Pseudo-Anosov braids with small entropy and the magic 3-manifold

Eiko Kin

and Mitsuhiko Takasawa

May 12, 2009
Abstract
We consider a surface bundle over the circle, so called the magic manifold M = M
magic
.
This manifold has the smallest known volume among orientable hyperbolic 3-manifolds having
3 cusps. We compute the entropy function on a ber face H
2
(M, M; R). We determine
homology classes whose representatives are genus 0 ber surfaces for M, and describe their
monodromies by braids. Among such homology classes whose representatives have n punctures
for a given n, we decide which one realizes the minimal entropy. We show that for each n 6
(resp. n = 3, 4, 5), there exists a Dehn lling of the magic manifold which gives a hyperbolic
bered manifold with an n-punctured disk ber D
n
having the monodromy
n
: D
n
D
n
such
that
n
has the smallest known entropy (resp. the smallest entropy).
Keywords: mapping class group, pseudo-Anosov, entropy, hyperbolic volume, magic manifold
Mathematics Subject Classication : Primary 37E30, 57M27, Secondary 57M50
1 Introduction
Let /() be the mapping class group of an orientable surface of genus g with p punctures =
g,p
.
Assuming that 3g 3 +p 1, elements of /() are classied into three types: periodic, pseudo-
Anosov and reducible [26]. There exist two natural numerical invariants of pseudo-Anosov mapping
classes . One is the entropy ent() which is the logarithm of the dilatation (). The other
invariant is the volume vol() which comes from the bration theorem by Thurston [27] which
asserts that a mapping class is pseudo-Anosov if and only if its mapping torus
T() = [0, 1]/ ,
where identies (x, 1) with (f(x), 0) for some representative f of , is hyperbolic. We denote the
the volume of T() by vol().
Let /
pA
() be the set of pseudo-Anosov mapping classes of /(). Fixing the surface ,
the dilatation () for /
pA
() is known to be an algebraic integer with a bounded degree
depending only on . The number of conjugacy classes of /
pA
() with dilatation bounded by
some constant is nite, see [12]. In particular the set
Dil() = () > 1 [ /
pA
()
achieves its inmum (). We turn to the volume. The set
v [ v is the volume of a hyperbolic 3-manifold

The author is partially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (No. 20740031), MEXT, Japan
1
is a well-ordered closed subset of R of order type

. In particular any subset achieves its inmum.

Let vol() be the minimum of vol() [ /
pA
(). It is of interest to compute the minimum
() (resp. vol()) and to determine the mapping class realizing the minimum. Another problem
related to the minimal dilatation and the minimal volume can be stated as follows. For a non-
negative integer c, we set
(; c) = min() [ /
pA
(), T() has c cusps,
vol(; c) = minvol() [ /
pA
(), T() has c cusps.
A problem is to compute (; c) (resp. vol(; c)) and to determine which mapping class realizes
the minimum.
In [13], the authors and Kojima provided experimental results concerning the entropy and the
volume. In the case where the mapping class group /(D
n
) of the n-punctured disk D
n
, they
observed that for many pairs (n, c), there exists a mapping class simultaneously reaching both
(D
n
; c) and vol(D
n
; c). Experiments tell us that in case c = 3, the mapping torus of the mapping
class reaching both two minimums is homeomorphic to the magic manifold M
magic
which is the
exterior of the 3 chain link (
3
in the three sphere S
3
illustrated in Figure 1. Moreover for c = 2, it
is observed that there exists a mapping class realizing both (D
n
; 2) and vol(D
n
; 2) and its mapping
torus T() is obtained from M
magic
by a Dehn lling along one cusp. Venzke also studied in this
direction. He found a family of pseudo-Anosov mapping classes of the punctured disk having the
small dilatation. He showed that these mapping tori are obtained from M
magic
by a Dehn lling
along one cusp, see [28]. These studies motivate the present paper which concerns the brations in
M
magic
.
The magic manifold M
magic
is an intriguing example. It has the smallest known volume among
orientable hyperbolic 3-manifolds having 3 cusps. Many manifolds having at most 2 cusps with
small volume are obtained from M
magic
by Dehn llings, see [17]. For example, the gure eight
knot exterior and the gure eight sister knot exterior have the smallest volume among orientable
hyperbolic manifolds having a cusp [3]. The Whitehead link exterior and the Whitehead sister link,
i.e. (2, 3, 8)-pretzel link exterior, have the smallest volume among orientable hyperbolic manifolds
having 2 cusps [1]. In [17], Martelli and Petronio showed that the number of the exceptional
surgeries for M
magic
is 5. It is not known that there exists any other hyperbolic manifold with at
least 3 cusps such that the number of exceptional surgeries is greater than or equal to 5. Recall
that for a hyperbolic 3-manifold with a torus boundary component, the distance between two
exceptional Dehn llings is dened. The magic manifold provides many examples realizing the
various maximal volumes of . For more details, see [9].
Let M be a hyperbolic 3-manifold with boundary M (possibly empty) which bers over the
circle. We assume that M admits innitely many dierent brations. In [25], Thurston introduced
the norm function X
T
: H
2
(M, M; R) R. He showed that the unit ball U with respect to
X
T
is a compact, convex polyhedron. He described the relation between the function X
T
and
brations of M as follows. For a ber F of M, the homology class [F] H
2
(M, M; R) lies
in the open cone int(C

) with the origin over a top dimensional face of U. Conversely for

any (primitive) integral class a of int(C

), there exists a (connected) ber F of M representing

a. Thanks to this description, one can dene the entropy function ent() : int(C

) R. More
precisely, for each primitive integral class a int(C

), the monodromy : F F on a connected

surface F representing a must be pseudo-Anosov. One denes the entropy of a by ent(a) = ent() =
log((
a
)). This function dened on primitive integral classes admits a unique continuous extension
to the function on int(C

