Back to Cascade Fall 2007
Back to Schedule
Marty Scharlemann
A 3-dimensional reimbedding strategy for the 4-dimensional Schoenflies
Conjecture
A proof of the generalized Property R Conjecture in
dimension 3 could be useful in proving the Schoenflies Conjecture in
dimension 4. Part of the proposed strategy requires a Fox type
reimbedding of a 3-dimensional cross-section M^3 \subset S^3 x {0}
\subset S^4 in a usefully natural way. For example, if M lies inside
a knotted solid torus, a natural reimbedding of M would be to unknot
the solid torus in which lies. Sadly, when M lies inside a higher
genus knotted handlebody W, there isn't such a natural choice of
reimbedding. But for the special case in which W is gotten by tubing
together two distant solid tori there is a natural choice: both
unknot the tori and straighten the tube. We show how this case alone
suffices to prove the genus three, 4-dimensional Schoenflies Conjecture.