BOUNDARY LINKS ARE HOMOTOPY

TRIVIAL
By L. CERVANTES and R. A. FENN

[Received 11 December 1985; in final form 27 May 1987]

1. Introduction
IT is known that a classical boundary link can be deformed to a trivial link
by a link homotopy. The argument can be paraphrased as follows: if L is
a boundary link with n components then there is a surjective homo-
morphism JTJ(5 3 — L)—*F where F is a free group of rank n which takes
meridians to a basis for F. This implies that all the Milnor numbers
ft(h> h> •"" '*) &re zero. But this means that there is no obstruction to a
link homotopy of L to a trivial link, see [4] or [1]. However the details
are by no means trivial and in this note we give a direct geometric proof
of this fact.
One advantage of these methods is that we can show that a boundary
link is pass equivalent to the trivial link if and only if each component has
Robertello invariant equal to 0. This is a new result which generalises
that given in [2].
We would like to thank the referee whose helpful comments greatly
improved the presentation.

2. Notation and definitions

Let y denote disjoint union of sets. If X = Xx y • • • y Xn is a disjoint
union of n path connected topological spaces a map / : X—* Y is a link
map if
f(X,)nf(Xj) = 0 whenever i¥=j.
A path of link maps is called a link homotopy. We will be interested in
the classical case of an n component link in R3: X = 5{ y • • • \) Si is the
union of n disjoint circles and / : X—* R3 is a link map. Let Kt -
f(S})i = 1, . . . , n. Then L = Kx U • • • U Kn is a disjoint union of n closed
curves in R3 each of which by an arbitrarily small homotopy can be
made simple.
It is known that links with two components are classified up to link
homotopy by their linking number. For example the Whitehead link in
Figure 1 is link homotopic to the trivial link (unknotted unlinked circles).
Three component links are classified by their Milnor numbers, see [4].
Four component links are not classified by their Milnor numbers but have
been classified by Levine [3].
Quart. J. Math. Oxford (2), 39 (1988), 151-158 © 1988 Oxford University Press
0033-5606/88 $3.00
152 L. CERVANTES AND R. A. FENN

FIG. 1. The Whitehead link.

We work throughout in the smooth category. A link L =

Kx y • • • y Kn is a boundary link if AT, = 32,, i = l,...,n where the 2 (
are disjoint oriented spanning surfaces for Kt in R3. Note that the
Whitehead link is not a boundary link since £(1212) is non-zero.
Let / be the closed interval [0,1]. An R-surface in R3 consists of a disc
D, the base disc, with 2g ribbons attached to dD to form a surface of
genus g with one boundary component, see Figure 2.
If/: I xl—*U3 determines one of the ribbons with
/ ( / x I) n 3D = / ( / x /) n D =f(I x 0) U/(7 x 1)
t h e n / ( | x 1) is called the axis of the ribbon and/(7 x t) is called spanning
arc for any 0<t<1 (core and cocore respectively in handle notation).
The union of the base disc and axes is called the rosette of the R-surface.
Clearly the boundary of an R -surface may be isotoped over R to lie
arbitrarily close to its rosette.
We say that an R-surface has unknotted rosette if its rosette is ambient
isotopic to the uniform appearance of Figure 3.
An R -surface with an unknotted rosette need not have an unknotted
boundary because the ribbons of R may be twisted.

Fio. 2. An .R-surface of Genus 1.

 BOUNDARY LINKS ARE HOMOTOPY TRIVIAL 153

FIG. 3. An unknotted rosette.