). One veries that the set

a int(C

) [ a ber representing a is homeomorphic to

g,p

2
is nite for each g 0 and p 0.
The mapping class group /(D
n
) is isomorphic to the subgroup of /(
0,n+1
) consisting of the
elements which x the (n+1)st puncture of
0,n+1
. By using the natural surjective homomorphism
from the n-braid group B
n
to /(D
n
), one can represent each element of /(D
n
) by an n-braid.
A braid b is called pseudo-Anosov if (b) is a pseudo-Anosov mapping class. If this is the case, the
dilatation (b) of b is dened by the dilatation of (b).
Let us dene an m-braid T
m,p
for m 3 which is a main example in this paper as follows.
T
m,p
= (
2
1

3

m1
)
p

2
m1
.
This is a horseshoe braid if gcd(p, m 1) = 1 and 1 < p
m1
2
(Proposition 4.15). Moreover if
gcd(m1, p) = 1, then the mapping torus T((T
m,p
)) is homeomorphic to M
magic
(Corollary 3.27).
We set
/
n
magic
= /(
0,n
) [ T() is homeomorphic to M
magic
.
Let f
(x,y,z)
be an integral polynomial
t
x+yz
t
x
t
y
t
xz
t
yz
+ 1.
The following our main theorem states that for all n but 6 and 8, the minimum among the dilatations
of /
n
magic
is realized by (T
n1,p
) for some p = p(n) and its dilatation can be computed by
using the polynomial f
(x,y,z)
.
Theorem 1.1. For each n 4, the minimum among the dilatations of /
n
magic
is realized by:
(1) the mapping class (T
2k,2
) in case n = 2k + 1 for k 2. The dilatation (T
2k,2
) equals the
largest real root of f
(k1,k,0)
(t) = t
2k1
2(t
k1
+t
k
) + 1.
(2-i) the mapping class (
1

2
2

4
) in case n = 6. The dilatation (
1

2
2

4
) 2.08102 equals
the largest real root of f
(3,2,1)
(t) = t
4
t
3
2t
3
t + 1.
(2-ii) the mapping class (T
4k+1,2k1
) in case n = 4k + 2 for k 2. The dilatation (T
4k+1,2k1
)
equals the largest real root of f
(2k+1,2k1,0)
(t) = t
4k
2(t
2k1
+t
2k+1
) + 1.
(3a-i) the mapping class (T
3,1
) in case n = 4. The dilatation (T
3,1
) 3.73205 equals the largest
real root of f
(1,1,0)
(t) = t
2
4t + 1.
(3a-ii) the mapping class (T
8k+3,2k+1
) in case n = 8k +4 for k 1. The dilatation (T
8k+3,2k+1
)
equals the largest real root of f
(4k1,4k+3,0)
(t) = t
8k+2
2(t
4k1
+t
4k+3
) + 1.
(3b-i) the mapping class (b) in case n = 8, where
b =
1
1

1
2

1
3

1
4

1
5

1
6

1
1

1
2

1
3

1
4

1
1

1
2

1
3
B
7
.
The dilatation (b) 1.72208 equals the largest real root of f
(5,3,2)
(t) = t
6
t
5
2t
3
t + 1.
(3b-ii) the mapping class (T
8k+7,2k+1
) in case n = 8k +8 for k 1. The dilatation (T
8k+7,2k+1
)
equals the largest real root of f
(4k+5,4k+1,0)
(t) = t
8k+6
2(t
4k+1
+t
4k+5
) + 1.
The above mapping class realizing the minimal dilatation among /
n
magic
is unique up to conjugacy.
3
Figure 1: 3 chain link (
3
.
Forgetting the 1st strand of the braid T
m,p
, one obtains the (m 1)-braid, say T

m,p
. A family
of braids T

m,p
contains the braids with the smallest dilatation. In fact,
(D
3
) = (T

4,1
) (see[19]),
(D
4
) = (T

5,1
) (see[15]) and
(D
5
) = (T

6,2
) (see[10]).
It is an open problem to determine the n-braids with the smallest dilatation for n 6. In [11]
Hironaka-Kin discovered candidates with the smallest dilatation (D
n
) for n odd. In [28] Venzke
discovered candidates with the smallest dilatation (D
n
) for n even. We point out that all the
braids in Theorem 1.1(1)(2-ii)(3a-ii)(3b-ii) relate to such candidates. The braid T

2k,2
(with odd
strands) is conjugate to the braid, say
(k)
with the smallest known dilatation found by Hironaka-
Kin. (See Theorem 1.1(1).) For the braid T

m,p
(with even strands) obtained from T
m,p
in (2-ii),
(3a-ii) or (3b-ii) of Theorem 1.1, the mapping class (T

m,p
) is conjugate to the one given by Venzke.
(See Section 4.1.1.)
Let T
(n1)
B
n1
be the braid given in Theorem 1.1 such that the mapping class (T
(n1)
)
reaches the minimum among the dilatations of /
n
magic
. Let T

(n1)
B
n2
be the braid
obtained from T
(n1)
by forgetting the 1st strand. As a corollary of Theorem 1.1, we obtain:
Theorem 1.2. For each n 5, there exists a Dehn lling of M
magic
which gives a hyperbolic bered
manifold with an (n 2)-punctured disk ber, and with a monodromy given by (T

(n1)
).
In [24], Penner gave the bound of the minimal entropy of the closed surface of genus g:
log 2
12g 12
log((
g,0
))
log 11
g
.
The upper bound have been improved by several authors. The best known upper bound is
log(2+

