Normal surfaces in topologically finite 3-manifolds

Stephan Tillmann

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · math/0406271

Normal surfaces in topologically finite 3-manifolds

Stephan Tillmann

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The concept of a normal surface in a triangulated, compact 3-manifold was generalised by Thurston to a spun-normal surface in a non-compact 3-manifold with ideal triangulation. This paper defines a boundary curve map which takes a spun-normal surface to an element of the direct sum of the first homology groups of the vertex linking surfaces. The boundary curve map is used to study the topology of a spun-normal surface as well as to determine the dimension of the projective solution space of the algebraic equations arising from the quadrilateral coordinates of spun-normal surfaces.

Explore related subjects

math.GT

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Stephan Tillmann. 2007-06-12. Normal surfaces in topologically finite 3-manifolds. https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0406271

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Bar cohomology of links: beyond Milnor invariants

We develop bar cohomology of link complements as an invariant of links in homology spheres. In this setting, bar cohomology is a Hopf algebra which is calculable using surfaces and their intersection curves in a link complement. In this first in a sequence of works, we introduce the invariant and show that it defines a canonical subspace of the tensor Hopf algebra, which already encodes information about Milnor's link invariants and provides geometrically significant information beyond them.

math.GT↗

arXiv2026

A counterexample to the wrapping number conjecture

We exhibit an annular knot with wrapping number four whose Kauffman bracket has annular degree at most two. This disproves the wrapping number conjecture.

math.GT↗

arXiv2026

Homological lifts of Arnold invariants $J^-$ and $J^+$

Viro's Euler-integral polynomial $P_C(q)$ and the Lanzat--Polyak quantized-curvature polynomial $I_q(C)$ refine Arnold's invariants $J^-$ and $J^+$ for generic immersed one-component plane curves. We construct homological lifts of both. The bigraded region homology retains the singular homology of every connected Alexander-index region; its graded Euler characteristic is $P_C(q)$. The triply graded smoothing-circle homology is generated by the oriented circles of the orientation-preserving smoothing and decategorifies to the smoothing term in $I_q(C)$. Keeping the actual region summands and the boundary regions of every smoothing circle gives a homological refinement of the oriented smoothing configuration, or Seifert state. An infinite family proves strictness: both polynomial data and the ordinary homological lifts agree, while the component-graded region homology and the branch-decomposed circle homology distinguish every pair. Further constructions recover the full $I_q(C)$ by a vertex complex, realize the local change of its curvature integral by edge homology, and give a canonical two-state homology for unoriented curves. Viro described his Euler-integral formula as an analogue of face state-sum formulas for quantum knot polynomials. Through the categorifications developed here, we obtain one concrete homological face-state-sum model realizing that analogy.

math.GT↗