Related papers: Thinning genus two Heegaard spines in the 3-sphere

Motivated by M. Scharlemann and A. Thompson's definition of thin position of 3-manifolds, we define the width of a handle decomposition a 4-manifold and introduce the notion of thin position of a compact smooth 4-manifold. We determine all…

We prove a topological extension of Dirac's theorem suggested by Gowers in 2005: for any connected, closed surface $\mathscr{S}$, we show that any two-dimensional simplicial complex on $n$ vertices in which each pair of vertices belongs to…

Let $T$ be a graph in a compact, orientable 3--manifold $M$ and let $\Gamma$ be a subgraph. $T$ can be placed in bridge position with respect to a Heegaard surface $H$. We show that if $H$ is what we call $(T,\Gamma)$-c-weakly reducible in…

We show that if $V^3$ is a handlebody in $\R^3$, with curves $J_1, ..., J_g \subset \partial V$ which are the attaching curves for a Heegaard splitting of a homology sphere, then there exists a homeomorphism $h\colon V \to V$ so that each…

An enhanced trivalent tangle is a trivalent tangle with some of its edges labeled. We use enhanced trivalent tangles and classical knot theory to provide a recipe for constructing invariants for trivalent tangles, and in particular, for…

Let M be a compressionbody containing a graph T (with at least one edge) such that \boundary_+ M is parallel to the union of T and \boundary_- M. We extend methods of Hayashi and Shimokawa to classify bridge surfaces for T. The results of…

We describe an algorithm to decide whether two genus-two surfaces embedded in the 3-sphere are isotopic or not. The algorithm employs well-known techniques in 3-manifolds topology, as well as a new algorithmic solution to a problem on free…

We show that the integer homology sphere obtained by splicing two nontrivial knot complements in integer homology sphere L-spaces has Heegaard Floer homology rank strictly greater than one. In particular, splicing the complements of…

Let $\mathbb{S}_h$ denote a sphere with $h$ holes. Given a triangulation $G$ of a surface $\mathbb{M}$, we consider the question of when $G$ contains a spanning subgraph $H$ such that $H$ is a triangulated $\mathbb{S}_h$. We give a new…

Using the recently developed theory of finite type invariants of integral homology 3-spheres we study the structure of the Torelli group of a closed surface. Explicitly, we construct (a) natural cocycles of the Torelli group (with…

An updated proof of a 1933 theorem of Goeritz, exhibiting a finite set of generators for the group of automorphisms of the 3-sphere that preserve a genus two Heegaard splitting. The group is analyzed via its action on a certain connected…

The paper is devoted to finding the colorings of the edges of the 1-skeleton of triangulations of the 2-sphere in three colors so that for each face all three of its sides have different colors. First, by the method of adding one vertex…

We compute the Heegaard Floer homology of any rational homology 3-sphere with an open book decomposition of the form (T,\phi), where T is a genus one surface with one boundary component. In addition, we compute the Heegaard Floer homology…

Given a Heegaard splitting of a closed 3-manifold, the skein modules of the two handlebodies are modules over the skein algebra of their common boundary surface. The zeroth Hochschild homology of the skein algebra of a surface with…

An L-space is a rational homology 3-sphere with minimal Heegaard Floer homology. We give the first examples of hyperbolic L-spaces with no symmetries. In particular, unlike all previously known L-spaces, these manifolds are not double…

It is known that there are surface bundles of arbitrarily high genus which have genus two Heegaard splittings. The simplest examples are Seifert fibered spaces with the sphere as a base space, three exceptional fibers and which allow…

We show that the number of stabilizations needed to interchange the handlebodies of a Heegaard splitting of a closed 3-manifold by an isotopy is bounded below by the smaller of twice its genus or half its Hempel distance. This is a…

We show that if a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold has infinitely many finite covers of bounded Heegaard genus, then it is virtually fibered. This generalizes a theorem of Lackenby, removing restrictions needed about the regularity of the…

Let ${\mathcal H}$ be the group of isotopy classes of orientation preserving homeomorphisms of $S^3$ that preserve a Heegaard splitting of genus two. In this paper, we use a tree in the barycentric subdivision of the disk complex of a…

We study a class of 3-manifolds called strong L-spaces, which by definition admit a certain type of Heegaard diagram that is particularly simple from the perspective of Heegaard Floer homology. We provide evidence for the possibility that…