3)
g
given by Minakawa [20] and Hironaka-Kin [11] independently. To show this upper bound, Hironaka-
Kin constructed a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism on the closed surface of genus g 2 which is
a lift of a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism on the (2g + 2)-punctured sphere, represented by the
(2g + 1)-braid
(g+1)
. As a result, the dilatation of such pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism on
g,0
is the same as the one for
(g+1)
, and it is the largest real root of t
2g+1
2t
g+1
2t
g
+ 1. As a
corollary, [(
g,0
)[ log((
g,0
)) has the upper bound 2 log(2 +

3).
By using the entropy function on a ber face for M
magic
, we show:
Theorem 1.3. For each g 2, there exists a Dehn lling of M
magic
which gives a hyperbolic bered
manifold with a closed ber
g,0
of genus g, and with a monodromy
g
:
g,0

g,0
such that the
dilatation of
g
= [
g
] is less than or equal to the largest real root of t
2g+1
2t
g+1
2t
g
+ 1.
4
We do not know that the pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism
g
is conjugate to the one given by
Minakawa or Hironaka-Kin.
In [5], Farb, Leininger and Margalit showed that there exists a complete, noncompact, nite
volume, hyperbolic 3-manifold M with the following property: there exist Dehn llings on M
giving an innite sequence of berings over S
1
, with closed bers
g
i
,0
of genus g
i
with g
i
,
and with monodromy
i
so that (
g
i
,0
) = (
i
). The magic manifold could be a potential example
which satises this property.
This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews basic facts. Section 3 contains the proof of
Theorem 1.1. For the proof, we rst compute the entropy function for M
magic
(Theorem 3.2). Then
we determine the homology classes whose representatives are genus 0 ber surfaces (Corollary 3.8).
We study the asymptotic behaviors of the images of these homology classes under the function
T, where T = X
T
()ent() (Theorem 3.10). This tells us that which class realizes the minimal
dilatation among homology classes whose representatives are genus 0 ber surfaces with n punctures
(Proposition 3.11). We nally describe the monodromies for such ber surfaces by using braids
(Propositions 3.28 and 3.31). In Section 4, we discuss pseudo-Anosovs with small entropy, and we
show Theorem 1.3. We nd a relation between the horseshoe map and the braids T
m,p
.
Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Shigeki Akiyama and Takuya Sakasai who showed us
the proof of Proposition 3.6. We also thank Sadayoshi Kojima and Makoto Sakuma for a great
deal of encouragement.
2 Notation and basic fact
2.1 Mapping class group
The mapping class group /() is the group of isotopy classes of orientation preserving homeo-
morphisms of , where the group operation is induced by composition of homeomorphisms. An
element of the mapping class group is called a mapping class.
A homeomorphism : is pseudo-Anosov if there exists a constant = () > 1 called
the dilatation of and there exists a pair of transverse measured foliations T
s
and T
u
such that
(T
s
) =
1

T
s
and (T
u
) = T
u
.
A mapping class which contains a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism is called pseudo-Anosov. We
dene the dilatation of a pseudo-Anosov mapping class , denoted by (), to be the dilatation of
a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism of . One veries that () does not depend on the choice of a
representative.
We recall the surjective homomorphism from the n-braid group B
n
to the mapping class group
/(D
n
)
: B
n
/(D
n
)

i


t
i
which sends the Artin generator
i
for i 1, , n 1 (see Figure 2(left)) to

t
i
, where

t
i
is
the mapping class which represents the positive half twist about the arc from the ith puncture
to the (i + 1)st puncture. The kernel of is the center of B
n
which is generated by a full twist
braid (
1

2

n1
)
n
. By replacing the boundary of D
n
with the (n +1)st puncture, the injective
homomorphism from /(D
n
) to /(
0,n+1
) is induced. In the rest of the paper we regard an
element of /(D
n
) as an element of /(
0,n+1
).
5
We say that a braid b B
n
is pseudo-Anosov if (b) /(D
n
) is pseudo-Anosov. When this is
the case, vol((b)) equals the hyperbolic volume of the link complement S
3
b in the 3sphere S
3
,
where b is a union of the closed braid of b and the braid axis (see Figure 2(right)).
Figure 2: (left) generator
i
. (right) braided link b.
2.2 Root of polynomial
Let f(t) be an integral polynomial of degree d. The polynomial f

(t) = t
d
f(1/t) is called the
reciprocal polynomial for f(t). The maximal absolute value of roots of f(t) is denoted by (f).
Let R(t) be a monic integral polynomial and let S(t) be an integral polynomial. We set
Q
n,
(t) = t
n
R(t) S(t)
for each integer n 1. In case where S(t) = R

(t), we call t
n
R(t)R

(t) the Salem-Boyd polynomial

associated to R(t).
The following lemma shows that roots of Q
n,
(t) outside the unit circle are determined by those
of R(t) asymptotically.
Lemma 2.1. Suppose that R(t) has a root outside the unit circle. Then, the roots of Q
n,
(t)
outside the unit circle converge to those of R(t) counting multiplicity as n goes to . In particular,
(R) = lim
n
(Q
n,
).
The proof of Lemma 2.1 can be found in [14, Lemma 2.5].
The following proposition will be used for the computation of the dilatation.
Proposition 2.2. Let f(t) = c
1
t
n
1
c
2
t
n
2
c
j
t
n
j
c
j+1
be a polynomial with (j+1) monomials
so that j 2, n
1
> n
2
> > n
j
> 0, c
1
, c
2
, , c
j+1
R and c
1
, , c
j
> 0. (c
j+1
may be non-
positive.) If f(q) < 0 for some q 0, then there exists a unique real root p of f such that p > q.
Proof. We prove the proposition by an induction on the number of monomials. Let j = 2. Suppose
that f(t) = c
1
t
n
1
c
2
t
n
2
c
3
satises f(q) < 0 for some q 0. Then the derivative f

