Bounded domains in the 3-dimensional space
Abstract
We study the shapes of compact connected 3-manifolds with connected smooth boundary in the 3-dimensional Euclidean space . We call them bounded domains. Since compact connected surfaces in bound unique bounded domains, the objects are the same as compact connected surfaces in . To understand their shapes, we use the Morse height functions which are the orthogonal projections from the bounded domains to lines, and their Reeb graphs and which are obtained by identifying connected components of level sets of maps to points. We introduce the weighted Reeb graphs and the weighted indexed Reeb graphs . We investigate whether a bounded domain admits a Morse height function with the weighted Reeb graphs with small weight. We show that if the weights are less than 2. can be deformed by isotopy to an embedded handlebody. The original question which lead us to investigate bounded domains is the following question: "Can the domain be isotoped so that, for every point of the boundary , there is a ray from the point which intersects the domain only at the end point?" In other words, "Can be isotoped to so that every point of is visible from the infinity?" Under the minNCP hypothesis, we show that if a bounded domain can be isotoped to so that every point of the boundary is visible from the infinity, then is an embedded handlebody. Here the minNCP hypothesis asserts that, if is isotopic to a visible , can be taken so that is a Morse height function with minimum number of critical points in the isotopy class of the embedding .
Cite
@article{arxiv.2511.01278,
title = {Bounded domains in the 3-dimensional space},
author = {Takashi Tsuboi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.01278},
year = {2025}
}