Spaces of Incompressible Surfaces Allen Hatcher the Homotopy Type Of
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Spaces of Incompressible Surfaces Allen Hatcher The homotopy type of the space of PL homeomorphisms of a Haken 3 manifold was computed in [H1], and with the subsequent proof of the Smale conjecture in [H2], the computation carried over to dieomorphisms as well. These results were also obtained independently by Ivanov [I1,I2]. The main step in the calculation in [H1], though not explicitly stated in these terms, was to show that the space of embeddings of an incom- pressible surface in a Haken 3 manifold has components which are contractible, except in a few special situations where the components have a very simple noncontractible homotopy type. The purpose of the present note is to give precise statements of these embedding results along with simplied proofs using ideas from [H3]. We also rederive the calculation of the homotopy type of the dieomorphism group of a Haken 3 manifold. Let M be an orientable compact connected irreducible 3-manifold, and let S be an incompressible surface in M , by which we mean: — S is a compact connected surface, not S2 , embedded in M properly, i.e., S ∩ ∂M = ∂S. — The normal bundle of S in M is trivial. Since M is orientable, this just means S is orientable. — The inclusion S,→M induces an injective homomorphism on 1 . We denote by E(S, M rel ∂S) the space of smooth embeddings S → M agreeing with the given inclusion S,→M on ∂S. The group Diff(S rel ∂S) of dieomorphisms S → S restricting to the identity on ∂S acts freely on E(S, M rel ∂S) by composition, with orbit space the space P (S, M rel ∂S) of subsurfaces of M dieomorphic to S by a dif- feomorphism restricting to the identity on ∂S. We think of points of P (S, M rel ∂S)as “positions” or “placements” of S in M . There is a bration Diff(S rel ∂S) → E ( S, M rel ∂S) → P ( S, M rel ∂S) giving rise to a long exact sequence of homotopy groups. It is known that iDiff(S rel ∂S) is zero for i>0, except when S is the torus T 2 and i = 1, when the inclusion T 2 ,→ 2 Diff(T ) as rotations induces an isomorphism on 1 . So the higher homotopy groups of E(S, M rel ∂S) and P (S, M rel ∂S) are virtually identical. 1 Theorem 1. Let S be an incompressible surface in M . Then: (a) iP (S, M rel ∂S)=0for all i>0unless ∂S = ∅ and S is the ber of a surface bundle structure on M . In this exceptional case the inclusion S1 ,→ P (S, M) as the ber surfaces induces an isomorphism on i for all i>0. (b) iE(S, M rel ∂S)=0for all i>0unless ∂S = ∅ and S is either a torus or the ber of a surface bundle structure on M . In these exceptional cases iE(S, M)=0 for all i>1. In the surface bundle case the inclusion of the subspace consisting of embeddings with image a ber induces an isomorphism on 1 . When S is a torus but not the ber of a surface bundle structure, the inclusion of the subspace consisting of embeddings with image equal to the given S induces an isomorphism on 1 . Here it is understood that iE(S, M rel ∂S) and iP (S, M rel ∂S) are to be com- puted at the basepoint which is the given inclusion S,→M. It is not hard to describe precisely what happens in the exceptional cases of (b). In the surface bundle case consider the exact sequence ∂ 0 → 1 Diff(S) → 1 E ( S, M) → 1 P ( S, M) → 0 Diff(S) By part (a) we have 1P (S, M) Z. The boundary map takes a generator of this Z to the monodromy dieomorphism dening the surface bundle. If this monodromy has innite order in 0Diff(S) then the boundary map is injective so 1E(S, M) 1Diff(S). If the monodromy has nite order in 0Diff(S), it is isotopic to a periodic dieomorphism of this order, as Nielsen showed. Hence M is Seifert-bered with coherently oriented bers, and there is an action of S1 on M rotating circle bers, and taking bers of the surface bundle structure to bers. The orbit of the given embedding of S under this action then generates a Z subgroup of 1E(S, M), which is all of 1E(S, M) unless S is a torus, in which case it is easy to see that 1E(S, M) Z Z Z. Using these results we can deduce: Theorem 2. If M is an orientable Haken