The main results of the paper is that we give a characteristics for an annulus sum and a once-punctured torus sum of two handlebodies to be a handlebody as follows: 1. The annulus sum $H=H_1\cup_A H_2$ of two handlebodies $H_1$ and $H_2$ is a handlebody if and only if the core curve of $A$ is a longitude for either $H_1$ or $H_2$. 2. Let $H=H_1\cup_T H_2$ be a surface sum of two handlebodies $H_1$ and $H_2$ along a once-punctured torus $T$. Suppose that $T$ is incompressible in both $H_1$ and $H_2$. Then $H$ is a handlebody if and only if the there exists a collection $\{δ, σ\}$ of simple closed curves on $T$ such that either $\{δ, σ\}$ is primitive in $H_1$ or $H_2$, or $\{δ\}$ is primitive in $H_1$ and $\{σ\}$ is primitive in $H_2$.
We give examples of knots in a genus 2 handlebody which have nontrivial Dehn surgeries yielding handlebodies and show that these knots are not 1--bridge.
In this paper, we consider decompositions of closed orientable 3-manifolds with more than 3 handlebodies, where the union of intersections of handlebodies is a multibranched surface. We define stabilization operations for such decompositions and show the stable equivalence.
We prove that there are rational homology balls $B_p$ smoothly embedded in the $2$-handlebodies associated to certain knots. Furthermore we show that, if we rationally blow up the $2$-handlebody along the embedded rational homology ball $B_p$, then the resulting $4$-manifold cannot be obtained just by a sequence of ordinary blow ups from the $2$-handlebody under a certain mild condition.
We study the existence of incompressible embeddings of surfaces into the genus two handlebody. We show that for every compact surface with boundary, orientable or not, there is an incompressible embedding of the surface into the genus two handlebody. In the orientable case the embedding can be either separating or non-separating. We also consider the case in which the genus two handlebody is replaced by an orientable 3-manifold with a compressible boundary component of genus greater than or equal to two.
It is known that the order of a finite group of diffeomorphisms of a 3-dimensional handlebody of genus g > 1 is bounded by the linear polynomial 12(g-1), and that the order of a finite group of diffeomorphisms of a 4-dimensional handlebody (or equivalently, of its boundary 3-manifold), faithful on the fundamental group, is bounded by a quadratic polynomial in g (but not by a linear one). In the present paper we prove a generalization for handlebodies of arbitrary dimension d, uniformizing handlebodies by Schottky groups and considering finite groups of isometries of such handlebodies. We prove…
In contrast to classical knots, the knot type of a genus two handlebody-knot is not determined by its exterior, and it is often a challenging task to distinguish handlebody-knots with homeomorphic exteriors. The present paper considers an invariant (the annulus diagram), defined via Johannson's characteristic submanifold theory and the Koda-Ozawa classification for essential annuli, and demonstrates its capability to distinguish such handlebody-knots; particularly, the annulus diagram is able to differentiate members in the handlebody-knot families given by Motto and Lee-Lee.
For a genus g handlebody H a simplicial complex, with vertices being isotopy classes of certain incompressible surfaces in H, is constructed and several properties are established. In particular, this complex naturally contains, as a subcomplex, the complex of curves of the boundary surface of H. As in the classical theory, the group of automorphisms of this complex is identified with the mapping class group of the handlebody.
Fix a free, orientation-preserving action of a finite group G on a 3-dimensional handlebody V. Whenever G acts freely preserving orientation on a connected 3-manifold X, there is a G-equivariant imbedding of V into X. There are choices of X closed and Seifert-fibered for which the image of V is a handlebody of a Heegaard splitting of X. Provided that the genus of V is at least 2, there are similar choices with X closed and hyperbolic.
The paper applies the JSJ decomposition and Koda-Ozawa's annulus classification to analyze the annulus configuration in a handlebody-knot exterior. We introduce the notion of the annulus diagram, to pack the configuration into a labeled graph, and classify genus two handlebody-knots in terms of their annulus diagrams. Applications to handlebody-knot symmetries are discussed; methods to produce handlebody-knots with various types of annulus diagrams are also presented.
