Jonathan Zung, MIT
PATCH Seminar (joint with Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Penn, and Swarthmore)
Event Date
2025-09-26
Event Time
02:30 pm ~ 03:30 pm
Event Location
Wachman 617
Abstract: If $L$ is a link in a 3-manifold, which Dehn surgery multislopes give rise to 3-manifolds with taut foliations? In this talk, I will discuss the ziggurat phenomenon: if one restricts to foliations transverse to a fixed flow on the link complement, the set of multislopes typically has a fractal staircase shape with rational corners. In work in progress with Thomas Massoni, we explain the ziggurat phenomenon in some contexts using tools from contact geometry.
In the morning background talk (at 9:30), I'll introduce my two favorite codimension 1 structures on 3-manifolds — contact structures and foliations — and the Eliashberg—Thurston theorem which relates them.