Let D be a disc in R3 and let f: I x I2—>U3 be an embedding of a

solid cylinder in R3 such that
D o y Dx = / ( 0 x I 2 ) y / ( l x I2) = / ( / x / 2 ) n D
are two disjoint discs in the interior of D and let T = / ( / x S/2). Then we
say that (D - Do U Dj) U T, if orientable, is the result of adding a tube T
to D. The orientation condition ensures that the ends of T are always
added on the same side of D. The arc / ( / x \ x i) is called the axis of T.
The image / ( / x int I2) is called the interior of T. The simple closed curve
f(t X 9I2) for any 0 < t < 1 is called a meridian of T.
An S-surface in R3 is a surface of genus g obtained by adding g disjoint
tubes to a disc D, called the base disc of 5. See Figure 4.
Note that an 5-surface is necessarily an R-surface but an R -surface is
an S-surface only if its boundary is unknotted.
A tube T attached to D is unknotted if there is a disc F, the unknotting
disc, such that F n T = 9F n T and F n D = 3F D Z) are complementary
arcs of 3F joining the two ends of T in T and D respectively. This is
equivalent to saying that the loop formed from the axis of T and an arc in
D joining the ends of the axis is unknotted. Let i be an integer 0 ^ i =s n.

FIG. 4. An S-surface of Genus 2.

154 L. CERVANTES AND R. A. FENN

Let
Xl = S1V---VSlVRl+1V-VRH
be a disjoint union of i S-surfaces and n - i R-surfaces such that
dSi U • • • U dSt is a trivial link of i components with disjoint base discs.
We say that a link L is of class i if L = 9X, for some Xt. Note that all
boundary links are of class 0 and if a boundary link is of maximal class
then it is necessarily trivial. In the next section we show how to make a
boundary link of maximal class by a link homotopy.

3. Unknotting boundary links

THEOREM 1. Let L be a boundary link. Then L is link homotopic to the
trivial link.
By the previous remarks, Theorem 1 will follow as an immediate
corollary of the following lemma.
LEMMA 2. Let L be a boundary link with n components of class i where
Oai<n. Then L is link homotopic to a boundary link of class i + 1.
Proof. Let L = 3X,, K, = dSit i = 1, . . . ,i, Kt = dR,, j = i + l,...,n
as in section 2. We firstly make some elementry observations about the
space Xt and how to improve its presentation in R3.
Let / : / x / 2 - > R 3 define a tube t added to the disc D. Let Do =
/(0 x I2) <= int D. Assume by general position that Do meets Xt
transversely in simple closed curves and arcs. By an isotopy pushing
Do f~l Xi round the inside of T we may assume that
/(/ x i2) nx<= /(/ x r\D0 n x,)).
A standard transversality and irreducibility argument implies that the
simple closed curves can be taken to be meridians of tubes and that the
arcs can be taken to be spanning arcs of ribbons. Now repeat for every
tube. Finally by introducing new tubes where necessary we may assume
that Do n Xt consists of a set of totally nested meridians of tubes possibly
containing one, but not more, spanning arc at the centre.
We divide the tubes of Xt into two: type I which have a ribbon from
Ri+l running round its interior and type II which do not. Let T be a tube
of type I which is maximal in the sense that it does not run through the
interior of any other tube. Our first job is to make T unknotted by a link
homotopy. Assume that the base discs of S+,. . . , S, all lie in a horizontal
plane and take a vertical plane projection of the axis of T in general
position. We may assume that no portion of Xt except the tubes cabling
the axis of T lie near a neighbourhood of each crossing point. Now by
changing overcrossings and undercrossings we can make T unknotted.
 BOUNDARY LINKS ARE HOMOTOPY TRIVIAL 155

Old position
New
Tube of type II
or band B,

Old position
New

FIG. 5. Eliminating the tube T.

This is a link homotopy of L since it is only i? /+1 and the interior of the
S-surfaces which pass through each other in the course of the homotopy.
Let F be an unknotting disc for T and suppose that F meets X,
transversely. Let Tlt .. ., Tk be the maximal tubes of type II which cross
F and let Blt.. . , Bt denote bands of the Rj, j > i + 1 that cross F and are
not contained within any tube at all. We now eliminate T and create k +1
new tubes on the other side of T by pulling T through D across F
allowing Tu .. . ,Tk with their contents and Bx, . . ., Bt to run through
the new tubes, see Figure 5.
Again this is allowable since T only passes through portions of Ri+1.
Let 7i,. . . , Tp be the tubes of Sr U • • • U Si of type I ordered in such a
way that if l = s i < / ' S p then 7} does not run through 7]. If we now
eliminate these handles as above in this order after p steps no ribbon of
Rl+i will run through the interior of any tube.
The next stage is to unknot Rt+i. As before take a vertical plane
projection of the rosette of Ri+1 and change overcrossings and under-
crossing to achieve this. As before we may assume that this does not
affect the rest of Xt. Finally undo the twists of the ribbons by a homotopy
near the axis.
We thus have a link L' = Lt U • • • U L ;+J of unknotted components
such that Lj U • • • U Lt is trivial, spanning disjoint discs Dx,. .., D,
disjoint from L /+1 . It follows easily that L' is trivial which proves Lemma
2.
156 L. CERVANTES AND R. A. FENN

FIG. 6. An elementary pass.

