The space of Heegaard splittings

DOI10.1515/CRELLE.2012.016MaRDI QIDQ2838632zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Darryl McCullough, Jesse Johnson

Publication date 10 July 2013

Published in Journal für die Reine und Angewandte Mathematik (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1011.0702

zbMATH Keywords

Goeritz groupHeegaard splitting

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General geometric structures on low-dimensional manifolds (57M50) Groups of diffeomorphisms and homeomorphisms as manifolds (58D05)

Abstract: For a Heegaard surface F in a closed orientable 3-manifold M, H(M,F) = Diff(M)/Diff(M,F) is the space of Heegaard surfaces equivalent to the Heegaard splitting (M,F). Its path components are the isotopy classes of Heegaard splittings equivalent to (M,F). We describe H(M,F) in terms of Diff(M) and the Goeritz group of (M,F). In particular, for hyperbolic M each path component is a classifying space for the Goeritz group, and when the (Hempel) distance of (M,F) is greater than 3, each path component of H(M,F) is contractible. For splittings of genus 0 or 1, we determine the complete homotopy type (modulo the Smale Conjecture for M in the cases when it is not known).

Review text

For a Heegaard surface \(\Sigma\) in a closed orientable \(3\)-manifold \(M\), the space \(\mathcal{H}(M,\Sigma )\) of Heegaard splittings equivalent to \((M,\Sigma )\) is defined to be the space of left cosets Diff\((M)\)/Diff\((M,\Sigma )\), where Diff\((M,\Sigma )\) is the subgroup of Diff\((M)\) consisting of diffeomorphisms taking \(\Sigma\) to \( \Sigma \). Its path-components are the isotopy classes of Heegaard splittings equivalent to \((M,\Sigma )\). The (extended) mapping class group Mod\((M,\Sigma )\) of \((M,\Sigma )\) is the quotient group of Diff\((M,\Sigma )\) modulo the component of the identity diffeomorphism, which becomes the usual mapping class group Mod\((M )\) if \(\Sigma=\emptyset \). The kernel of the natural map Mod\((M,\Sigma )\to \) Mod\((M)\) is the Goeritz group \(G(M,\Sigma )\). In this paper the authors describe \(\mathcal{H}(M,\Sigma )\) in terms of Diff\((M)\) and \(G(M,\Sigma )\).NEWLINENEWLINEIf \(\Sigma\) has genus \(\geq 2\), the components of Diff\((\Sigma )\) are contractible and the authors prove a Theorem that \(\pi_q (\)Diff\((M))\to \pi_q (\mathcal{H}(M,\Sigma ))\) is an isomorphism for \(q\geq 2\), and \(\pi_q (\mathcal{H}(M,\Sigma ))\) is an extension of \(\pi_q (\)Diff\((M))\) by the Goeritz group for \(q=1\).NEWLINENEWLINEThis Theorem applies to all \(M\) with infinite fundamental group, except for the genus \(1\) Heegaard splitting of \(S^1{\times}S^2\). In the latter case, a description of the homotopy type of \(\mathcal{H}(S^1{\times}S^2,\Sigma )\) is given in terms of the space of \(C^{\infty}\)-maps from \(S^1\) to \(S^2\).NEWLINENEWLINEWhen \(M\) is hyperbolic, it is shown that each component of \(\mathcal{H}(M,\Sigma )\) is a classifying space for the Goeritz group and if the Hempel distance \(d(M,\Sigma )\) is greater than \(3\), then \(\mathcal{H}(M,\Sigma )\) has finitely many components, each of which is contractible.NEWLINENEWLINEFinally, the authors determine the complete homotopy types of \(\mathcal{H}(L,\Sigma_n )\), for the unique Heegaard surfaces \(\Sigma_n \) in lens spaces \(L\) (including \(S^3\)) and of \(\mathcal{H}(M,\Sigma )\), for the elliptic \(3\)-manifolds \(M\) different from \(L\). (The latter results are modulo the Smale Conjecture in the cases for \(M\) and \(L\) where it is not known).

Recommendations

• Mapping class groups of medium distance Heegaard splittings
• On classification of Heegaard splittings
• MAPPING CLASS GROUPS OF HEEGAARD SPLITTINGS
• Stabilization of Heegaard splittings
• Heegaard surfaces in Haken 3-manifolds

Cited in

(18)

• On the Birman invariants of Heegaard splittings
• The intersecting kernels of Heegaard splittings
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5811319 (Why is no real title available?)
• Scindements de Heegaard des espaces lenticulaires
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4166074 (Why is no real title available?)
• The mapping class groups of reducible Heegaard splittings of genus two
• Heegaard splittings of branched cyclic coverings of connected sums of lens spaces
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 6126137 (Why is no real title available?)
• Naturality and mapping class groups in Heegaard Floer homology
• Goeritz groups of bridge decompositions
• The Powell conjecture and reducing sphere complexes
• MAPPING CLASS GROUPS OF HEEGAARD SPLITTINGS
• Heegaard splittings with boundary and almost normal surfaces
• Generating the Goeritz group of \(S^3\)
• Finite presentations of the mapping class groups of once-stabilized Heegaard splittings
• Powell's conjecture on the Goeritz group of S^3 is stably true
• The Smale conjecture and min-max theory
• Arc complexes, sphere complexes, and Goeritz groups

This page was built for publication: The space of Heegaard splittings

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2838632)