# Untitled Document

Pants Decompositions of Surfaces

Allen Hatcher

In studying the geometry and topology of surfaces it often happens that one considers a collection of disjointly embedded circles in a compact orientable surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ which decompose $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ into pairs of pants — surfaces of genus zero with three boundary circles. If $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is not itself a pair of pants, then there are infinitely many different isotopy classes of pants decompositions of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. It was observed in \[HT\] that any two isotopy classes of pants decompositions can be joined by a finite sequence of “elementary moves” in which only one circle changes at a time. In the present paper we apply the techniques of \[HT\] to study the relations which hold among such sequences of elementary moves. The main result is that there are five basic types of relations from which all others follow. Namely, we construct a two-dimensional cell complex $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ whose vertices are the isotopy classes of pants decompositions of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, whose edges are the elementary moves, and whose 2-cells are attached via the basic relations. Then we prove that $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is simply-connected.

Now let us give the precise definitions. Let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ be a connected compact orientable surface. We say $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ has type $`(g,n)`$ if it has genus $`g`$ and $`n`$ boundary components. By a pants decomposition of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ we mean a finite collection $`P`$ of disjoint smoothly embedded circles cutting $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ into pieces which are surfaces of type $`(0,3)`$. We also call $`P`$ a maximal cut system. The number of curves in a maximal cut system is $`3g3+n`$, and the number of complementary components is $`2g2+n=|\chi (\mathrm{\Sigma })|`$, assuming that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ has at least one pants decomposition.

Let $`P`$ be a pants decomposition, and suppose that one of the circles $`\beta `$ of $`P`$ is such that deleting $`\beta `$ from $`P`$ produces a complementary component of type $`(1,1)`$. This is equivalent to saying there is a circle $`\gamma `$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ which intersects $`\beta `$ in one point transversely and is disjoint from all the other circles in $`P`$. In this case, replacing $`\beta `$ by $`\gamma `$ in $`P`$ produces a new pants decomposition $`P^{}`$. We call this replacement a simple move, or S-move.

Figure 1: an S-move and an A-move

In similar fashion, if $`P`$ contains a circle $`\beta `$ such that deleting $`\beta `$ from $`P`$ produces a complementary component of type $`(0,4)`$, then we obtain a new pants decomposition $`P^{}`$ by replacing $`\beta `$ by a circle $`\gamma `$ intersecting $`\beta `$ transversely in two points and disjoint from the other curves of $`P`$. The transformation $`PP^{}`$ in this case is called an associativity move or A-move. (In the surface of type $`(0,4)`$ containing $`\beta `$ and $`\gamma `$ these two curves separate the four boundary circles in two different ways, and one can view these separation patterns as analogous to inserting parentheses via associativity.) Note that the inverse of an S-move is again an S-move, and the inverse of an A-move is again an A-move.

Definition. The pants decomposition complex $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is the two-dimensional cell complex having vertices the isotopy classes of pants decompositions of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, with an edge joining two vertices whenever the corresponding maximal cut systems differ by a single S-move or A-move, and with faces added to fill in all cycles of the following five forms:

(3A) Suppose that deleting one circle from a maximal cut system creates a complementary component of type $`(0,4)`$. Then in this component there are circles $`\beta _1`$, $`\beta _2`$, and $`\beta _3`$, shown in Figure 2(a), which yield a cycle of three A-moves: $`\beta _1\beta _2\beta _3\beta _1`$. (No other loops in the given pants decomposition change.)

Figure 2

(5A) Suppose that deleting two circles from a maximal cut system creates a complementary component of type $`(0,5)`$. Then in this component there is a cycle of five A-moves involving the circles $`\beta _i`$ shown in Figure 2(b): $`\{\beta _1,\beta _3\}\{\beta _1,\beta _4\}\{\beta _2,\beta _4\}\{\beta _2,\beta _5\}\{\beta _3,\beta _5\}\{\beta _3,\beta _1\}`$.

(3S) Suppose that deleting one circle from a maximal cut system creates a complementary component of type $`(1,1)`$. Then in this component there are circles $`\beta _1`$, $`\beta _2`$, and $`\beta _3`$, shown in Figure 2(c), which yield a cycle of three S-moves: $`\beta _1\beta _2\beta _3\beta _1`$.