(t) equals
t
n
2
1
(c
1
n
1
t
n
1
n
2
c
2
n
2
), and we see that f

(t) has a unique real root q

=
n
1
n
2
_
c
2
n
2
c
1
n
1
so that
f

(x) < 0 for 0 < x < q

and f

(x) > 0 for x > q

. Hence f[
(0,q

)
is monotone decreasing and
f[
(q

,)
is monotone increasing. Since f(q) < 0 and f() = , the polynomial f must have a
unique real root p > q.
Assuming the proposition holds up to j, we consider the polynomial
f(t) = c
1
t
n
1
c
2
t
n
2
c
j
t
n
j
c
j+1
.
6
Then
f

(t) = t
n
j
1
(c
1
n
1
t
n
1
n
j
c
2
n
2
t
n
2
n
j
c
j1
n
j1
t
n
j1
n
j
c
j
n
j
).
Set the polynomial
h(t) = c
1
n
1
t
n
1
n
j
c
2
n
2
t
n
2
n
j
c
j1
n
j1
t
n
j1
n
j
c
j
n
j
with j monomials. Since h(0) = c
j
n
j
< 0, the polynomial h has a unique root p
h
> 0 by the
assumption. Because h(x) < 0 for 0 < x < p
h
and h(x) > 0 for x > p
h
, f[
(0,p
h
)
is monotone
decreasing and f[
(p
h
,)
is monotone increasing. Since f(q) < 0 for q 0 and f() = , the
polynomial f must have a unique real root p > q. This completes the proof.
2.3 Hyperbolic surface bundle over the circle
Let M be a compact, irreducible and oriented 3-manifold with the boundary M (possibly empty).
Thurston introduces the pseudo-norm function X
T
: H
2
(M, M; R) R in [25]. In case where M
is a surface bundle over the circle, he describes a relation between the function X
T
and brations
of M (Theorem 2.3).
2.3.1 Thurston norm
We recall the pseudo-norm function X
T
: H
2
(M, M; R) R. For a connected surface F, let us
dene

(F) = max0, (F),

where (F) is the Euler characteristic of F. For a disconnected surface F, let us dene

(F) =

(F
i
),
where the sum is over all connected components F
i
of F.
First, the function X
T
is dened on integral classes a H
2
(M, M; R) as follows.
X
T
(a) = min

(F) [ F is an embedded surface in M such that a = [F],

where [F] is the homology class of F. A surface F is a minimal representative of a if [F] = a and
X
T
(a) =

(F). The following lineality and convexity hold, see [25].

(a) X
T
(ka) = [k[X
T
(a) for an integer k Z.
(b) X
T
(a +b) X
T
(a) +X
T
(b) for integral classes a and b.
The claim (b) can be shown as follows. Let A (resp. B) be an oriented embedded surface in M
which is a minimal representative of a homology class a (resp. b). We dene an oriented surface
A+B embedded in M such that [A+B] = a +b as in Figure 3. Then we have
X
T
(a +b)

(A+B) =

(A) +

(B) = X
T
(a) +X
T
(b).
For a rational class a H
2
(M, M; R), we take a rational number r Q so that ra is an integral
class. Then we dene
X
T
(a) =
1
[r[
X
T
(ra).
From (a),(b), the function X
T
on rational classes admits a unique continuous extension to X
T
:
H
2
(M, M; R) R which is linear on the ray though the origin. The function X
T
is indeed a
7
Figure 3: surface A+B. (arrows indicate the normal direction of surfaces.)
pseudo-norm function, for M may contain essential tori representing nonzero homology classes.
If M is a hyperbolic 3-manifold, then X
T
becomes a norm function. The unit ball U = a
H
2
(M, M; R) [ X
T
(a) 1 is a compact, convex polyhedron if X
T
is a norm function , see
citeThurston1. In the rest of the paper, we assume that X
T
is a norm function.
The following notations are needed to describe how brations of M are related to the Thurston
norm.
A top dimensional face in the boundary U of the unit ball U is denoted by , and its open
face is denoted by int().
The open cone with the origin over is denoted by int(C

).
The set of integral classes of int(C

) is denoted by int(C

(Z)), and the set of rational classes

of int(C

) is denoted by int(C

(Q)).
Theorem 2.3 ([25]). Suppose that M is a surface bundle over the circle. Let F be a ber of
brations of M. Then there exists a top dimensional face satisfying the following.
(1) [F] int(C

(Z)).
(2) For any a int(C

(Z)), a minimal representative E of a is a ber of brations of M.

The face as in Theorem 2.3 is called the ber face. Theorem 2.3 tells us the followings. Suppose
that M is a surface bundle over the circle. Then a int(C

(Z)) is a primitive integral class if and

only if a minimal representative E of a is connected.
Remark 2.4. It is known that if a homology class a H
2
(M, M; Z) has a representative F which
is a ber of brations of M, then any incompressible surface which represents a is isotopic to the
ber F. In particular F is the minimal representative of a, see [25].
2.3.2 Entropy function
Let M be a surface bundle over the circle. Suppose that M is hyperbolic. We x a ber face
for M. The entropy function ent() : int(C

(Q)) R is dened as follows. If an integral class

a int(C

(Z)) has a connected minimal representative F, then F is a ber of brations of M.

