A viable and still unproved conjecture states that, if $X$ is a smooth algebraic surface and $C$ is a smooth algebraic curve in $X$, then $C$ realizes the smallest possible genus amongst all smoothly embedded $2$-manifolds in its homology class. A proof is announced here for this conjecture, for a large class of surfaces $X$, under the assumption that the normal bundle of $C$ has positive degree.
The algebraic genus of a knot is an invariant that arises when one considers upper bounds for the topological slice genus coming from Freedman's theorem that Alexander polynomial one knots are topologically slice. This paper develops null-homologous twisting operations as a tool for studying the algebraic genus and, consequently, for bounding the topological slice genus above. As applications we give new upper bounds on the algebraic genera of torus knots and satellite knots.
In this paper, we give several results on area minimizing surfaces in strictly mean convex 3-manifolds. First, we study the genus of absolutely area minimizing surfaces in a compact, orientable, strictly mean convex 3-manifold M bounded by a simple closed curve in the boundary of M. Our main result is that for any g>=0, the space of simple closed curves in the boundary of M where all the absolutely area minimizing surfaces they bound in M has genus >=g is open and dense in the space A of nullhomologous simple closed curves in the boundary of M. For showing this we prove a bridge principle for …
Kearton observed that mutation can change the concordance class of a knot. A close examination of his example reveals that it is of 4-genus 1 and has a mutant of 4-genus 0. The first goal of this paper is to construct examples to show that for any pair of nonnegative integers m and n there is a knot of 4-genus m with a mutant of 4-genus n. A second result of this paper is a crossing change formula for the algebraic concordance class of a knot, which is then applied to prove the invariance of the algebraic concordance class under mutation. The paper concludes with an application of crossing cha…
The present paper is devoted to present a unifying survey about some special classes of crystallizations of compact PL $4$-manifolds with empty or connected boundary, called {\it semi-simple} and {\it weak semi-simple crystallizations}, with a particular attention to their properties of minimizing combinatorially defined PL-invariants, such as the {\it regular genus}, the {\it Gurau degree}, the {\it gem-complexity} and the {\it (gem-induced) trisection genus}. The main theorem, yielding a summarizing result on the topic, is an original contribution. Moreover, in the present paper the additivi…
A Teichmüller curve is an algebraic and isometric immersion of an algebraic curve into the moduli space of Riemann surfaces. We give the first explicit algebraic models of Teichmüller curves of positive genus. Our methods are based on the study of certain Hilbert modular forms and the use of Ahlfors's variational formula to identify eigenforms for real multiplication on genus two Jacobians. We also present evidence that Teichmüller curves admit a rich arithmetic geometry by exhibiting examples with small primes of bad reduction and notable divisors supported at their cusps.
Suppose C is a singular curve in CP^2 and it is topologically an embedded surface of genus g; such curves are called cuspidal. The singularities of C are cones on knots K_i. We apply Heegaard Floer theory to find new constraints on the sets of knots {K_i} that can arise as the links of singularities of cuspidal curves. We combine algebro-geometric constraints with ours to solve the existence problem for curves with genus one, d>33, that possess exactly one singularity which has exactly one Puiseux pair (p;q). The realized triples (p,d,q) are expressed as successive even terms in the Fibonacci …
We introduce a new link invariant called the algebraic genus, which gives an upper bound for the topological slice genus of links. In fact, the algebraic genus is an upper bound for another version of the slice genus proposed here: the minimal genus of a surface in the four-ball whose complement has infinite cyclic fundamental group. We characterize the algebraic genus in terms of cobordisms in three-space, and explore the connections to other knot invariants related to the Seifert form, the Blanchfield form, knot genera and unknotting. Employing Casson-Gordon invariants, we discuss the algebr…
We use the Blanchfield form to obtain a lower bound on the equivariant slice genus of a strongly invertible knot. For our main application, let $K$ be a genus one strongly invertible slice knot with nontrivial Alexander polynomial. We show that the equivariant slice genus of an equivariant connected sum $\#^n K$ is at least $n/4$. We also formulate an equivariant algebraic concordance group, and show that the kernel of the forgetful map to the classical algebraic concordance group is infinite rank.
