^s n_i\) and \(I_0 := 1\). For \(s\in \mathbb {N}\), the subset \(T_s \subset T_{s-1}\) is obtained as \(T_s = \sqcup _{I_{s-1}} \sqcup_{k=1}^{n_s} S^1 \times D^2 \hookrightarrow \cup _{I_{s-1}} S^1 \times D^2 = T_{s-1}\). The decomposition \(\mathcal{D}\) is defined as the connected components of the intersection \(\cap_{s\in \mathbb N} T_s\) (as usual, only the subsets which are not singleton are specified). These decomposition spaces are called toroidal. To every link \(L\) in a solid torus a function \(D_L : \mathbb{N}\cup \{0\} \rightarrow \mathbb{N}\cup \{0\}\) is associated called the disc replicating function of \(L\). These functions provide a way to decide whether a decomposition obtained from a sequence of such links is shrinkable. The main theorem states that a decomposition \(\mathcal{D}\) of \(S^3\) obtained from a sequence of links \(\{ L^i\}_{i\in \mathbb {N}}\) is shrinkable if and only if \(lim_{p\rightarrow \infty} ( D_{L^{m+p}} \circ \cdots \circ D_{L^m}) (k) = 0\) for all \(k,m \in \mathbb{N}\). Also, the authors give new examples of decompositions for which they can determine whether they shrink. This generalizes previous results of \textit{R. B. Sher} [Fundam. Math. 61, 225--241 (1968; Zbl 0157.29902)], \textit{S. Armentrout} [Fundam. Math. 69, 15--37 (1970; Zbl 0209.54802)], \textit{F. D. Ancel} and \textit{M. P. Starbird} [Topology 28, No. 3, 291--304 (1989; Zbl 0679.57006)], and \textit{D. G. Wright} [Fundam. Math. 132, No. 2, 105--116 (1989; Zbl 0685.57008)].











This page was built for publication: Shrinking of toroidal decomposition spaces

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2921814)