(6AS) Suppose that deleting two circles from a maximal cut system creates a complementary component of type $`(1,2)`$. Then in this component there is a cycle of four A-moves and two S-moves shown in Figure 3: $`\{\alpha _1,\alpha _3\}\{\alpha _1,\epsilon _3\}\{\alpha _2,\epsilon _3\}\{\alpha _2,\epsilon _2\}\{\alpha _2,\epsilon _1\}\{\alpha _3,\epsilon _1\}\{\alpha _3,\alpha _1\}`$.

Figure 3

(C) If two moves which are either A-moves or S-moves are supported in disjoint subsurfaces of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, then they commute, and their commutator is a cycle of four moves.

Theorem. The pants decomposition complex $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is simply connected. Thus any two sequences of A-moves and S-moves joining two given pants decompositions can be obtained one from the other by a finite number of insertions or deletions of the five types of cycles, together with the trivial operation of inserting or deleted a move followed by its inverse.

Example. If $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ has type (0,4) or (1,1), the two cases when a maximum cut system contains just one circle, then $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is the two-dimensional complex shown in Figure 4, consisting entirely of triangles since only the relations 3A or 3S are possible in these two cases. The vertices of $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ are labelled by slopes, which classify the nontrivial isotopy classes of circles on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. This is a familiar fact for the torus, where slopes are defined via homology. For the $`(0,4)`$ surface, slopes are defined by lifting curves to the torus via the standard two-sheeted branched covering of the sphere by the torus, branched over four points which become the four boundary circles of the $`(0,4)`$ surface.

Figure 4 

PROOF. This uses the same basic approach as in \[HT\], which consists of realizing cut systems as level sets of Morse functions $`f:\mathrm{\Sigma }\text{}`$.

Let $`I=[0,1]`$. We consider Morse functions $`f:(\mathrm{\Sigma },\mathrm{\Sigma })(I,0)`$ whose critical points all lie in the interior of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. To such a Morse function we associate a finite graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$, which is the quotient space of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ obtained by collapsing all points in the same component of a level set $`f^1(a)`$ to a single point in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$. If we assume $`f`$ is generic, so that all critical points have distinct critical values, then the vertices of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ all have valence 1 or 3 and arise from critical points of $`f`$ or from boundary components of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. Namely, boundary components give rise to vertices of valence 1, as do local maxima and minima of $`f`$, while saddles of $`f`$ produce vertices of valence 3. See Figure 2 of \[HT\] for pictures. We can associate to such a function $`f`$ a maximal cut system $`C(f)`$, unique up to isotopy, by either of the following two equivalent procedures:

(1) Choose one point in the interior of each edge of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$, take the circles in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ which these points correspond to, then delete those circles which bound disks in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ or are isotopic to boundary components, and replace collections of mutually isotopic circles by a single circle.

(2) Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0(f)`$ be the unique smallest subgraph of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ which $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ deformation retracts to and which contains all the vertices corresponding to boundary components of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0(f)`$ has vertices of valence 2, regard these not as vertices but as interior points of edges. In each edge of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0(f)`$ not having a valence 1 vertex as an endpoint, choose an interior point distinct from the points which were vertices of valence 2. Then let $`C(f)`$ consist of the circles in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ corresponding to these chosen points of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0(f)`$.

Every maximal cut system arises as $`C(f)`$ for some generic $`f:(\mathrm{\Sigma },\mathrm{\Sigma })(I,0)`$. To obtain such an $`f`$, one can first define it near the circles of the given cut system and the circles of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ so that all these circles are noncritical level curves, then extend to a function defined on all of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, then perturb this function to be a generic Morse function.

After these preliminaries, we can now show that $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is connected. Given two maximal cut systems, realize them as $`C(f_0)`$ and $`C(f_1)`$. Connect the generic Morse functions $`f_0`$ and $`f_1`$ by a one-parameter family $`f_t:(\mathrm{\Sigma },\mathrm{\Sigma })(I,0)`$ with no critical points near $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. This is possible since the space of such functions is convex. After perturbing the family $`f_t`$ to be generic, then $`f_t`$ is a generic Morse function for each $`t`$, except for two phenomena: birth-death critical points, and crossings interchanging the heights of two consecutive nondegenerate critical points, as described on p.224 of \[HT\]. The associated maximal cut systems $`C(f_t)`$ will be independent of $`t`$ except for possible changes caused by these two phenomena. Birth-death points are local in nature and occur in the interior of an annulus in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ bounded by two level curves, hence produce no change in $`C(f_t)`$. Crossings can affect $`C(f_t)`$ only when both critical points are saddles. Up to level-preserving diffeomorphism, there are five possible configurations for such a pair of saddles, shown in Figures 5 and 6 of \[HT\]. The three simplest configurations are shown in Figure 5 below, and one can see that the intermediate level curve dividing the subsurface into two pairs of pants changes by an A-move as the relative heights of the two saddles are switched.

