Endperiodic maps, splitting sequences, and branched surfaces

Abstract

We strengthen the unpublished theorem of Gabai and Mosher that every depth one sutured manifold contains a very full dynamic branched surface by showing that the branched surface can be chosen to satisfy an additional property we call veering. To this end we prove that every endperiodic map admits a periodic splitting sequence of train tracks carrying its positive Handel-Miller lamination. This completes step one of Gabai-Mosher's unpublished two-step proof that every taut finite depth foliation of a compact, oriented, atoroidal 3-manifold is almost transverse to a pseudo-Anosov flow. Further, a veering branched surface in a sutured manifold is a generalization of a veering triangulation, and we extend some of the theory of veering triangulations to this setting. In particular we show that the branched surfaces we construct are unique up to a natural equivalence relation, and give an algorithmic way to compute the foliation cones of Cantwell-Conlon.

144 pages, 65 figures. Final version, to appear in Geometry and Topology