We study the orientation preserving involutions of the orientable 3-dimensional handlebody $H_g$, for any genus $g$. A complete classification of such involutions is given in terms of their fixed points.
For a handlebody of genus $g\geq6$ it is shown that every automorphism of the complex of separating meridians can be extended to an automorphism on the complex of all meridians and, in consequence, it is geometric.
We finish proving that an irreducible automorphism f of a handlebody is efficient if, and only if, a certain standard pair of dual f--invariant laminations have the geometric tightness property. In a previous paper it was proved that this tightness property implies efficiency. We now prove the converse.
The mapping class group $MCG(Σ_g)$ of a surface of genus $g$ has a long-history in topology and group theory. More recently, the mapping class group $MCG(V_g)$ of a handlebody $V_g$ of genus $g$ has become an interesting topic in the study of $3$ manifolds, largely thanks to Heegaard splitting. While $MCG(V_g)$ can be regarded naturally as a sub group of $MCG(Σ_g)$, we could not find any complete proof of this fundamental theorem. It is the purpose of this paper that we give a rigorous proof of embedding of $MCG(V_g)$ into $MCG(V_g)$. The key step is: Any self-homeomorphism $f$ of handlebody $…
We provide a classification of the essential surfaces of non-negative Euler characteristic in the exteriors of genus two handlebodies embedded in the 3-sphere.
By Thurston's hyperbolization theorem, irreducible handlebody-knots are classified into three classes: hyperbolic, toroidal, and atoroidal cylindrical. It is known that a non-trivial handlebody-knot of genus two has a finite symmetry group if and only if it is atoroidal. The paper investigates the topology of cylindrical handlebody-knots of genus two that admit an unknotting annulus; we show that the symmetry group is trivial if the unknotting annulus is unique and of type $2$.
A handlebody link is a union of handlebodies of positive genus embedded in 3-space, which generalizes the notion of links in classical knot theory. In this paper, we consider handlebody links with one genus 2 handlebody and $n-1$ solid tori, $n>1$. Our main result is the complete classification of such handlebody links with six crossings or less, up to ambient isotopy.
The main theorem of this paper generalizes recent results in Dehn surgery to the case of handlebody attachment. We consider attaching handlebodies and solid tori to the boundary of an irreducible, boundary-irreducible, atoroidal and acylindrical 3-manifold. We show that for a large class of homeomorphisms attaching these handlebodies, the fundamental group of the resulting manifold contains the fundamental group of a closed surface of genus at least two.
In this paper we disprove a twenty-two year old theorem about the structure of the Kauffman bracket skein module of the connected sum of two handlebodies. We achieve this by analysing handle slidings on compressing discs in a handlebody. We find more relations than previously predicted for the Kauffman bracket skein module of the connected sum of handlebodies, when one of them is not a solid torus. Additionally, we speculate on the structure of the Kauffman bracket skein module of the connected sum of two solid tori.
The equivalence (or weak equivalence) classes of orientation-preserving free actions of a finite group G on an orientable 3-dimensional handlebody of genus g can be enumerated in terms of sets of generators of G. They correspond to the equivalence classes of generating n-vectors of elements of G, where n=1+(g-1)/|G|, under Nielsen equivalence (or weak Nielsen equivalence). For abelian and dihedral G, this allows a complete determination of the equivalence and weak equivalence classes of actions for all genera. Additional information is obtained for solvable groups and for the groups PSL(2,3^p)…
Using handlebodies we verify a conjecture of P Adjamagbo that if the frontier of a relatively compact subset $V_0$ of a manifold is a submanifold then there is an increasing family $\{V_r\}$ of relatively compact open sets indexed by the positive reals so that the frontier of each is a submanifold, their union is the whole manifold and for each $r\ge 0$ the subfamily indexed by $(r,\infty)$ is a neighbourhood basis of the closure of the $r^{\rm th}$ set.