manifold then iDiff(M rel ∂M)=0for all i>0unless M is a closed Seifert manifold with coherently orientable bers. In the latter case the inclusion S1 ,→ Diff(M) as rotations of the bers induces an isomorphism on i for all i>0, except when M is the 3 torus, in which case the circle of rotations S1 ,→ Diff(M) is replaced by the 3-torus of rotations M,→Diff(M). Proof: Suppose rst that ∂M =6 ∅, hence M is automatically Haken if it is irreducible. By the theory of Haken manifolds, there exists an incompressible surface S M with ∂S =6 ∅, in fact with ∂S representing a nonzero class in H1(∂M). Consider the bration Diff(M rel ∂M ∪ S) → Diff(M rel ∂M) → E ( S, M rel ∂S) 2 The ber can be identied with Diff(M0 rel ∂M0) where M 0 is the compact manifold, possibly disconnected, obtained by splitting M along S . If we know the theorem holds for M 0 , then from the long exact sequence of homotopy groups of the bration, together with part (b) of the preceding theorem, we deduce that the theorem holds for M . Again by Haken manifold theory, there is a nite sequence of such splitting operations reducing M to a disjoint union of balls. By the Smale conjecture the theorem holds for balls, so by induction the theorem holds for M . When M is a closed Haken manifold we again consider the bration displayed above, with S now a closed incompressible surface. If we are not in the exceptional cases that 1E(S, M) is nonzero, described in the paragraph before Theorem 2, the arguments in the preceding paragraph apply since M 0 is a nonclosed Haken manifold, for which the theorem has already been proved. There remain the cases that 1E(S, M) =0.6 (i)IfS is the ber of a surface bundle structure on M but not a torus, the result follows from the remarks preceding Theorem 2, describing how a generator of 1E(S, M) Z is represented by the orbit of the inclusion S,→M under the S1 action rotating bers of the Seifert bering. (ii)IfS is a torus but not the ber of a surface bundle, we have 1E(S, M) Z Z, the rotations of S . Under the boundary map 1E(S, M) → 0Diff(M rel S) each loop of rotations goes to a Dehn twist on one side of S and its inverse twist on the other side. The behavior of such twists in the mapping class group of the manifold M 0 is well known; see e.g. [HM]. In particular, the boundary map is injective unless M is orientably Seifert-bered with S a union of bers, in which case the kernel of the boundary map is Z represented by rotations of the circle bers. (iii)IfS is the torus ber of a surface bundle we have to consider the phenomena in both (i) and (ii). The monodromy dieomorphism of the torus ber dening the bundle is an element of SL2(Z). Note that a loop of rotations of S as in (ii) lies in the kernel of the boundary map i the rotations are in the direction of a curve in S xed by the monodromy. If the monodromy is trivial, M is the 3 torus and we have contributions to 1Diff(M) from both (i) and (ii), so we get M Diff(M) inducing an isomorphism on i for i>0. If the monodromy is nontrivial and of nite order, it has no real eigenvalues, so the boundary map in (ii) is injective and we get only the S1 Diff(M)asin(i). If the monodromy is of innite order and has 1 as an eigenvalue, it is a Dehn twist of the torus ber, so we get 1Diff(M) Z and this loop of dieomorphisms is realized by rotating bers of a bering of M by circles in the eigendirection in the torus bers of M . tu 3 Proof of Theorem 1. We will rst prove statement (b) when ∂S =6 ∅, which suces to deduce Theorem 2 in the nonclosed case. Then we will prove (a), and nally the remaining cases of (b). i Let ft : S → M , t ∈ D , be a family of embeddings representing an element of iE(S, M rel ∂S). We assume i>0, so all the surfaces ft(S) are isotopic rel ∂S to the given inclusion S,→M, hence are incompressible also. Let S I be a collar on one side of S = S {0} in M . By Sard’s theorem, ft(S) is transverse to S {x} for almost all x ∈ I . Transversality is preserved under small perturbations, so, since Di is compact, we i can choose a nite cover of D by open sets Uj such that ft(S) is transverse to a slice Sj = S {xj}SI for all t ∈ Uj .