Let : F F be a monodromy. Since M is a hyperbolic manifold, the isotopy class = []
must be pseudo-Anosov. The entropy ent(a) is dened as the entropy of . The dilatation (a)
can be dened in the same way. For a rational number r Q and an integral class a as above,
the entropy ent(ra) is dened by
1
|r|
ent(a). Notice that the product of the Thurston norm and the
entropy X
T
()ent() : int(C

(Q)) R is constant on the ray through the origin.

The following theorem says that the entropy function has a nice property.
8
Theorem 2.5 (Matsumoto [18], McMullen [21]). The function
1
ent()
: int(C

(Q)) R
is a strictly concave function. Therefore, ent() admits a unique continuous extension to ent() :
int(C

) R.
We set T = X
T
()ent() : int(C

) R. Since ent(a) as a goes to a homology class in the

boundary (see [6]), Theorem 2.5 implies:
Corollary 2.6. The function T : int(C

) R has the minimum at a unique ray through the

origin.
In other words ent() has the minimum at a unique point on the open face int().
Problem 2.7. On which ray does it attain the minimum of T : int(C

) R? Is the minimum
always attained at a rational point?
In Section 3.2, we solve this problem for the magic manifold.
2.4 Ane lamination
We discuss how to compute the entropy for a given homology class. The entropy for a pseudo-
Anosov mapping class can be computed as follows. A smooth graph , called a train track and
a smooth graph map

: are associated with . The edges of are classied into two types,
real edges and innitesimal edges. The transition matrix M
real
(

) with respect to real edges can

be computed. Then the dilatation () equals the spectral radius of M
real
(

). For more details,

see [2].
Fried and Oertel study the property of the entropy function on each ber face. They show that
there exists a polynomial, depending on the ber face, which organize the entropy of each homology
class. The main ingredient for the study by Oertel is ane laminations which we review in this
section.
Let M be a compact n-dimensional manifold. A lamination is a codimension 1 closed subset of
M. We say that a lamination L has a transverse ane structure if there exists a transverse measure
for the lift

L of L to the universal cover

M of M such that for any covering translation , we have

() = f() for some f() R, where

() denotes the pull-back of . Note that f should be a

homomorphism from
1
(M) to R. If one chooses a number > 0 as a base, g = log

f is an element
of Hom(
1
(M), R) H
1
(M; R). An ane lamination (L, ) is a lamination L together with the
transverse ane structure represented by the measure on

L. If f is an associated homomorphism
for the ane lamination (L, ) and if g = log

f H
1
(M; R), then is called the dilatation (or
stretch factor) at the cohomology class g of (L, ). We may denote an ane lamination (L, ) by
L if there exists no confusion.
A branched manifold B M of dimension m is a space with smooth structure modeled locally as
shown in Figure 4 in case m = 1, 2. The branch locus B

of B is the union of points of B whose any

neighborhood can not be manifold. The sectors are the completions of the components of B B

.
A bered neighborhood N(B) of B is a closed regular neighborhood of B in M which is foliated by
intervals as bers. A lamination L is carried by B if L can be embedded in N(B) transverse to
bers of N(B). A lamination L is fully carried by B if L intersects every bers of N(B). A vector
which assigns a real weight w
i
to each sector Z
i
of B is an invariant measure on B if all the weights
satisfy the branch equations as shown in Figure 4(right).
9
Figure 4: (left) Case: m = 1. (center) Case: m = 2. (right) branch equation w
1
+w
2
= w
3
in case
m = 1.
We now dene a broken invariant measure on B which provides us a method to study ane
laminations carried by B. Let F
1
, F
2
, , F
k
be a set of transversely oriented codimension 1
submanifolds representing cohomology classes in M. Let (t, w) = (t
1
, t
2
, , t
k
; w
1
, w
2
, , w
s
)
be a set of non-negative numbers. We say that (t, w) is a broken (invariant) measure on B (for
F
1
, , F
k
) if it satises the followings.
(1) Each t
i
is positive and assigned to F
i
.
(2) Each w
j
is assigned to one of the components of B
_
branch locus B

(
k
i=1
F
i
)
_
.
(3) The vector w = (w
1
, , w
s
) satises the branch equations at the branch loci.
(4) The weight w
+
on the plus-side of F
i
equals t
i
w

, where w

is the weight on the minus-side

of F
i
.
Proposition 2.8 ([22]). Each broken measure on B represents an ane lamination. Conversely,
if L is an ane lamination carried by B and if F
1
, , F
k
represent a basis for H
1
(M; R), then
there exists a broken measure on B for F
1
, , F
k
which represents L.
Ane laminations are obtained from pseudo-Anosov mapping classes. For a pseudo-Anosov
homeomorphism : F F, let M = F I/

be the mapping torus of , where identies (x, 1)

with ((x), 0). Let (, ) be the stable lamination of . The 2-dimensional lamination L M
are constructed from I F I by gluing 1 to 0 using . We say that L is the
suspended stable lamination for (associated with [F]). We now construct a branched surface B
which carries L. Let be an invariant train track for which carries the stable lamination. Then
(, ) yields an invariant measure v on . The image () can be isotoped so that it transverses
to bers in the bered neighborhood N(). The measure v on pushes forward to the measure

v on (), and the measure v on gives a measure

1
v on , where = (). We choose a
family of train tracks
t

0t1
from
0
= () to
1
= which is obtained from () by pinching
more and more with increasing time. The family
t
yields a branched surface

B F I. By
gluing
0
= () and
1
= using , we have a branched surface B in M which carries L. Such
construction gives a broken measure on B having the break at the ber F with t = . We can see
that the suspended lamination L for is an ane lamination which is represented by this broken
measure. Notice that the dilatation of L at the class [F] equals the dilatation for .
Theorem 2.9 (Fried [6], Long-Oertel [16]). Let E and F be two bers of M such that [E], [F]
int(C

) for some ber face . Then the suspended stable lamination associated with [E] is isotopic
to the one associated with [F].
Topologically, the suspended stable lamination is unique on each ber face. By using Theorem 2.9,
Fried shows:
10
Figure 5: axis L for periodic map
Theorem 2.10 (Fried [6]). Let M be a hyperbolic manifold which bers over the circle. Suppose
that connected, orientable surfaces F
1
, , F
k
represent a basis over Z of the integral lattice in
H
1
(M; R). Then a given ber face , there exists a polynomial P = P

Z[t
1
, . . . , t
k
] such that
the dilatation of a = x
1
[F
1
] + +x
k
[F
k
] int(C

(Q)) satises P(
x
1
, ,
x
k
) = 0.
Oertel gives a recipe for computing the polynomial P = P

. For more details, see [22, Section 2].

