Geometry & Topology
- Geom. Topol.
- Volume 8, Number 1 (2004), 311-334.
Holomorphic disks and genus bounds
Peter Ozsvath and Zoltan Szabo
Abstract
We prove that, like the Seiberg–Witten monopole homology, the Heegaard Floer homology for a three-manifold determines its Thurston norm. As a consequence, we show that knot Floer homology detects the genus of a knot. This leads to new proofs of certain results previously obtained using Seiberg–Witten monopole Floer homology (in collaboration with Kronheimer and Mrowka). It also leads to a purely Morse-theoretic interpretation of the genus of a knot. The method of proof shows that the canonical element of Heegaard Floer homology associated to a weakly symplectically fillable contact structure is non-trivial. In particular, for certain three-manifolds, Heegaard Floer homology gives obstructions to the existence of taut foliations.
Article information
Source
Geom. Topol., Volume 8, Number 1 (2004), 311-334.
Dates
Received: 3 December 2003
Revised: 12 February 2004
Accepted: 14 February 2004
First available in Project Euclid: 21 December 2017
Permanent link to this document
https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.gt/1513883369
Digital Object Identifier
doi:10.2140/gt.2004.8.311
Mathematical Reviews number (MathSciNet)
MR2023281
Zentralblatt MATH identifier
1056.57020
Subjects
Primary: 57R58: Floer homology 53D40: Floer homology and cohomology, symplectic aspects
Secondary: 57M27: Invariants of knots and 3-manifolds 57N10: Topology of general 3-manifolds [See also 57Mxx]
Keywords
Thurston norm Dehn surgery Seifert genus Floer homology contact structures
Citation
Ozsvath, Peter; Szabo, Zoltan. Holomorphic disks and genus bounds. Geom. Topol. 8 (2004), no. 1, 311--334. doi:10.2140/gt.2004.8.311. https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.gt/1513883369