Related papers: Simplicial structures of knot complements

Let $M$ be a compact 3--manifold with boundary a single torus. We present upper and lower complexity bounds for closed 3--manifolds obtained as even Dehn fillings of $M.$ As an application, we characterise some infinite families of even…

We prove that for any knot $K$, there exists a one-vertex triangulation of the $3$-sphere containing an edge forming $K$. The proof is constructive, and based on fully augmented links. We use our method to produce ``complicated'' simplicial…

Neumann and Reid conjecture that there are exactly three knot complements which admit hidden symmetries. This paper establishes several results that provide evidence for the conjecture. Our main technical tools provide obstructions to…

We consider irreducible 3-manifolds M that arise as knot complements in closed 3-manifolds and that contain at most two connected strict essential surfaces. The results in the paper relate the boundary slopes of the two surfaces to their…

We compute for all orientable irreducible geometric 3-manifolds certain complexity functions that approximate from above Matveev's natural complexity, known to be equal to the minimal number of tetrahedra in a triangulation. We can show…

In this paper, we describe geometrical constructions to obtain triangulations of connected sums of closed orientable triangulated 3-manifolds. Using these constructions, we show that it takes time polynomial in the number of tetrahedra to…

Kneser-Haken Finiteness asserts that for each compact 3-manifold M there is an integer c(M) such that any collection of k>c(M) closed, essential, 2-sided surfaces in M must contain parallel elements. We show here that if M is closed then…

We prove that any knot or link in any 3-manifold can be nicely decomposed (splitted) by a filling Dehn sphere. This has interesting consequences in the study of branched coverings over knots and links. We give an algorithm for computing…

There are many fundamental algorithmic problems on triangulated 3-manifolds whose complexities are unknown. Here we study the problem of finding a taut angle structure on a 3-manifold triangulation, whose existence has implications for both…

Given a simply-connected 4-manifold with boundary the 3-sphere, this paper establishes sufficient conditions for a knot in the boundary to be sliced by a locally flat disc in the 4-manifold, whose complement has finite cyclic fundamental…

It is conjectured that every cusped hyperbolic 3-manifold has a decomposition into positive volume ideal hyperbolic tetrahedra (a "geometric" triangulation of the manifold). Under a mild homology assumption on the manifold we construct…

This is a survey paper on algorithms for solving problems in 3-dimensional topology. In particular, it discusses Haken's approach to the recognition of the unknot, and recent variations.

We present a new, practical algorithm to test whether a knot complement contains a closed essential surface. This property has important theoretical and algorithmic consequences; however, systematically testing it has until now been…

We give three algorithms to determine the crosscap number of a knot in the 3-sphere using $0$-efficient triangulations and normal surface theory. Our algorithms are shown to be correct for a larger class of complements of knots in closed…

We investigate the computational complexity of some problems in three-dimensional topology and geometry. We show that the problem of determining a bound on the genus of a knot in a 3-manifold, is NP-complete. Using similar ideas, we show…

We establish upper bounds for the complexity of Seifert fibered manifolds with nonempty boundary. In particular, we obtain potentially sharp bounds on the complexity of torus knot complements.

Algorithms that decompose a manifold into simple pieces reveal the geometric and topological structure of the manifold, showing how complicated structures are constructed from simple building blocks. This note describes a way to…

The intersection matrix of a simplicial complex has entries equal to the rank of the intersection of its facets. In [1] the authors prove the intersection matrix is enough to determine a triangulation of a surface up to isomorphism. In this…

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…

A celebrated result concerning triangulations of a given closed 3-manifold is that any two triangulations with the same number of vertices are connected by a sequence of so-called 2-3 and 3-2 moves. A similar result is known for ideal…