arXiv research

Develops Johnson-Morita theory for 3D handlebody groups.

We construct quantum $\mathcal{U}_q(\mathfrak{sl}_{\,2})$ type invariants for handlebody-knots in the 3-sphere $S^3$. A handlebody-knot is an embedding of a handlebody in a 3-manifold. These invariants are linear sums of Yokota's invariants for colored spatial graphs which are defined by using the Kauffman bracket. We …

Study Torelli subgroups of handlebody groups and their cohomology.

Given a (genus 2) cube-with-holes M, i.e. the complement in S^3 of a handlebody H, we relate intrinsic properties of M (like its cut number) with extrinsic features depending on the way the handlebody H is knotted in S^3. Starting from a first level of knotting that requires the non-existence of a planar spine for H, w…

We prove gluing theorems for tight contact structures. In particular, we rederive (as special cases) gluing theorems due to Colin and Makar-Limanov, and present an algorithm for determining whether a given contact structure on a handlebody is tight. As applications, we construct a tight contact structure on a genus 4 h…

Smooth 4-manifolds have simple horizontal decompositions.

Study compact PL 4-manifolds with special handle decompositions.

Using certain Thom spectra appearing in the study of cobordism categories, we show that the odd half of the Miller-Morita-Mumford classes on the mappping class group of a surface with negative Euler characteristic vanish in integral cohomology when restricted to the handlebody subgroup. This is a special case of a more…

The paper proves unique factorization of knotted handlebodies and examines handlebody-knot symmetry.

Complete classification of handlebody links up to six crossings.

Paper defines numerical criteria to test handlebody link irreducibility.

High-dimensional handlebodies are shown to be products of simpler shapes.

A handlebody-link is a disjoint union of embeddings of handlebodies in $S^3$ and an HL-homotopy is an equivalence relation on handlebody-links generated by self-crossing changes. The second author and Ryo Nikkuni classified the set of HL-homotopy classes of 2-component handlebody-links completely using the linking numb…

The JSJ decomposition helps classify genus two handlebody-knots.

We give examples of knots in a genus 2 handlebody which have nontrivial Dehn surgeries yielding handlebodies and show that these knots are not 1--bridge.

Study of mapping class groups of infinite graphs, focusing on their finiteness and commensurability.

Finite presentation for a specific group in 3D handlebody topology.

Study on finiteness properties of handlebody mapping class groups.

Bridge positions of handlebody-knots are equivalent when stable.

We introduce several algebraic structures related to handlebody-knots, including $G$-families of biquandles, partially multiplicative biquandles and group decomposable biquandles. These structures can be used to color the semiarcs in $Y$-oriented spatial trivalent graph diagrams representing $S^1$-oriented handlebody-k…

A complex of incompressible surfaces in a handlebody is constructed so that it contains, as a subcomplex, the complex of curves of the boundary of the handlebody. For genus 2 handlebodies, the group of automorphisms of this complex is used to characterize the mapping class group of the handlebody. In particular, it is …

A family of one-vertex triangulations of 3-manifolds, layered-triangulations, is defined. Layered-triangulations are first described for handlebodies and then extended to all 3-manifolds via Heegaard splittings. A complete and detailed analysis of layered-triangulations is given in the cases of the solid torus and lens…

We generalize unoriented handlebody-links to the twisted virtual case, obtaining Reidemeister moves for handlebody-links in ambient spaces of the form $Σ\times [0,1]$ for $Σ$ a compact closed 2-manifold up to stable equivalence. We introduce a related algebraic structure known as twisted virtual bikeigebras whose axiom…

Paper introduces an invariant to distinguish handlebody-knot exteriors.

Homological stability proved for handlebody mapping class groups.

Defines annulus complex of handlebodies and proves its connectivity.

Enumerated all genus two handlebody-knots with seven crossings.

We give an explicit formula for the signature of handlebody bundles over the circle in terms of the homological monodromy. This gives a cobounding function of Meyer's signature cocycle on the mapping class group of a $3$-dimensional handlebody, i.e., the handlebody group. As an application, we give a topological interp…

In analogy with the vector bundle theory we define universal and strongly universal Lefschetz fibrations over bounded surfaces. After giving a characterization of these fibrations we construct very special strongly universal Lefschetz fibrations when the fiber is the torus or an orientable surface with connected bounda…

Proves certain subgroups of genus 2 handlebody group are convex cocompact.

A handlebody-knot is a handlebody embedded in the 3-sphere. We establish a uniform method to construct invariants for handlebody-links. We introduce the category $\mathcal{T}$ of handlebody-tangles and present it by generators and relations. The result tells us that every functor on $\mathcal{T}$ that gives rise to inv…

We introduce the notion of a $G$-family of quandles which is an algebraic system whose axioms are motivated by handlebody-knot theory, and use it to construct invariants for handlebody-knots. Our invariant can detect the chiralities of some handlebody-knots including unknown ones.

3-manifolds with hyperbolic handlebody complements are studied.

Proves finiteness for 3-manifolds from handlebodies with 2-handles.

We show that finite index subgroups of the handlebody group are rigid in their ambient mapping class group: any injective map of a finite index subgroup of the genus $g$ handlebody group into the genus $g$ mapping class group is conjugation by a mapping class group element. On the other hand, we construct an injection …

We give lower bounds for the tunnel number of knots and handlebody-knots. We also give a lower bound for the cutting number, which is a "dual" notion to the tunnel number in the handlebody-knot theory. We provide necessary conditions for constituent handlebody-knots by using $G$-family of quandles colorings. The above …

The paper explores handlebody versions of various diagram algebras.

Automorphisms of handlebodies arise naturally in the a classification of automorphisms of three-manifolds. Among automorphisms of handlebodies, there are certain automorphisms called irreducible (or generic), which are analogues of pseudo-Anosov automorphisms of surfaces. We show that irreducible automorphisms of handl…

Handlebody groups are virtual duality groups in positive genus.

Classifies essential annuli in genus two handlebody-knots, determining hyperbolicity and constructing obstructions.

The paper studies cylindrical handlebody-knots of genus two with unique unknotting annuli and finds trivial symmetry groups.

Researchers study Prym representations for handlebody groups, focusing on cyclic cases.

Primitive curves in handlebodies form a connected complex.

Injective map from top cohomology of moduli spaces to handlebodies.

Detects handlebodies and mapping class extensions using bordered Floer homology.

The main results of the paper is that we give a characteristics for an annulus sum and a once-punctured torus sum of two handlebodies to be a handlebody as follows: 1. The annulus sum $H=H_1\cup_A H_2$ of two handlebodies $H_1$ and $H_2$ is a handlebody if and only if the core curve of $A$ is a longitude for either $H_…

Survey on handlebody groups and their properties.

Introduces algorithm for Weinstein handlebodies of certain divisors.