Heegaard surface 2026-10-05
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 141 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Write . Filling one end of times an annulus gives a solid torus, so is a solid torus. The prescribed algebraic intersection number of curves on an oriented surface convention gives . HenceIn , the first Dehn filling imposes , while . ThereforeThe class is primitive because , a consequence of . It is therefore the disk-bounding meridian of a solid torus of . Since meets it once, Dehn filling along glues two solid torus pieces with disk boundaries meeting once. This is the standard genus-one Heegaard splitting of , soTo identify the regular fiber geometrically, put it on their common boundary torus. Invert the displayed basis change:Here bounds a disk in the newly attached solid torus and bounds a disk in . Thus the curve has winding numbers and in the two complementary solid torus pieces. Both coefficients are positive and , so it is the positive torus knot. This identifies the torus knot directly from the genus-one splitting, without invoking a theorem specifically about torus knots.