Cut-disks for level spheres in link and tangle complements

Maggy Tomova

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arXiv · 0801.1898

Cut-disks for level spheres in link and tangle complements

Maggy Tomova

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Abstract

Wu has shown that if a link or a knot $L$ in $S^3$ in thin position has thin spheres, then the thin sphere of lowest width is an essential surface in the link complement. In this paper we show that if we further assume that $L \subset S^3$ is prime, then the thin sphere of lowest width also does not have any vertical cut-disks. We also prove the result for a specific kind of tangles in $S^2 \times [-1,1]$.

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Maggy Tomova. 2008-04-30. Cut-disks for level spheres in link and tangle complements. https://arxiv.org/abs/0801.1898

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