In this paper we prove genus bounds for closed embedded minimal surfaces in a closed 3-dimensional manifold constructed via min-max arguments. A stronger estimate was announced by Pitts and Rubistein but to our knowledge its proof has never been published. Our proof follows ideas of Simon and uses an extension of a famous result of Meeks, Simon and Yau on the convergence of minimizing sequences of isotopic surfaces. This result is proved in the second part of the paper.
Kodaira's classification of singular fibers in elliptic fibrations and its translation into the language of monodromies and Lefschetz fibrations has been a boon to the study of 4-manifolds. In this article, we begin the work of translating between singular fibers of genus 2 families of algebraic curves and the positive Dehn twist factorizations of Lefschetz fibrations for a certain subset of the singularities described by Namikawa and Ueno in the 70s. We look at four families of hypersurface singularities in $\mathbb{C}^3$. Each hypersurface comes equipped with a fibration by genus 2 algebraic…
If a knot K bounds a genus one Seifert surface F in the 3-sphere and F contains an essential simple closed curve alpha that has induced framing 0 and is smoothly slice, then K is smoothly slice. Conjecturally, the converse holds. It is known that if K is slice, then there are strong constraints on the algebraic concordance class of such alpha, and it was thought that these constraints might imply that alpha is at least algebraically slice. We present a counterexample; in the process we answer negatively a question of Cooper and relate the result to a problem of Kauffman. Results of this paper …
We study surface representatives of homology classes of finite complexes which minimize certain complexity measures, including its genus and Euler characteristic. Our main result is that up to surgery at nullhomotopic curves minimizers are homotopic to cellwise coverings to the 2-skeleton. From this we conclude that the minimizing problem is in general algorithmically undecidable, but can be solved for 2-dimensional CAT(-1)-complexes.
A derivative of an algebraically slice knot $K$ is an oriented link disjointly embedded in a Seifert surface of $K$ such that its homology class forms a basis for a metabolizer $H$ of $K$. We show that for a genus three algebraically slice knot $K$, the set $\{ \barμ_{\{γ_1,γ_2,γ_3\}}(123) - \barμ_{\{γ'_1,γ'_2,γ'_3\}}(123)| \{γ_1,γ_2,γ_3\}$ and $\{γ'_1,γ'_2,γ'_3\}$ are derivatives of $K$ associated with a metabolizer $H\}$ contains $n\cdot \mathbb{Z}$ where $n$ is determined by a Seifert form of $K$ and a metabolizer $H$. As a corollary, we show that it is possible to realize any integer as a …
A projective algebraic surface which is homeomorphic to a ruled surface over a curve of genus $g\ge 1$ is itself a ruled surface over a curve of genus $g$. In this note, we prove the analogous result for projective algebraic manifolds of dimension 4 in case $g\ge 2$.
We show that the difference between the topological 4-genus of a knot and the minimal genus of a surface bounded by that knot that can be decomposed into a smooth concordance followed by an algebraically simple locally flat surface can be arbitrarily large. This extends work of Hedden-Livingston-Ruberman showing that there are topologically slice knots which are not smoothly concordant to any knot with trivial Alexander polynomial.
The Goeritz group of a genus $g$ Heegaard splitting of a 3-manifold is the group of isotopy classes of orientation-preserving automorphisms of the manifold that preserve the Heegaard splitting. In the context of the standard genus 2 Heegaard splitting of $S^3$, we introduce the concept of Goeritz equivalence of curves, present two algebraic obstructions to Goeritz equivalence of simple closed curves that are straightforward to compute, and provide families of examples demonstrating how these obstructions may be used.