Figure 5

The fourth configuration, shown in the left picture of Figure 6 below, also occurs in a subsurface of type (0,4). Here the crossing produces an interchange of the level curves $`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _2`$ indicated in the middle picture. These two curves intersect in four points, and can be redrawn as in the right picture. They are related by a pair of A-moves, interpolating between them the horizontal circle $`\beta `$. (In terms of Figure 4, we can connect the slope $`1`$ and $`1`$ vertices by an edgepath passing through either the slope $`0`$ or slope $`\mathrm{}`$ vertices.)

Figure 6

The fifth configuration takes place in a subsurface of type (1,2), as shown in Figure 7. Here the two level curves in the left-hand figure change to the two in the right-hand figure. This is precisely the change from the pair of circles in the middle of the upper row of Figure 3 to the pair in the middle of the lower row. Thus the change is realized by an A-move, an S-move, and an A-move. This finishes the proof that $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is connected.

Figure 7

Note that the edgepath in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ associated to the generic family $`f_t`$ is not quite unique. For a crossing as in the fourth configuration, shown in Figure 6, there were two associated edgepaths in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$, which in Figure 4 corresponded to passing from slope $`1`$ to slope $`1`$ through either slope $`0`$ or slope $`\mathrm{}`$. These two edgepaths are homotopic in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ using two relations of type 3A. Similarly, a crossing in the fifth configuration, in Figure 7, corresponded to an edgepath of three edges, but there are precisely two choices for this edgepath, the two ways of going halfway around Figure 3, so these two choices are related by a relation of type 6AS. Thus we conclude that the edgepath associated to a generic family $`f_t`$ is unique up to homotopy in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$.

A preliminary step to showing $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is simply connected is:

Lemma. Every edgepath in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is homotopic in the 1-skeleton of $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ to an edgepath which is the sequence of maximal cut systems $`C(f_t)`$ associated to a generic one-parameter family $`f_t`$. 

PROOF. First we show:

($``$) If the cut systems $`C(f_0)`$ and $`C(f_1)`$ are isotopic, then there is a generic family $`f_t`$ joining $`f_0`$ and $`f_1`$ such that for all $`t`$, $`f_t`$ has nonsingular level curves in the isotopy classes of all the circles of $`C(f_0)`$ and $`C(f_1)`$. This can be shown as follows. Composing $`f_0`$ with an ambient isotopy of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ taking the curves in $`C(f_0)`$ to the curves in $`C(f_1)`$, we may assume that $`C(f_0)=C(f_1)`$. The normal directions to these curves defined by increasing values of $`f_0`$ and $`f_1`$ may not agree, but this can easily be achieved by a deformation of $`f_0`$ near $`C(f_0)`$. Then we can further deform $`f_0`$ so that it agrees with $`f_1`$ near $`C(f_0)=C(f_1)`$ and near $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, without changing the local behavior near critical points. Then, keeping the new $`f_0`$ fixed where we have made it agree with $`f_1`$, we can deform it to coincide with $`f_1`$ everywhere by a generic family $`f_t`$.

To deduce the lemma from ($``$) it then suffices to realize an arbitrary A-move or S-move. For A-moves we can just use Figure 5. Similarly, Figure 7 realizes a given S-move sandwiched between two A-moves, but we can realize the inverses of these A-moves, so the result follows. $``$$``$

Now consider an arbitrary loop in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$. By the lemma, together with the statement ($``$) in its proof, this loop is homotopic to a loop of the form $`C(f_t)`$ for a loop of generic functions $`f_t`$. Since the space of functions is convex, there is a 2-parameter family $`f_{tu}`$ giving a nullhomotopy of the loop $`f_t`$. We may assume $`f_{tu}`$ is a generic 2-parameter family, so that $`f_{tu_0}`$ is a generic 1-parameter family for each $`u_0`$ except for the six types of isolated phenomena listed on page 230 of \[HT\]. The proof that $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ is simply connected will be achieved by showing that these phenomena change the associated loop $`C(f_{tu_0})`$ by homotopy in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$.

