arXiv subjects

Steven Boyer

Publications and source records attributed to Steven Boyer.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Characteristic submanifold theory and toroidal Dehn filling

The exceptional Dehn filling conjecture of the second author concerning the relationship between exceptional slopes $α, β$ on the boundary of a hyperbolic knot manifold $M$ has been verified in all cases other than small Seifert filling slopes. In this paper we verify it when $α$ is a small Seifert filling slope and $β$ is a toroidal filling slope in the generic case where $M$ admits no punctured-torus fibre or semi-fibre, and there is no incompressible torus in $M(β)$ which intersects $\partial M$ in one or two components. Under these hypotheses we show that $Δ(α, β) \leq 5$. Our proof is based on an analysis of the relationship between the topology of $M$, the combinatorics of the intersection graph of an immersed disk or torus in $M(α)$, and the two sequences of characteristic subsurfaces associated to an essential punctured torus properly embedded in $M$.

math.GT↗

arXiv2012

Dehn fillings of knot manifolds containing essential once-punctured tori

In this paper we study exceptional Dehn fillings on hyperbolic knot manifolds which contain an essential once-punctured torus. Let $M$ be such a knot manifold and let $β$ be the boundary slope of such an essential once-punctured torus. We prove that if Dehn filling $M$ with slope $α$ produces a Seifert fibred manifold, then $Δ(α,β)\leq 5$. Furthermore we classify the triples $(M; α,β)$ when $\D(α,β)\geq 4$. More precisely, when $\D(α,β)=5$, then $M$ is the (unique) manifold $Wh(-3/2)$ obtained by Dehn filling one boundary component of the Whitehead link exterior with slope -3/2, and $(α, β)$ is the pair of slopes $(-5, 0)$. Further, $\D(α,β)=4$ if and only if $(M; α,β)$ is the triple $\displaystyle (Wh(\frac{-2n\pm1}{n}); -4, 0)$ for some integer $n$ with $|n|>1$. Combining this with known results, we classify all hyperbolic knot manifolds $M$ and pairs of slopes $(β, γ)$ on $\partial M$ where $β$ is the boundary slope of an essential once-punctured torus in $M$ and $γ$ is an exceptional filling slope of distance 4 or more from $β$. Refined results in the special case of hyperbolic genus one knot exteriors in $S^3$ are also given.

math.GT↗

arXiv2011

On L-spaces and left-orderable fundamental groups

Examples suggest that there is a correspondence between L-spaces and 3-manifolds whose fundamental groups cannot be left-ordered. In this paper we establish the equivalence of these conditions for several large classes of such manifolds. In particular, we prove that they are equivalent for any closed, connected, orientable, geometric 3-manifold that is non-hyperbolic, a family which includes all closed, connected, orientable Seifert fibred spaces. We also show that they are equivalent for the 2-fold branched covers of non-split alternating links. To do this we prove that the fundamental group of the 2-fold branched cover of an alternating link is left-orderable if and only if it is a trivial link with two or more components. We also show that this places strong restrictions on the representations of the fundamental group of an alternating knot complement with values in Homeo_+(S^1).

math.GT↗

arXiv2011

Knot commensurability and the Berge conjecture

We investigate commensurability classes of hyperbolic knot complements in the generic case of knots without hidden symmetries. We show that such knot complements which are commensurable are cyclically commensurable, and that there are at most $3$ hyperbolic knot complements in a cyclic commensurability class. Moreover if two hyperbolic knots have cyclically commensurable complements, then they are fibered with the same genus and are chiral. A characterisation of cyclic commensurability classes of complements of periodic knots is also given. In the non-periodic case, we reduce the characterisation of cyclic commensurability classes to a generalization of the Berge conjecture.

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arXiv2007

Reducible And Finite Dehn Fillings

We show that the distance between a finite filling slope and a reducible filling slope on the boundary of a hyperbolic knot manifold is at most one.

