Abstract
We study the computational complexity of basic decision problems of 3-dimensional topology, such as to determine whether a triangulated 3-manifold is irreducible, prime, ∂-irreducible, or homeomorphic to a given 3-manifold M. For example, we prove that the problem to recognize whether a triangulated 3-manifold is homeomorphic to a 3-sphere, or to a 2-sphere bundle over a circle, or to a real projective 3-space, or to a handlebody of genus g, is decidable in nondeterministic polynomial time (NP) of size of the triangulation. We also show that the problem to determine whether a triangulated orientable 3-manifold is irreducible (or prime) is in PSPACE and whether it is ∂-irreducible is in coNP. The proofs improve and extend arguments of prior author’s article on the recognition problem for the 3-sphere.
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Ivanov, S.V. The computational complexity of basic decision problems in 3-dimensional topology. Geom Dedicata 131, 1–26 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10711-007-9210-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10711-007-9210-4