For two generator free Fuchsian groups, the quotient three manifold is a genus two solid handlebody and its boundary is a hyperelliptic Riemann surface. The convex core is also a hyperelliptic Riemann surface. We find the Weierstrass points of both of these surfaces. We then generalize the notion of a hyperelliptic Riemann surface to a ``hyperelliptic'' three manifold. We show that the handlebody has a unique order two isometry fixing six unique geodesic line segments, which we call the {\sl Weierstrass lines} of the handlebody. The Weierstrass lines are, of course, the analogue of the Weierst…
A recent result of Funayoshi-Koda shows that a handlebody-knot of genus two has a finite symmetry group if and only if it is hyperbolic -- the exterior admits a hyperbolic structure with totally geodesic boundary -- or irreducible, atoroidal, cylindrical -- the exterior contains no essential disks or tori but contains an essential annulus. Based on the Koda-Ozawa classification theorem, essential annuli in an irreducible, atoroidal handlebody-knots of genus two are classified into four classes: type $2$, type $3$-$2$, type $3$-$3$ and type $4$-$1$. We show that under mild condition most genus …
In the curve complex for a surface, a handlebody set is the set of loops that bound properly embedded disks in a given handlebody bounded by the surface. A boundary set is the set of non-separating loops in the curve complex that bound two-sided, properly embedded surfaces. For a Heegaard splitting, the distance between the boundary sets of the handlebodies is zero if and only if the ambient manifold contains a non-separating, two sided incompressible surface. We show that the boundary set is 2-dense in the curve complex, i.e. every vertex is within two edges of a point in the boundary set.
We consider knots and links in handlebodies that have hyperbolic complements and operations akin to composition. Cutting the complements of two such open along separating twice-punctured disks such that each of the four resulting handlebodies has positive genus, and gluing a pair of pieces together along the twice-punctured disks in their boundaries, we show the result is also hyperbolic. This should be contrasted with composition of any pair of knots in the 3-sphere, which is never hyperbolic. Similar results are obtained when both twice-punctured disks are in the same handlebody and we glue …
Let $\textup{H}_g$ be a genus $g$ handlebody and $\textup{MCG}_{2n}(\textup{T}_g)$ be the group of the isotopy classes of orientation preserving homeomorphisms of $\textup{T}_g=\partial\textup{H}_g$, fixing a given set of $2n$ points. In this paper we find a finite set of generators for $\mathcal{E}_{2n}^g$, the subgroup of $\textup{MCG}_{2n}(\textup{T}_g)$ consisting of the isotopy classes of homeomorphisms of $\textup{T}_g$ admitting an extension to the handlebody and keeping fixed the union of $n$ disjoint properly embedded trivial arcs. This result generalizes a previous one obtained by th…
We consider oriented knots and links in a handlebody of genus $g$ through appropriate braid representatives in $S^3$, which are elements of the braid groups $B_{g,n}$. We prove a geometric version of the Markov theorem for braid equivalence in the handlebody, which is based on the $L$-moves. Using this we then prove two algebraic versions of the Markov theorem. The first one uses the $L$-moves. The second one uses the Markov moves and conjugation in the groups $B_{g,n}$. We show that not all conjugations correspond to isotopies.
We study the interactions between toric manifolds and Weinstein handlebodies. We define a partially-centered condition on a Delzant polytope, which we prove ensures that the complement of a corresponding partial smoothing of the toric divisor supports an explicit Weinstein structure. Many examples which fail this condition also fail to have Weinstein (or even exact) complement to the partially smoothed divisor. We investigate the combinatorial possibilities of Delzant polytopes that realize such Weinstein domain complements. We also develop an algorithm to construct a Weinstein handlebody diag…
Let F a closed connected orientable surface bounding a genus g handlebody H. In this paper we find a finite set of generators for the subgroup E(2,g) of the pure mapping class group of the twice punctured torus PMCG(2,g), consisting of the isotopy classes of homeomorphisms of F which admit an extension to H keeping a properly embedded trivial arc fixed. This subgroup turns out to be important for the study of knots in closed 3-manifolds via (g,1)-decomposition. In fact, the knots represented by the isotopy classes belonging to the same left cosets of E(2,g) in PMCG(2,g) are equivalent.