The first three of the six involve degenerate critical points and are uninteresting for our purposes. In each case the change in generic 1-parameter family is supported in subsurfaces of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ of type $`(0,k)`$, $`k3`$, bounded by level curves, so there is no change in the associated path in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$.

The last three phenomena, numbered (4), (5), and (6) on page 230 of \[HT\], involve only nondegenerate critical points, which we may assume are saddles since otherwise the reasoning in the preceding paragraph shows that nothing interesting is happening. Number (4) is rather trivial: A crossing and its “inverse” are cancelled or introduced. We may choose the segment of the edgepath in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ associated to the crossing and its inverse so that it simply backtracks across up to three edges, hence the edgepath changes only by homotopy. Number (5) is the commutation of two crossings involving four distinct saddles. This corresponds to a homotopy of the associated edgepath across 2-cells representing the commutation relation C. Number (6) arises when three saddles have the same $`f_{tu}`$-value at an isolated point in the $`(t,u)`$-parameter space. As one circles around this value, the heights of the saddles vary through the six possible orders: 123, 132, 312, 321, 231, 213, 123. To finish the proof it remains to analyze the various possible configurations for these three saddles. The interesting cases not covered by previous arguments are when the three saddles lie in a connected subsurface bounded by level curves just above and below the three saddles. Note that we can immediately say that all relations among moves, apart from the commutation relation, are supported in subsurfaces of types (0,5) and (1,3). This is because a subsurface bounded by level curves with three saddles, hence Euler characteristic $`3`$, must have at least two boundary circles, one below the saddles and one above, so if the surface is connected it must have type (0,5) or (1,3). The analysis below will show that the (1,3) subsurfaces can be reduced to (1,2) subsurfaces. There are sixteen possible configurations of three saddles on one level, shown in Figure 8, where the saddles are regarded as 1-handles, or rectangles, attached to level curves. The sixteen configurations are grouped into eight pairs, the two configurations in each pair being related by replacing $`f_{tu}`$ by its negative.

Figure 8

The first five pairs involve a genus zero subsurface and are somewhat easier to analyze visually than the other three pairs, which occur in a genus one subsurface. We consider each of these five pairs in turn. (a) A picture of the subsurface with $`f_{tu}`$ as the height function is shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9

Viewed from above, the surface can be seen as a disk with four subdisks deleted, a (0,5) surface. In the second row of the figure we show the various configurations of level curves when the saddles are perturbed to each of the six possible orders. For example, the first diagram shows the order 123, where the saddle 1 is the highest, 2 is the middle, and 3 is the lowest. The two circles shown lie between the two adjacent pairs of saddles. The four dots represent four of the five boundary circles of the (0,5) surface, the fifth being regarded as the point at infinity in the one-point compactification of the plane. In the third row of the figure this fifth point is brought in to a finite point and the level circles are redrawn accordingly. The two adjacent orderings 132 and 312 produce the same level curves, so we have in reality a cycle of five maximal cut systems. Each is related to the next (and the first to the last) by an A-move, and the whole cycle is the relation 5A.

(c) We treat this case next since it is very similar to (a). From Figure 10 it is clear that one again has the relation 5A.

Figure 10

(b) Here the 3-fold rotational symmetry makes it unlikely that one would directly get the relation 5A. The second row of Figure 11 shows the cycle of six cut systems.

Figure 11

It is convenient to simplify the notation at this point by representing the two circles in a pants decomposition of the (0,5) surface by two arcs joining four of the five points representing the boundary circles. The boundary of a neighborhood of each arc is then a circle separating two of the five points from the other three. The third row of the figure shows the cycle of six cut systems in this notation, with the fifth point at infinity and an arc to this point indicated by an arrow from one of the other four points. Note that we have a cycle of six A-moves. This can be reduced to two 3A and two 5A relations by adjoining the two configurations in the fourth row. Schematically, one subdivides a hexagon into two pentagons and two triangles by inserting two interior vertices, as shown.

