Related papers: Open book decompositions versus prime factorizatio…

Let $M$ be an open Riemannian $n$-manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature. We prove that if the first Betti number of $M$ equals $n-1$, then $M$ is flat.

Bidouble covers $\pi : S \mapsto Q$ of the quadric Q are parametrized by connected families depending on four positive integers a,b,c,d. In the special case where b=d we call them abc-surfaces. Such a Galois covering $\pi$ admits a small…

We give examples of closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds with first Betti number 2 and 3 for which no sequence of finite abelian covering spaces increases the first Betti number. For 3-manifolds $M$ with first Betti number 2 we give a…

Let n be a positive integer. We provide a Khovanov homology proof of the following classical fact: If the closure of an n-strand braid is the n-component unlink, then the braid is trivial.

For a closed orientable connected 3-manifold $M$, its complexity $\boldsymbol{T}(M)$ is defined to be the minimal number of tetrahedra in its triangulations. Under the assumption that $M$ is prime (but not necessarily atoroidal), we…

We build handle decompositions of n-manifolds that encode given open book decompositions and describe handle slides that reveal new open book decompositions on the same underlying manifold, for $n \geq 3$. This recovers known stabilization…

We introduce "book links" as a generalization of braids in open book decompositions; this new class of objects includes both braids and plats as special cases. We then prove a version of Markov's theorem in this general setting by extending…

Let $(m,b)$ be a pair of natural numbers. For $m$ odd with $m \ge 7$ (resp. $m \ge 5$) and $b=1$ (resp. $b=0$) we show that there is a non-formal compact (almost) contact $m$-manifold with first Betti number $b_1 = b$. Moreover, in the case…

We introduce an essential open book foliation, a refinement of the open book foliation, and develop technical estimates of the fractional Dehn twist coefficient (FDTC) of monodromies and the FDTC for closed braids, which we introduce as…

We show that every canonically fibered link in $S^3$ is the binding of a braided open book in $S^3$, addressing a question of Montesinos and Morton. We introduce mutual arc presentations as our main technical tool, which we consider to be…

We study the asymptotics of the number N(t) of geometrically distinct closed geodesics of a Riemannian or Finsler metric on a connected sum of two compact manifolds of dimension at least three with non-trivial fundamental groups and apply…

We prove that any simply connected compact 3-Sasakian manifold, of dimension seven, is formal if and only if its second Betti number is $b_2<2$. In the opposite, we show an example of a 7-dimensional Sasaki-Einstein manifold, with second…

Let M be a closed, connected, orientable 3-manifold. The purpose of this paper is to study the Seiberg-Witten Floer homology of M given that S^1 X M admits a symplectic form. In particular, we prove that M fibers over the circle if M has…

We study a novel type of braid groups on a closed orientable surface $\Sigma$. These are fundamental groups of certain manifolds that are hybrids between symmetric products and configuration spaces of points on $\Sigma$; a class of examples…

We show that if $N$, an open connected $n$-manifold with finitely generated fundamental group, is $C^{2}$ foliated by closed planes, then $\pi_{1}(N)$ is a free group. This implies that if $\pi_{1}(N)$ has an Abelian subgroup of rank…

Let N be an irreducible, compact 3-manifold with empty or toroidal boundary which is not a closed graph manifold. Using recent work of Agol, Kahn-Markovic and Przytycki-Wise we will show that pi_1(N) admits a cofinal filtration with `fast'…

Let $(M,\xi)$ be a contact 3-manifold. We present two new algorithms, the first of which converts an open book $(\Sigma,\Phi)$ supporting $(M,\xi)$ with connected binding into a contact surgery diagram. The second turns a contact surgery…

The relationships between braid ordering and the geometry of its closure is studied. We prove that if an essential closed surface $F$ in the complements of closed braid has relatively small genus with respect to the Dehornoy floor of the…

Suppose the ground field $\mathbb{F}$ is an algebraically closed field of characteristic different from 2, 3. We determine the Betti numbers and make a decomposition of the associative superalgebra of the cohomology for the model filiform…

We show that there exist non-formal compact oriented manifolds of dimension $n$ and with first Betti number $b_1=b\geq 0$ if and only if $n\geq 3$ and $b\geq 2$, or $n\geq (7-2b)$ and $0\leq b\leq 2$. Moreover, we present explicit examples…