A complex of incompressible surfaces in a handlebody is constructed so that it contains, as a subcomplex, the complex of curves of the boundary of the handlebody. For genus 2 handlebodies, the group of automorphisms of this complex is used to characterize the mapping class group of the handlebody. In particular, it is shown that all automorphisms of the complex of incompressible surfaces are geometric, that is, induced by a homeomorphism of the handlebody.
An extended Kleinian group whose orientation-preserving half is a Schottky group is called an extended Schottky group. These groups correspond to the real points in the Schottky space. Their geometric structures is well known and it permits to provide information on the locus of fixed points of symmetries of handlebodies. A group generated by two different extended Schottky groups, both with the same orientation-preserving half, is called a dihedral extended Schottky group. We provide a structural description of these type of groups and, as a consequence, we obtain sharp upper bounds for the s…
In this paper we study the kernel of the homomorphism $B_{g,n} \to B_n$ of the braid group $B_{g,n}$ in the handlebody $\mathcal{H}_g$ to the braid group $B_n$. We prove that this kernel is a semi-direct product of free groups. Also, we introduce an algebra $H_{g,n}(q)$, which is some analog of the Hecke algebra $H_n(q)$, constructed by the braid group $B_n$.
Given a (genus 2) cube-with-holes M, i.e. the complement in S^3 of a handlebody H, we relate intrinsic properties of M (like its cut number) with extrinsic features depending on the way the handlebody H is knotted in S^3. Starting from a first level of knotting that requires the non-existence of a planar spine for H, we define several instances of knotting of H in terms of the non-existence of spines with special properties. Some of these instances are implied by an intrinsic counterpart in terms of the non-existence of special cut-systems for M. We study a natural partial order on these insta…
Embeddings of pairs of disjoint nonparallel primitive simple closed curves in the boundary of a genus two handlebody are classified. Briefly, two disjoint primitives either lie on opposite ends of a product $F \boldsymbol{\times} I$, or they lie on opposite ends of a kind of "twisted" product $F \widetilde{\boldsymbol{\times}} I$, where $F$ is a once-punctured torus. If one of the curves is a proper power of a primitive, the situation is simpler. Either the curves lie on opposite sides of a separating disk in the handlebody, or they bound a nonseparating essential annulus in the handlebody.
Given a symmetry $τ$ of a closed Riemann surface $S$, there exists an extended Kleinian group $K$, whose orientation-preserving half is a Schottky group $Γ$ uniformizing $S$, such that $K/Γ$ induces $\langle τ\rangle$; the group $K$ is called an extended Schottky group. A geometrical structural description, in terms of the Klein-Maskit combination theorems, of both Schottky and extended Schottky groups is well known. A dihedral extended Schottky group is a group generated by the elements of two different extended Schottky groups, both with the same orientation-preserving half. Such configurati…
If M is a manifold with compressible boundary, we analyze essential disks in M, as well as incompressible, but not necessarily boundary incompressible, surfaces in M. We are most interested in the case where M is a handlebody or compression body. The analysis depends on a new normal surface theory. We hope the normal surface theory will be used in other papers to describe objects representing limits of essential disks in a handlebody or a 3-manifold with compressible boundary. For certain automorphisms of handlebodies, these disk limits should serve as invariant objects akin to laminations and…
The topology of Stein surfaces and contact 3-manifolds is studied by means of handle decompositions. A simple characterization of homeomorphism types of Stein surfaces is obtained --- they correspond to open handlebodies with all handles of index lessthan or = 2. An uncountable collection of exotic R^4's is shown to admit Stein structures. New invariants of contact 3-manifolds are produced, including a complete (and computable) set of invariants for determining the homotopy class of a 2-plane field on a 3-manifold. These invariants are applicable to Seiberg-Witten theory. Several families of o…