(d) Here the cycle of six cut systems contains two steps which are not A-moves but resolve into a pair of A-moves. Thus we have a cycle of eight A-moves, and this decomposes into two 5A relations, as shown in Figure 12.

(e) In this case we have the configuration shown in Figure 13, with 3-fold symmetry. The cycle of six multicurves has three steps which resolve into pairs of A-moves, so we have a cycle of nine A-moves. This can be reduced to three 3A relations and four cycles of six A-moves. After a permutation of the five boundary circles of the (0,5) surface, each of these 6-cycles becomes the 6-cycle considered in case (b).

Figure 12

Figure 13

This completes the analysis of the five cases of the phenomenon (5) involving genus 0 surfaces. In particular, the theorem is now proved for surfaces of type $`(0,n)`$. To finish the proof it would suffice to do a similar analysis of the three remaining configurations of three saddles in surfaces of type (1,3). However, the cycles of A- and S-moves arising from these configurations are somewhat more complicated than those in the genus zero configurations, so instead of carrying out this analysis, we shall make a more general argument, showing that the relation 3A and 6AS suffice to reduce the genus one case to the genus zero case. So let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ have type $`(1,n)`$. We can view the boundary components of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ as punctures rather than circles, so $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is the complement of $`n`$ points in a torus $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$. Given an edgepath loop $`\gamma `$ in $`𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$, its image $`\widehat{\gamma }`$ in $`𝒫(\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }})`$ is nullhomotopic since the explicit picture of $`𝒫(\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }})`$ shows it is contractible. Our task is to show the nullhomotopy of $`\widehat{\gamma }`$ lifts to a nullhomotopy of $`\gamma `$.

The nullhomotopy of $`\widehat{\gamma }`$ gives a map $`\widehat{g}:D^2𝒫(\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }})`$. Making $`\widehat{g}`$ transverse to the graph dual to the 1-skeleton of $`𝒫(\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }})`$, the preimage of this dual graph is a graph $`G`$ in $`D^2`$, intersecting the boundary of $`D^2`$ transversely, as depicted by the solid lines in the left half of Figure 14.

Figure 14

The vertices of $`G`$ in the interior of $`D^2`$ have valence three, and are the preimages of the center points of triangles of $`𝒫(\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }})`$. Each such vertex corresponds to three circles on $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ having distinct slopes and disjoint except for a single point where they all three intersect transversely. Each edge of $`G`$ corresonds to a pair of circles on $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ of distinct slopes, intersecting transversely in one point. The complementary regions of $`G`$ correspond to single circles.

In a neighborhood $`N`$ of $`G`$ we can choose all these circles in $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ to vary continuously with the point in $`N`$. We can also assume these continuously varying circles have general position intersections with the $`n`$ puncture points, so that they are disjoint from the punctures except along arcs, shown dotted in Figure 14, abutting interior points of edges of $`G`$, where a single circle slides across a puncture. Near such a dotted arc we thus have three circles: the circle before it slides across the puncture, the circle after it slides across the puncture, and a third circle intersecting each of the two circles in one point transversely. We can perturb the first two circles to be disjoint, so they are essentially two parallel copies of the same circle with the puncture between them. A neighborhood of the three circles is then a surface of type (1,2). We can identify the three circles in this subsurface with the three simplest circles in Figure 3: the upper and lower meridian circles and the longitudinal circle. The puncture is one of the two boundary circles of the subsurface. Adjoining the other circles shown in the figure, we get various pants decompositions of the subsurface. Choosing a fixed pants decomposition of the rest of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ then gives a way of lifting $`\widehat{g}`$ to $`g:D^2𝒫(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ in a neighborhood of the dotted arc, by superimposing Figure 3 on the right half of Figure 14. Since the chosen circles are disjoint from punctures elsewhere along $`G`$, we can then extend the lift $`g`$ over $`G`$ by extending the given circles to pants decompositions of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, using just the fact that any two pants decompositions of a genus zero surface can be connected by a sequence of A-moves. Finally, the lift $`g`$ can be extended over the complementary regions of $`G`$ since the theorem is already proved for genus zero surfaces. $``$$``$References

\[HT\] A. Hatcher and W. Thurston, A presentation for the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface, Topology 19 (1980), 221-237.