Related papers: Bridge trisections of knotted surfaces in $S^4$

We prove that every smoothly embedded surface in a 4--manifold can be isotoped to be in bridge position with respect to a given trisection of the ambient 4--manifold; that is, after isotopy, the surface meets components of the trisection in…

Meier and Zupan showed that every surface in the four-sphere admits a bridge trisection and can therefore be represented by three simple tangles. This raises the possibility of applying methods from link homology to knotted surfaces. We use…

We adapt Seifert's algorithm for classical knots and links to the setting of tri-plane diagrams for bridge trisected surfaces in the 4-sphere. Our approach allows for the construction of a Seifert solid that is described by a Heegaard…

We seek to connect ideas in the theory of bridge trisections with other well-studied facets of classical knotted surface theory. First, we show how the normal Euler number can be computed from a tri-plane diagram, and we use this to give a…

Bridge multisections are combinatorial descriptions of surface links in 4-space using tuples of trivial tangles. They were introduced by Islambouli, Karimi, Lambert-Cole, and Meier to study curves in rational surfaces. In this paper, we…

We introduce the concept of a bridge trisection of a neatly embedded surface in a compact four-manifold, generalizing previous work with Alexander Zupan in the setting of closed surfaces in closed four-manifolds. Our main result states that…

We introduce and study bridge decompositions for 3-manifolds embedded in the 5-sphere. These generalize both the classical notion of bridge position for knots in the 3-sphere and the bridge trisections of surfaces in the 4-sphere due to…

We introduce the concept of pseudo-trisections of smooth oriented compact 4-manifolds with boundary. The main feature of pseudo-trisections is that they have lower complexity than relative trisections for given 4-manifolds. We prove…

We show that if $K$ is a knot in $S^3$ and $\Sigma$ is a bridge sphere for $K$ with high distance and $2n$ punctures, the number of perturbations of $K$ required to interchange the two balls bounded by $\Sigma$ via an isotopy is $n$. We…

In this paper, we develop new techniques for understanding surfaces in $\mathbb{CP}^2$ via bridge trisections. Trisections are a novel approach to smooth 4-manifold topology, introduced by Gay and Kirby, that provide an avenue to apply…

We study smooth isotopy classes of complex curves in complex surfaces from the perspective of the theory of bridge trisections, with a special focus on curves in $\mathbb{CP}^2$ and $\mathbb{CP}^1\times\mathbb{CP}^1$. We are especially…

Every embedded surface $\mathcal{K}$ in the 4-sphere admits a bridge trisection, a decomposition of $(S^4,\mathcal{K})$ into three simple pieces. In this case, the surface $\mathcal{K}$ is determined by an embedded 1-complex, called the…

Meier and Zupan introduced bridge trisections of surface links in $S^4$ as a 4-dimensional analogue to bridge decompositions of classical links, which gives a numerical invariant of surface links called the bridge number. We prove that…

We adapt work of Kirby-Thompson and Zupan to define an integer invariant $\mathcal{L}(\mathcal{T})$ of a bridge trisection $\mathcal{T}$ of a smooth surface $\mathcal{K}$ in $S^4$ or $B^4$. We show that when $\mathcal{L}(\mathcal{T})=0$,…

The Meridional Rank Conjecture asks whether the bridge number of a knot in $S^3$ is equal to the minimal number of meridians needed to generate the fundamental group of its complement. In this paper we investigate the analogous conjecture…

We modify an approach of Johnson to define the distance of a bridge splitting of a knot in a 3-manifold using the dual curve complex and pants complex of the bridge surface. This distance can be used to determine a complexity, which becomes…

Any 2-bridge knot in the 3-sphere has a bridge sphere from which any other bridge surface can be obtained by stabilization, meridional stabilization, perturbation and proper isotopy.

We exhibit an algorithm to determine the bridge number of a hyperbolic knot in the 3-sphere. The proof uses adaptations of almost normal surface theory for compact surfaces with boundary in ideally triangulated knot exteriors.

A knotted surface in the 4-sphere may be described by means of a hyperbolic diagram that captures the 0-section of a special Morse function, called a hyperbolic decomposition. We show that every hyperbolic decomposition of a knotted surface…

We use the combinatorial techniques of graphs of intersection to study reducible Dehn surgeries on knots in the three-sphere. In particular, in the event that a reducible surgery on a knot K in the three-sphere of slope r produces a…