Wikipedia / Compression body
Wikipedia / 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:
be a compact, closed surface (not necessarily connected). Attach 1-handles.
be a compression body. The negative boundary.) The positive boundary minus the negative boundary.
minus the positive boundary.
Compression bodies often arise when manipulating Heegaard splittings.