Related papers: Strong Haken via Thin Position
We give a short proof of Scharlemann's Strong Haken Theorem for closed $3$-manifolds (and manifolds with spherical boundary). As an application, we also show that given a decomposing sphere $R$ for a $3$-manifold $M$ that splits off an $S^2…
In this paper, we give an algorithm to build all compact orientable atoroidal Haken 3-manifolds with tori boundary or closed orientable Haken 3-manifolds, so that in both cases, there are embedded closed orientable separating incompressible…
Colding and Gabai have given an effective version of Li's theorem that non-Haken hyperbolic 3-manifolds have finitely many irreducible Heegaard splittings. As a corollary of their work, we show that Haken hyperbolic 3-manifolds have a…
We generalize the definition of thin position of Scharlemann and Thompson for compact orientable 3-manifolds with torus boundary components and introduce $\alpha$-sloped generalized Heegaard splittings. We examine its relationship to…
Suppose T is a Heegaard splitting surface for a compact orientable 3-manifold M, and S is a reducing sphere for M. In 1968 Haken showed that there is then also a reducing sphere S* for the Heegaard splitting. That is, S* is a reducing…
We give another proof of a theorem of Scharlemann and Tomova and of a theorem of Hartshorn. The two theorems together say the following. Let M be a compact orientable irreducible 3--manifold and P a Heegaard surface of M. Suppose Q is…
Haken showed that the Heegaard splittings of reducible 3-manifolds are reducible, that is, a reducing 2-sphere can be found which intersects the Heegaard surface in a single simple closed curve. When the genus of the "interesting" surface…
A famous example of Casson and Gordon shows that a Haken 3-manifold can have an infinite family of irreducible Heegaard splittings with different genera. In this paper, we prove that a closed non-Haken 3-manifold has only finitely many…
We extend the notion of thin multiple Heegaard splittings of a link in a 3-manifold to take into consideration not only compressing disks but also cut-disks for the Heegaard surfaces. We prove that if H is a c-strongly compressible bridge…
Let $(M,g)$ be a closed oriented Riemannian $3$-manifold and suppose that there is a strongly irreducible Heegaard splitting $H$. We prove that $H$ is either isotopic to a minimal surface of index at most one or isotopic to the stable…
A Heegaard splitting of an open 3-manifold is the partition of the manifold into two non-compact handlebodies which intersect on their common boundary. This paper proves several non-compact analogues of theorems about compact Heegaard…
We present a new and shorter proof of Stocking's result that any strongly irreducible Heegaard surface of a closed orientable triangulated 3-manifold is isotopic to an almost normal surface. We also re-prove a result of Jaco and Rubinstein…
In this paper, by putting a separating incompressible surface in a 3-manifold into Morse position relative to the height function associated to a strongly irreducible Heegaard splitting, we show that an incompressible subsurface of the…
We prove that for generic metrics on a 3-sphere, the minimal surface obtained from the min-max procedure of Simon-Smith has index 1. We prove an analogous result for minimal surfaces arising from strongly irreducible Heegaard sweepouts in…
Following Haken and Casson-Gordon, it was shown in [Sc] that given a reducing sphere or boundary-reducing disk E in a Heegaard split manifold M, the Heegaard surface T can be isotoped so that it intersects E in a single circle. Here we show…
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 give a necessary and sufficient condition for the fundamental group of the space of Heegaard splittings of an irreducible $3$-manifold to be finitely generated. The condition is exactly the conclusion of the thick isotopy lemma proved by…
We show that under reasonable conditions, the spines of the handlebodies of a strongly irreducible Heegaard splitting will intersect a closed ball in a graph which is isotopic into the boundary of the ball. This is in some sense a…
In this paper we introduce "critical surfaces", which are described via a 1-complex whose definition is reminiscent of the curve complex. Our main result is that if the minimal genus common stabilization of a pair of strongly irreducible…
We define a notion of Hempel distance for one-sided Heegaard splittings and show that the existence of alternate surfaces restricts distance for one-sided splittings in a manner similar to Hartshorn's and Scharlemann-Tomova's results for…