On the stable equivalence of open books in three-manifolds

Emmanuel Giroux (1) , Noah Goodman (2)

1 UMPA-ENSL - Unité de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées
2 Mathematics Department [San Marcos TX]

We show that two open books in a given closed, oriented three-manifold admit isotopic stabilizations, where the stabilization is made by successive plumbings with Hopf bands, if and only if their associated plane fields are homologous. Since this condition is automatically fulfilled in an integral homology sphere, the theorem implies a conjecture of J.~Harer, namely, that any fibered link in the three-sphere can be obtained from the unknot by a sequence of plumbings and deplumbings of Hopf bands. The proof presented here involves contact geometry in an essential way.

Mots clés: Open books; fibered links; plumbing; plane fields; contact structures

Domaines: Topologie géométrique [math.GT]; Géométrie différentielle [math.DG]; Géométrie symplectique [math.SG]

Emmanuel Giroux, Noah Goodman. On the stable equivalence of open books in three-manifolds. 2005. ⟨hal-00009039⟩