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arXiv2007

On character varieties, sets of discrete characters, and non-zero degree maps

In this paper we use character variety methods to study homomorphisms between the fundamental groups of 3-manifolds, in particular those induced by non-zero degree maps. A {\it knot manifold} is a compact, connected, irreducible, orientable 3-manifold whose boundary is an incompressible torus. A {\it virtual epimorphism} is a homomorphism whose image is of finite index in its range. We show that the existence of such homomorphisms places constraints on the algebraic decomposition of a knot manifold's $PSL_2(\mathbb C)$-character variety and consequently determine a priori bounds on the number of virtual epimorphisms between the fundamental groups of small knot manifolds with a fixed domain. In the second part of the paper we fix a small knot manifold $M$ and investigate various sets of characters of representations with discrete image in $PSL_2(\mathbb C)$. The topology of these sets is intimately related to the algebraic structure of the $PSL_2(\mathbb C)$-character variety of $M$ as well as dominations of manifolds by $M$ and its Dehn fillings. In particular, we apply our results to study families of non-zero degree maps $f_n: M(α_n) \to V_n$ where $M(α_n)$ is the $α_n$-Dehn filling of $M$ and $V_n$ is either a hyperbolic manifold or $\widetilde{SL_2}$ manifold. We show that quite often, up to taking a subsequence, there is a knot manifold $V$, slopes $β_j$ on $\partial V$ such that $V_j \cong V(β_j)$, and a non-zero degree map $M \to V$ which induces $f_j$ up to homotopy. The work of the first part of the paper is then applied to construct infinite families of small, closed, connected, orientable 3-manifolds which do not admit non-zero degree maps, other than homeomorphisms, to any hyperbolic manifold, or even manifolds with infinite fundamental groups.

math.GT↗

arXiv2005

Orderable 3-manifold groups

We investigate the orderability properties of fundamental groups of 3-dimensional manifolds. Many 3-manifold groups support left-invariant orderings, including all compact P^2-irreducible manifolds with positive first Betti number. For seven of the eight geometries (excluding hyperbolic) we are able to characterize which manifolds' groups support a left-invariant or bi-invariant ordering. We also show that manifolds modelled on these geometries have virtually bi-orderable groups. The question of virtual orderability of 3-manifold groups in general, and even hyperbolic manifolds, remains open, and is closely related to conjectures of Waldhausen and others.

math.GT↗

arXiv2002

Characteristic subsurfaces and Dehn filling

Let M be a compact, orientable, irreducible, atoroidal 3-manifold with boundary an incompressible torus. Techniques based on the characteristic submanifold theory are used to bound the intersection number of two slopes αand βon the boundary of M. The method applies when βis the boundary slope of an essential surface F that is not a semi-fiber (i.e. F is not a fiber and does not split M into two twisted I-bundles), and the Dehn filling M(α) contains a suitable singular surface. One of the main results is that if F is planar and if the fundamental group of M(α) does not contain a non-abelian free subgroup then the intersection number of αand βis at most 5.

math.GT↗

arXiv1998

On Culler-Shalen seminorms and Dehn filling

Consider the exterior M of a hyperbolic knot lying in a closed, connected, orientable 3-manifold. Culler and Shalen defined norm on H_1(dM;R) using the SL(2,C) character variety of pi_1(M). The Culler-Shalen norm encodes many topological properties of M; in particular it provides information about Dehn fillings of M. Their construction may be applied to arbitrary curves in the SL_2(C)-character variety of a connected, compact, orientable, irreducible 3-manifold whose boundary is a torus, though in this generality one can only guarantee that it will define a seminorm. The first half of this paper is devoted to the development of the general theory of Culler-Shalen seminorms defined for curves of PSL_2(C)-characters. By working over PSL_2(C) we obtain a theory that is more generally applicable than its SL_2(C) counterpart, while being only mildly more difficult to set up. In the second half of this paper we apply the theory of Culler-Shalen seminorms to study the Dehn filling operation. In particular we examine the relationship between fillings which yield manifolds having a positive dimensional PSL_2(C)-character variety with those that yield manifolds having a finite or cyclic fundamental group. In one interesting application of this work we show that manifolds resulting from a nonintegral surgery on a knot in the 3-sphere tend to have a zero-dimensional PSL_2(C)-character variety. As a consequence we obtain an infinite family of closed, orientable, hyperbolic Haken manifolds which have zero-dimensional PSL_2(C)-character varieties.

math.GT↗

arXiv1994

Exceptional surgery on knots

Let $M$ be an irreducible, compact, connected, orientable 3-manifold whose boundary is a torus. We show that if $M$ is hyperbolic, then it admits at most six finite/cyclic fillings of maximal distance 5. Further, the distance of a finite/cyclic filling to a cyclic filling is at most 2. If $M$ has a non-boundary-parallel, incompressible torus and is not a generalized 1-iterated torus knot complement, then there are at most three finite/cyclic fillings of maximal distance 1. Further, if $M$ has a non-boundary-parallel, incompressible torus and is not a generalized 1- or 2-iterated torus knot complement and if $M$ admits a cyclic filling of odd order, then $M$ does not admit any other finite/cyclic filling. Relations between finite/cyclic fillings and other exceptional fillings are also discussed.

math.GT↗