Cobordism-equivalence for codimension-one submanifolds

Abstract

We show that two hypersurfaces in a manifold are related by a sequence of embedded cobordisms if and only if they represent the same homology class. By applying handle decompositions we turn these cobordisms into a sequence of embedded surgeries. Specializing to Seifert surfaces we obtain a conceptual proof that two Seifert surfaces of a fixed link are related by tube attachments and tube removals.

14 pages, 6 figures