The germ of the universal isomonodromic deformation of a logarithmic connection on a stable n-pointed genus g curve always exists in the analytic category. The first part of this paper investigates under which conditions it is the analytic germification of an algebraic isomonodromic deformation. Up to some minor technical conditions, this turns out to be the case if and only if the monodromy of the connection has finite orbit under the action of the mapping class group. The second part of this paper studies the dynamics of this action in the particular case of reducible rank 2 representations …
It is known that there is no 2-knot with triple point number two. The present work shows that there is no surface-knot of genus one with triple point number two. In order to prove the result, we use Roseman moves and the algebraic intersection number of simple closed curves in the double decker set.
Let $S$ be an orientable, connected surface with infinitely-generated fundamental group. The main theorem states that if the genus of $S$ is finite and at least 4, then the isomorphism type of the pure mapping class group associated to $S$, denoted $\mathrm{PMap}(S)$, detects the homeomorphism type of $S$. As a corollary, every automorphism of $\mathrm{PMap}(S)$ is induced by a homeomorphism, which extends a theorem of Ivanov from the finite-type setting. In the process of proving these results, we show that $\mathrm{PMap}(S)$ is residually finite if and only if $S$ has finite genus, demonstra…
In the moduli space M_g of genus g Riemann surfaces, consider the locus RM_O of Riemann surfaces whose Jacobians have real multiplication by the order O in a totally real number field F of degree g. If g = 2 or 3, we compute the closure of RM_O in the Deligne-Mumford compactification of M_g and the closure of the locus of eigenforms over RM_O in the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the moduli space of holomorphic one-forms. For higher genera, we give strong necessary conditions for a stable curve to be in the boundary of RM_O Boundary strata of RM_O are parameterized by configurations of el…
For each integer $D \geq 5$ with $D \equiv 0$ or $1 \bmod 4$, the Weierstrass curve $W_D$ is an algebraic curve and a finite volume hyperbolic orbifold which admits an algebraic and isometric immersion into the moduli space of genus two Riemann surfaces. The Weierstrass curves are the main examples of Teichmüller curves in genus two. The primary goal of this paper is to determine the number and type of orbifold points on each component of $W_D$. Our enumeration of the orbifold points, together with work of Bainbridge and McMullen, completes the determination of the homeomorphism type of $W_D$ …
We prove that the moduli space of compact genus three Riemann surfaces contains only finitely many algebraically primitive Teichmueller curves. For the stratum consisting of holomorphic one-forms in genus three with a single zero, our approach to finiteness uses the Harder-Narasimhan filtration of the Hodge bundle over a Teichmueller curve to obtain new information on the locations of the zeros of eigenforms. By passing to the boundary of moduli space, this gives explicit constraints on the cusps of Teichmueller curves in terms of cross-ratios of six points on a projective line. These constrai…
The paper gives topological as well as rigid isotopy classification of smooth irreducible algebraic curves in the real projective 3-space for the case when the degree of the curve is at most six and its genus is at most one.
We construct examples of non-isotrivial algebraic families of smooth complex projective curves over a curve of genus 2. This solves a problem from Kirby's list of problems in low-dimensional topology. Namely, we show that 2 is the smallest possible base genus that can occur in a 4-manifold of non-zero signature which is an oriented fiber bundle over a Riemann surface. A refined version of the problem asks for the minimal base genus for fixed signature and fiber genus. Our constructions also provide new (asymptotic) upper bounds for these numbers.
We give an algebraic way of distinguishing the components of the exceptional strata of quadratic differentials in genus three and four. The complete list of these strata is (9, -1), (6,3,-1), (3,3,3, -1) in genus three and (12), (9,3), (6,6), (6,3,3) and (3,3,3,3) in genus four. This result is part of a more general investigation of disjointness of Teichmueller curves with divisors of Brill-Noether type on the moduli space of curves. As a result we show that for many strata of quadratic differentials in low genus the sum of Lyapunov exponents for the Teichmueller geodesic flow is the same for …