3 Magic manifold
3.1 Fiber face
The 3 chain link (
3
has a symmetry in the following sense. Let L be one of the four lines in S
3
depicted in Figure 5(1),(2),(3) and (4). For each L, there exist an integer n and a periodic map
f : (S
3
, (
3
) (S
3
, (
3
) such that f is a 2/n rotation with respect to L. Such symmetry of (
3
reects the shape of the unit ball with respect to the Thurston norm for the magic manifold. Let
K

, K

and K

be the components of (
3
such that K

(resp. K

, K

) bounds the twice-punctured

disk F

(resp. F

, F

) embedded in the exterior E((

3
) of (
3
, see Figure 6(right). Let = [F

],
= [F

], and = [F

]. In [25], Thurston computes the unit ball U for the magic manifold which is
the the parallelepiped with vertices = (1, 0, 0), = (0, 1, 0), = (0, 0, 1), (+ +),
see Figure 6(left). Note that the set , , is a basis of H
2
(M
magic
, M
magic
; Z).
Figure 6: (left) unit ball for magic manifold. (right) F

, F

and F

.
The magic manifold is a hyperbolic surface bundle over the circle. The symmetry of the unit
ball tells us that every top dimensional face is a ber face. We pick a shaded ber face, say as
in Figure 7(left) with vertices = (1, 0, 0), + + = (1, 1, 1), = (0, 1, 0) and = (0, 0, 1).
We will consider the entropy function on int(C

) in Section 3.2. The open face int() is written

11
by
int() = x +y +z [ x +y z = 1, x > 0, y > 0, x > z, y > z. (3.1)
Figure 7: (left) ber face . (center)
1
. (right) C

1
.
The following lemma is needed to know the topological type of the minimal representative of a
given homology class.
Lemma 3.1. Let x+y+z be an integral homology class in int(C

) (not necessarily primitive).

Then we have the followings.
(1) X
T
(x +y +z) = x +y z.
(2) Let F be an embedded surface (not necessarily minimal representative) in the magic manifold
such that [F] = x + y + z int(C

(Z)). Then the number of the boundary components

(F) is equal to the sum of the three greatest common devisors
gcd(x, y +z) + gcd(y, z +x) + gcd(z, x +y),
where gcd(0, w) = gcd(w, 0) is dened by w.
Proof. The claim (1) follows from (3.1). It is enough to compute the number of the boundary
components of a representative xF

+ yF

+ zF

to show the claim (2), since it does not depend

on the choice of a representative. We put F
(x,y,z)
= xF

+ yF

+ zF

. Suppose that z ,= 0. It is
not hard to see that
(F
(x,y,z)
) = gcd(x, y +z) + gcd(y, z +x) + gcd(z, x +y),
since x boundary components of the surface xF

, each of which is parallel to the longitude of K

,
contributes gcd(x, y+z) boundary components of F
(x,y,z)
lying on the regular neighborhood N(K

)
of K

, etc.
Suppose that z = 0. Then we have
(F
(x,y,0)
) = gcd(x, y + 0) + gcd(y, x + 0) +x +y = 2 gcd(x, y) +x +y.
The reason is that x boundary components of xF

, each of which is parallel to the meridian of

K

, survive as x boundary components of F

(x,y,0)
. Similarly, y boundary components of yF

, each
of which is parallel to the meridian of K

, survive as y boundary components of F

(x,y,0)
. This
completes the proof.
12
3.2 Fried-Oertel polynomial
By using a recipe given by Oertel, we compute a polynomial P

. We set
P(t
1
, t
2
, t
3
) = t
1
t
2
+t
3
+t
1
t
2
t
1
t
3
t
2
t
3
.
Theorem 3.2. The dilatation of x+y +z int(C

(Z)) is the largest real root of P(t

x
, t
y
, t
z
).
In particular, the dilatation of x + y int(C

(Z)) is the largest real root of P(t

x
, t
y
, t
0
) =
t
x+y
2(t
x
+t
y
) + 1.
Proof of Theorem 3.2. First, we nd the polynomial P(t
1
, t
2
, t
3
) such that the dilatation =
(x + y + z) satises P(
x
,
y
,
z
) = 0. As we will see in Proposition 3.28(3a), M
magic
has a
3-punctured disk ber F = F
+
with a monodromy
+
=
2

