Compression body

Compression body

In the theory of 3-manifolds, a compression body is a kind of generalized handlebody.

A compression body is either a handlebody or the result of the following construction:

Let S be a compact, closed surface (not necessarily connected). Attach 1- handles to S \times [0,1] along S \times \{1\}.
Let C be a compression body.
The negative boundary of C, denoted \partial_{-}C, is S \times \{0\}. (If C is a handlebody then \partial_- C = \emptyset.) The positive boundary of C, denoted \partial_{+}C, is \partial C minus the negative boundary.
There is a dual construction of compression bodies starting with a surface S and attaching 2-handles to S \times \{0\}. In this case \partial_{+}C is S \times \{1\}, and \partial_{-}C is \partial C minus the positive boundary.

Compression bodies often arise when manipulating Heegaard splittings.