Homeomorphisms which are Dehn twists on the boundary

Abstract

A homeomorphism of a 3-manifold M is said to be Dehn twists on the boundary when its restriction to the boundary of M is isotopic to the identity on the complement of a collection of disjoint simple closed curves in the boundary of M. In this paper, we give various results about such collections of curves and the associated homeomorphisms. In particular, if M is compact, orientable, irreducible and the boundary of M is a single torus, and M admits a homeomorphism which is a nontrivial Dehn twist on the boundary of M, then M must be a solid torus.