1
1

2
which is conjugate to T
3,1
=

2
1

1
2
. Let =
+
be a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism representing
+
. Figure 8 shows
M
magic
= F I/

and representatives F

, F

and F

of generators , and in M
magic
= F I/

.
We assign a positive real number t
1
, (resp. t
2
, t
3
) for F

, (resp. F

, F

).
Figure 8: (left) F

. (center) F

. (right) F

. (Arrows indicate the normal direction for these

surfaces.)
Let B be a branched surface fully carrying the suspended stable lamination . We nd the space
of broken measures (B) for B.
The branched surface B can be described as a 1-parameter family of train tracks
i
each embed-
ded in a ber F i (see Section 2.4). Figure 9 shows train tracks
i
for i = 1 > i
1
> i
2
> i
3
> i
4
> 0.
A broken measure (t
1
, t
2
, t
3
; w
1
, w
2
, , w
s
) is assigned to each train track in order to describe the
broken measure on B. Two weights w
1
, w
2
are sucient to determine the broken measure on
=
1
and other weights are determined by branch equations, see Figure 10. To determine the
weight on
0
= (
1
), we need to describe the intersection of B with F

, F

and F

. Figure 11
shows boundaries of F

, F

and F

(as solid lines) together with orbits (as broken lines) of points
p
1
and p
2
as in Figure 9. Since the orbit of p
1
crosses F

once and crosses F

twice in the reverse

orientation, the weight w
4
in the bottom face is equal to
t
2
t
2
3
w
1
, see Figures 11 and 12. Considering
the orbit of p
2
, we see that the weight w
3
is equal to t
1
w
2
. Figure 12 shows the broken measure on

0
, which must be the same as the one on
1
. Equating weights on two sectors, we get the following
equations.
_
t
1
t
2
(1+t
3
)
t
3
1
t
1
(1+t
3
)
t
3
1
t
2
t
2
3
+
t
2
(1+t
3
)
t
3
_
_
w
2
w
1
_
=
_
0
0
_
.
13

1
p
1
p
2

2

i
1
p
1
p
2

1
1

i
2
p
1
p
2

2

i
3
p
2
p
1
isotopy (rotation in the
neighborhood near punctures)

i
4
p
2 p
1
isotopy

0
p
2 p
1
Figure 9:
1
,
i
1
,
i
2
,
i
3
,
i
4
and
0
.
14
(1+t
3
)(t
2
w
1
+t
1
w
2
)
t
1
+t
2
t
3
w
1
w
1
t
3
w
2
t
3
t
2
t
1
t
3
(1 +
1
t
3
)w
1
(1 +
1
t
3
)w
2
t
1
t
2
(1 +
1
t
3
)w
2
w
2
1
t
2
(1 +
1
t
3
)w
2
Figure 10: weights on
1
. (Broken lines show intersections between the ber and F

, F

and F

.)
p
1

i
1

i
2

i
3

i
4
p
1
p
2
p
2
Figure 11: F

, F

, F

and orbits of p
1
and p
2
.
15
w
4
=
t
2
t
2
3
w
1
t
3
t
1
t
2
t
2
(1+t
3
)
t
3
w
1
t
1
(1+t
3
)
t
3
w
2
w
3
= t
1
w
2
Figure 12: weights on
0
.
Since B carries ane laminations, this system must have a nontrivial solution for some t =
(t
1
, t
2
, t
3
). The condition for the existence of a solution is that the determinant of the matrix
_
t
1
t
2
(1+t
3
)
t
3
1
t
1
(1+t
3
)
t
3
1
t
2
t
2
3
+
t
2
(1+t
3
)
t
3
_
is equal to zero. Namely,
t
1
t
2
+t
3
+t
1
t
2
t
1
t
3
t
2
t
3
t
3
= 0
which describes the solution variety containing (B). Since t
3
is positive, the broken measure
(t
1
, t
2
, t
3
; w
1
, w
2
) must satisfy P(t
1
, t
2
, t
3
) = 0, where
P(t
1
, t
2
, t
3
) = t
1
t
2
+t
3
+t
1
t
2
t
1
t
3
t
2
t
3
.
Thus, satises P(
x
,
y
,
z
) = 0.
Next, we show that is equal to the largest real root of
P(t
x
, t
y
, t
z
) = t
z
(t
x+yz
t
x
t
y
t
xz
t
yz
+ 1).
Hence must be a root of
f
(x,y,z)
(t) = t
x+yz
t
x
t
y
t
xz
t
yz
+ 1.
We have f(1) = 2. By Proposition 2.2, the polynomial f has a unique real root > 1 which must
be . This completes the proof.
Remark 3.3. For x y > 0 and z > 0,
f
(x,y,z)
(t) = f
(x+z,y+z,z)
(t) = t
x+y+z
t
x+z
t
y+z
t
x
t
y
+ 1.
Thus,
(x +y z) = ((x +z) + (y +z) +z).
Theorem 3.4. The ray through the origin and + attains the minimum of T = X
T
()ent() :
int(C

) R.
16
Proof. Clearly x + y + z is in int(C

) if and only if y + x + z is in int(C

). The image
of x +y +z under T equals the image of y +x +z under T, since these homology classes
have the same entropy and the same Thurston norm. Thus if the minimum of T is realized by the
ray though x +y +z, then x must equal y.
On the other hand, two homology classes x + x + and (x 1) + (x 1) have the
same Thurston norm 2x 1 if x > 1. By Remark 3.3, they have the same entropy. Thus,
T(x +x +) = T((x 1) + (x 1) ).
Since T is constant on each ray though the origin, we have
T(x +x +) = T( + +x
1
),
T((x 1) + (x 1) ) = T( + (x 1)
1
).
The minimal ray does not pass through both + + x
1
and + (x 1)
1
, because the
minimum is realized by a unique ray. Since x(> 0) is arbitrarily, the minimal ray must pass through
+. This completes the proof.
3.3 Fiber surface of genus 0
Let a = x + y + z be an integral homology class in int(C

