Related papers: The Pants Complex Has Only One End
We describe some theoretical results on triangulations of surfaces and we develop a theory on roots, decompositions and genus-surfaces. We apply this theory to describe an algorithm to list all triangulations of closed surfaces with at most…
Let $S_{g,n}$ be an orientable surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. We identify a finite rigid subgraph $X_{g,n}$ of the pants graph $\mathcal P (S_{g,n})$, that is, a subgraph with the property that any simplicial embedding of…
This paper is the fifth and final in a series on embedded minimal surfaces. Following our earlier papers on disks, we prove here two main structure theorems for non-simply connected embedded minimal surfaces of any given fixed genus. The…
This note is about variations on a theorem of Bers about short pants decompositions of surfaces. It contains a version for surfaces with boundary but also a slight improvement on the best known bound for closed surfaces.
For each closed surface of genus $g\ge3$, we find a finite subcomplex of the separating curve complex that is rigid with respect to incidence-preserving maps.
We show that for every sequence $(n_i)$, where each $n_i$ is either an integer greater than 1 or is $\infty$, there exists a simply connected open 3-manifold $M$ with a countable dense set of ends $\{e_i\}$ so that, for every $i$, the genus…
We define a pants distance for knotted surfaces in 4-manifolds which generalizes the complexity studied by Blair-Campisi-Taylor-Tomova for surfaces in the 4-sphere. We determine that if the distance computed on a given diagram does not…
This note is devoted to a trick which yields almost trivial proofs that certain complexes associated to topological surfaces are connected or simply connected. Applications include new proofs that the complexes of curves, separating curves,…
We analyze the number of ends of the mapping class group of a stable avenue surface. We prove that the mapping class group is one-ended whenever the stable avenue surface has at least one end of discrete type. Our method is to show that the…
Our main theorem identifies a class of totally geodesic subgraphs of the 1-skeleton of the pants complex, each isomorphic to the product of two Farey graphs. We deduce the existence of many convex planes in the 1-skeleton of the pants…
The open book decompositions of the 3-sphere whose pages are pairs of pants have been fully understood for some time, through the lens of contact geometry. The purpose of this note is to exhibit a purely topological derivation of the…
A pants decomposition of an orientable surface S is a collection of simple cycles that partition S into pants, i.e., surfaces of genus zero with three boundary cycles. Given a set P of n points in the plane, we consider the problem of…
Let $S_{0,n}$ be an $n$-punctured sphere. For $n\geq 4$, we construct a sequence $(\mathcal{X}_i)_{i\in\mathbb{N}}$ of finite rigid sets in the pants graph $\mathcal{P}(S_{0,n})$ such that $\mathcal{X}_1 \subset \mathcal{X}_2 \subset…
How much cutting is needed to simplify the topology of a surface? We provide bounds for several instances of this question, for the minimum length of topologically non-trivial closed curves, pants decompositions, and cut graphs with a given…
We give a finite presentation of the mapping class group of an oriented (possibly bounded) surface of genus greater or equal than 1, considering Dehn twists on a very simple set of curves.
In this paper, we show that a smooth 4-manifold diffeomorphic to a complex hypersurface in $\mathbb{CP}^3 $ of degree $d\geq 5$ can be decomposed as the union of $d(d-4)^2$ copies of 4-dimensional pair-of-pants and certain subsets of K3…
The main goal of this paper is to investigate the minimal size of families of curves on surfaces with the following property: a family of simple closed curves $\Gamma$ on a surface realizes all types of pants decompositions if for any pants…
Suppose that $M$ is a hyperbolic surface of genus $g$ and with $n$ cusps. Then we can find a pants decomposition of $M$ composed of simple closed geodesics so that each curve is contained in a ball of diameter at most $C\sqrt{g + n}$, where…
We prove a number of convexity results for strata of the diagonal pants graph of a surface, in analogy with the extrinsic geometric properties of strata in the Weil-Petersson completion. As a consequence, we exhibit convex flat subgraphs of…
We construct a system of 33 essential simple closed curves that are pairwise non-homotopic and intersect at most once on the oriented, closed surface of genus 3. Moreover, we show that our construction is saturated, in the sense that it is…