Boundary slopes (nearly) bound exceptional slopes

Abstract

For a hyperbolic knot in $S^3$, Dehn surgery along slope $r \in \Q \cup \{\frac10\}$ is {\em exceptional} if it results in a non-hyperbolic manifold. We say meridional surgery, $r=\frac{1}{0}$, is {\em trivial} as it recovers the manifold $S^3$. We provide evidence in support of two conjectures. The first (inspired by a question of Professor Motegi) states that there are boundary slopes $b_1<b_2$ such that all non-trivial exceptional surgeries occur, as rational numbers, in the interval $[b_1,b_2]$. We say a boundary slope is {\em NIT} if it is non-integral or toroidal. Second, when there are non-trivial exceptional surgeries, we conjecture there are NIT boundary slopes $b_1\le b_2$ so that the exceptional surgeries lie in $[\floor{b_1},\ceil{b_2}]$. Moreover, if $\ceil{b_1} \leq \floor{b_2}$, the integers in the interval $[ \ceil{b_1}, \floor{b_2} ]$ are all exceptional surgeries.

(v1): 17 pages, 3 figures (v2): minor edits, 18 pages, 3 figures