Related papers: The word problem for 3-manifolds built from inject…

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…

We prove that there are homology three-spheres that bound definite four-manifolds, but any such bounding four-manifold must be built out of many handles. The argument uses the homology cobordism invariant $\Gamma$ from instanton Floer…

In this paper, we show that the class of all properly 3-realizable groups is closed under amalgamated free products (and HNN-extensions) over finite groups. We recall that $G$ is said to be properly 3-realizable if there exists a compact…

Given a closed $n$-manifold, we consider the set of simple homotopy types of $n$-manifolds within its homotopy type, called its simple homotopy manifold set. We characterise it in terms of algebraic K-theory, the surgery obstruction map,…

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…

In this paper we give explicit, handle-by-handle constructions of concave symplectic fillings of all closed, oriented contact 3-manifolds. These constructions combine recent results of Giroux relating contact structures and open book…

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…

In this paper, we find infinite hyperbolic 3-manifolds that admit no weakly symplectically fillable contact structures, using tools in Heegaard Floer theory. We also remark that part of these manifolds do admit tight contact structures.

We show that a smooth embedding of a closed 3-manifold in S^3 x R can be isotoped so that every generic level divides S^3 x t into two handlebodies (i.e., is Heegaard) provided the original embedding has a unique local maximum with respect…

We prove a complete classification theorem for loose Legendrian knots in an oriented 3-manifold, generalizing results of Dymara and Ding-Geiges. Our approach is to classify knots in a $3$-manifold $M$ that are transverse to a nowhere-zero…

We exhibit a distinctly low-dimensional dynamical obstruction to the existence of Liouville cobordisms: for any contact 3-manifold admitting an exact symplectic cobordism to the tight 3-sphere, every nondegenerate contact form admits an…

In this paper, we will use Kahn-Markovic's almost totally geodesic surfaces to construct certain $\pi_1$-injective 2-complexes in closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Such 2-complexes are locally almost totally geodesic except along a…

For a genus g handlebody H a simplicial complex, with vertices being isotopy classes of certain incompressible surfaces in H, is constructed and several properties are established. In particular, this complex naturally contains, as a…

A real 3-manifold is a smooth 3-manifold together with an orientation preserving smooth involution, which is called a real structure. A real contact 3-manifold is a real 3-manifold with a contact distribution that is antisymmetric with…

We present three large families of new examples of plumbed 3-manifolds that bound rational homology 4-balls. These are constructed using two operations, also defined here, that preserve the lack of a lattice embedding obstruction to…

Two of the basic questions in contact topology are which manifolds admit tight contact structures, and on those that do, can we classify such structures. We present the first such classification on an infinite family of (mostly) hyperbolic…

We give an algorithmic proof of the theorem that a closed orientable irreducible and atoroidal 3-manifold has only finitely many Heegaard splittings in each genus, up to isotopy. The proof gives an algorithm to determine the Heegaard genus…

By considering non-orientable surfaces in the surgered manifolds, we show that the 10/3- and -10/3-Dehn surgeries on the 2-bridge knot $9_{27} = S(49,19)$ are not cosmetic, i.e., they give mutually non-homeomorphic manifolds. The knot is…

We describe an algorithm which has enabled us to give a complete list, without repetitions, of all closed oriented irreducible 3-manifolds of complexity up to 9. More interestingly, we have actually been able to give a "name" to each such…

In a 3-manifold M, let K be a knot and R be an annulus which meets K transversely. We define the notion of the pair (R,K) being caught by a surface Q in the exterior of the link given by K and the boundary curves of R. For a caught pair…