4. Pass equivalent links

Let L = Ki y • • • y Kn be a link. An elementary pass is said to apply to
the component Kt if for some planar projection of Kt the modification
indicated in Figure 6 takes place.
Two links Lj and L^ are said to be pass equivalent if there is a
sequence of elementary passes taking Lj to L^. If K is a knot let
<p(K) e {0, 1} denote the Robertello invariant [5]. The following facts are
known: (take addition modulo 2)
THEOREM 2. (a) The Robertello invariant <p(K) is invariant under pass
equivalence
(b) A knot is pass equivalent to another if and only if they have the
same Robertello invariant
(c) If K is the trefoil knot then <t>(K) = l
(d) IfKis the unknot then (p(K) = 0
(e)
For a proof see [2].
However the property of being a boundary link is not preserved under
pass equivalence. Consider the link described in Figure 7.
Then it is known that this is not a boundary link, [6]. However it is
pass equivalent to the trivial link.

FIG. 7
 BOUNDARY LINKS ARE HOMOTOPY TRIVIAL 157

Fio. 8. Reversing the orientation of a twist by a pass equivalence.

On the other hand using the methods of the previous section we can
show the following.
THEOREM 3. Let L be a boundary link. Then L is pass equivalent to the
trivial link if and only if each component has Robertello invariant zero.
Proof. The necessity of the condition clearly follows from Theorem 2.
Now suppose L = Kx y • • • y Kn is a boundary link with each com-
ponent having zero Robertello invariant. We follow the methods of
Theorem 1 to construct a pass equivalence to the trivial link, suppose by
induction on i that
L = d{s, y • • • y s, y RM y • • • u Rn) = ax{
as in the proof of Theorem 1.
The first stage in the proof is to ensure that Ri+l does not run through
the inside of any tubes of 5! y • • • y 5,. We proceed as before as before
and note that since this involves the interchange of crossing points of the
rosette of i? i+1 this corresponds to pass equivalence on Ki+1 which is
easily seen to preserve the boundary property of L.
By a further pass equivalence we may assume that Ri+i is unknotted
(but possibly twisted).
The orientation of any twist can be reversed as in Figure 8.
So the twist in any ribbon may be taken to be +1 or 0. A pair of
adjacent ribbons with at least one untwisted ribbon defines the unknot. If
both are twisted we have the trefoil. So Ki+l is now a direct sum of
trefoils (either orientation) and locally Ri+l looks like Figure 9.

FIG. 9
158 L. CERVANTES AND R. A. FENN

0
Fio. 10. Absorbing two twists into one.

Fio. 11. a) Reef knot, b) unknot.

A pair of adjacent ribbons can have their twists absorbed into one by a
pass equivalence as in Figure 10.
So two adjacent trefoils on Rl+1 can be turned into the unknot as in
Figure 11.
By Theorem 2 there always are an even number of trefoils which can
be eliminated by the above procedure. This proves Theorem 3.

REFERENCES
1. L. Cervantes, Ph.D. Thesis Sussex 1986.
2. L. H. Kaufman, Formal knot theory Princeton University Press (1983).
3. J. Levine, Preprint.
4. J. Milnor, 'link groups' Ann. of Math. 59 (1954), 177-195.
5. R. A. Robertello, 'An invariant of knot cobordism' Comm. in Pure and Appl. Math.
Vol. XVm (1965) 543-555.
6. N. Smythe, 'Boundary links' Topology Seminar Wisconsin 1965. Ann. of Math. Studies,
no. 60, pp. 69-72 Princeton University Press.

Mathematics Division
University of Sussex
Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH
England