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The pants complex, the dual curve complex, and bridge splittings of knots.

Geometry/Topology

Speaker: Alexander Zupan, University of Iowa
Location: 2112 MSB
Start time: Tue, Nov 15 2011, 3:10PM

Recently, Jesse Johnson has used paths in the pants and dual curve complexes of Heegaard surfaces for a 3-manifold M to define invariants of M. We adapt this approach, employing the pants and dual curve complexes of bridge surfaces for a knot K in a 3-manifold M to define invariants of (M,K). We will discuss several easy calculations of these invariants and also talk about some interesting associations between distance in the pants complex and hyperbolic geometry.