Gluing tight contact structures

Abstract

We prove gluing theorems for tight contact structures. As special cases, we rederive gluing theorems due to V. Colin and S. Makar-Limanov and present an algorithm for determining whether a given contact structure on a handlebody is tight. As applications, we construct a tight contact structure on a genus $4$ handlebody which becomes overtwisted after Legendrian $-1$ surgery and study certain Legendrian surgeries on $T\sp 3$.