Related papers: An algorithm to determine the Heegaard genus of si…
The Heegaard genus is a fundamental invariant of 3-manifolds. However, computing the Heegaard genus of a triangulated 3-manifold is NP-hard, and while algorithms exist, little work has been done in making such an algorithm efficient and…
We show that given a partially flat angled ideal triangulation for a 3-manifold $M$ with boundary (as defined by Lackenby), there is an algorithm to produce a list of Heegaard splittings for $M$ such that below a given genus $g$, each…
We give an algorithmic proof of the theorem that a closed orientable irreducible and atoroidal 3-manifold has only finitely many Heegaard splittings in each genus, up to isotopy. The proof gives an algorithm to determine the Heegaard genus…
In this survey we discuss how geometric methods can be used to study topological properties of 3-manifolds such as their Heegaard genus or the rank of their fundamental group. On the other hand, we also discuss briefly some results relating…
Following work of Jaco and Rubinstein (2006), which (non-constructively) proved that any 3-manifold admits a one-vertex layered triangulation, we present an algorithm, with implementation using Regina, that uses a combinatorial presentation…
This paper generalizes the definition of a Heegaard splitting to unify Scharlemann and Thomspon's concept of thin position for 3-manifolds, Gabai's thin position for knots, and Rubinstein's almost normal surface theory. This gives…
We consider closed acylindrical surfaces in 3-manifolds and in knot and link complements, and show that the genus of these surfaces is bounded linearly by the number of tetrahedra in the triangulation of the manifold and by the number of…
We analyze the orbifolds that can be obtained as quotients of hyperbolic 3-manifolds admitting a Heegaard splitting of genus two by their orientation preserving isometry groups. The genus two hyperbolic 3-manifolds are exactly the…
Heegaard splittings provide a natural representation of closed 3-manifolds by gluing two handlebodies along a common surface. These splittings can be equivalently given by two finite sets of meridians lying on the surface, which define a…
We use technology from sutured manifold theory and the theory of Heegaard splittings to relate genus reducing crossing changes on knots in S^3 to twists on surfaces arising in circular Heegaard splittings for knot complements. In a separate…
We introduce a new technique for finding lower bounds on the Heegaard genus of a 3-manifold obtained by gluing a pair of 3-manifolds together along an incompressible torus or annulus. We deduce a number of inequalities, including one which…
The long standing classification problem in the theory of Heegaard splittings of 3-manifolds is to exhibit for each closed 3-manifold a complete list, without duplication, of all its irreducible Heegaard surfaces, up to isotopy. We solve…
The equivariant Heegaard genus of a 3-manifold $M$ with the action of a finite group $G$ of diffeomorphisms is the smallest genus of an equivariant Heegaard splitting for $M$. Although a Heegaard splitting of a reducible manifold is…
The Heegaard genus of a 3-manifold, as well as the growth of Heegaard genus in its finite sheeted cover spaces, has extensively been studied in terms of algebraic, geometric and topological properties of the 3-manifold. This note shows that…
3-manifolds are commonly represented as triangulations, consisting of abstract tetrahedra whose triangular faces are identified in pairs. The combinatorial sparsity of a triangulation, as measured by the treewidth of its dual graph, plays a…
Non-isotopic Heegaard splittings of non-minimal genus were known previously only for very special 3-manifolds. We show in this paper that they are in fact a wide spread phenomenon in 3-manifold theory: We exhibit a large class of knots and…
Little is known on the classification of Heegaard splittings for hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Although Kobayashi gave a complete classification of Heegaard splittings for the exteriors of 2-bridge knots, our knowledge of other classes is…
We construct examples of closed non-Haken hyperbolic 3-manifolds with a Heegaard splitting of arbitrarily large distance.
Let $M_1$ and $M_2$ be orientable irreducible 3--manifolds with connected boundary and suppose $\partial M_1\cong\partial M_2$. Let $M$ be a closed 3--manifold obtained by gluing $M_1$ to $M_2$ along the boundary. We show that if the gluing…
We define essential and strongly essential triangulations of 3-manifolds, and give four constructions using different tools (Heegaard splittings, hierarchies of Haken 3-manifolds, Epstein-Penner decompositions, and cut loci of Riemannian…