Sphere systems, standard form, and cores of products of trees

Abstract

We introduce the concept of a standard form for two embedded maximal sphere systems in the doubled handlebody, and we prove an existence and uniqueness result. In particular, we show that pairs of maximal sphere systems in the doubled handlebody (up to homeomorphism) bijectively correspond to square complexes satisfying a set of properties. This work is a variant on Hatcher's normal form.