) and let F
a
be its minimal repre-
sentative. Recall that F
a
is connected if and only if a is a primitive integral class. Since , ,
is a basis of H
2
(M
magic
, M
magic
; Z), we see that a is a primitive integral class if and only if
gcd(x, y, z) = 1, where gcd(x, y, 0) is dened by gcd(x, y). The topological type of F
a
can be deter-
mined by Lemma 3.1. In this section, we determine homology classes whose minimal representatives
are connected and of genus 0.
By (3.1), x+y +z is in int(C

) such that x y if and only if x y > 0 and y > z. In this

section, we consider such homology classes for simplicity.
Lemma 3.5. Let x, y and z be integers. Suppose that x y > 0, y > z and gcd(x, y, z) = 1. Then
gcd(x, y +z) + gcd(y, z +x) + gcd(z, x +y) x y +z 2 0. (3.2)
If (x, y, z) satises the equality of (3.2), then z 0.
Proof. Note that
(F
a
) = (2 2g (F
a
)) =

(F
a
) = x +y z,
where g denotes the genus of F
a
. Hence
g =
x +y z + 2 (F
a
)
2
0. (3.3)
By substituting (F
a
) = gcd(x, y +z) +gcd(y, x +z) +gcd(z, x +y) for (3.3), we have the desired
inequality. Suppose that x y > 0 > z

= z (z > 0). Then

gcd(x, y z) + gcd(y, z +x) + gcd(z, x +y) x y z 2
x +y +z x y z 2
= 2.
This completes the proof.
17
Proposition 3.6. Let x, y and z be integers. Suppose that x y > z 0 and gcd(x, y, z) = 1.
Then the equality of (3.2) holds for (x, y, z) if and only if (x, y, z) is either
(1) z = 0 and gcd(x, y) = 1,
(2) (x, y, z) = (n + 1, n, n 1) for n , 0 (mod 3) and n 2, or
(3) (x, y, z) = (2n + 1, n + 1, n) for n 1.
The following proof was shown to the authors by Shigeki Akiyama.
Proof. The equality of (3.2) holds for (x, y, 0) if and only if gcd(x, y) = 1, and hence we may
suppose that x y > z > 0 by Lemma 3.5. It is easy to see that if (x, y, z) is of either type (2) or
type (3), then it satises the equality of (3.2). To prove the only if part, we rst show:
Claim 3.7. Let x, y and z be natural numbers. Suppose that gcd(x, y, z) = 1. Then
gcd(N, x), gcd(N, y), gcd(N, z)
is pairwise coprime, where N = x +y +z.
Proof of Claim 3.7. We set gcd(gcd(N, x), gcd(N, y)) = k. Then k is a divisor of three integers
N, x and y. It is also a divisor of z(= N x y). Since gcd(x, y, z) = 1, the integer k must be 1.
This completes the proof the claim.
Notice that the inequality of (3.2) is equivalent to the inequality
N gcd(N, x) gcd(N, y) gcd(N, z) 2z 2. (3.4)
For all N 79, one can check that the statement of Proposition 3.6 is valid. We may suppose that
N 80. Since x >
N
3
and z <
N
3
, we have x
N+1
3
and z
N1
3
. Hence x 27. Let p, q and r
be natural numbers so that p > q > r and
p, q, r = gcd(N, x), gcd(N, y), gcd(N, z).
By Claim 3.7, p, q, r is pairwise coprime, and three numbers p, q and r are divisors of N. Therefore
pqr N. This shows that
N p q r
N

pqr p q r
pqr
= 1
1
qr

1
p
_
1
q
+
1
r
_
. (3.5)
If r 2, then q 3 and p 5. Hence
N p q r N
_
1
1
qr

1
p
_
1
q
+
1
r
__
=
5
6
N
_
1
1
p
_

2
3
N > 2z.
Thus, no (x, y, z) satises the equality of (3.4) in this case.
We may suppose that r = 1. If q 4, then
N p q r
N

3
4

5
4p
by (3.5). Since z
N1
3
, we obtain
N p q r 2z + 2 N
_
3
4

5
4p
_

2N 8
3
=
8
3
+
N(p 15)
12p
.
18
If p > 15, then
8
3
+
N(p15)
12p
> 0, which implies that no (x, y, z) satises the equality of (3.4) in this
case. If p 14, then q 13. We have N 2z = x +y z > x > 26 = 1 + 14 + 13. Thus
N p q 1 N 14 13 1 > 2z 2,
which implies that no (x, y, z) satises the equality of (3.4) in this case.
We may suppose that q 3. It is enough to consider the equality of (3.4) in case (q, r) =
(3, 1), (2, 1) and (1, 1). Take w x, y, z so that p = gcd(N, w).
(1) Case (q, r) = (2, 1) or (3, 1).
Then Ngcd(N, w)21 = 2z 2 or Ngcd(N, w)31 = 2z 2. We set gcd(N, w) =
N
k
(k > 1). Then N
_
1
1
k
_

2(N1)
3
+2. Since we assume that N 80 > 16, k must be 2 or 3.
(i) Case k = 2.
Then x =
N
2
. If (q, r) = (2, 1), then (x, y, z) =
_
N
2
,
N+2
4
,
N2
4
_
. We set n =
N2
4
. We
obtain (x, y, z) = (2n+1, n+1, n), and such (x, y, z) satises the equality (3.4). If (q, r) =
(3, 1), then (x, y, z) =
_
N
2
,
N+4
4
,
N4
4
_
. In this case, gcd
_
N,
N4
4
_
= gcd
_
4,
N4
4
_
,
which is a divisor of 4. This does not occur since (q, r) = (3, 1).
(ii) Case k = 3.
If (q, r) = (2, 1), then z =
N
3

1
2
, which can not be an integer. Let (q, r) = (3, 1).
Then z =
N
3
1. Since gcd(N, w) =
N
3
, we see that w =
N
3
or
2N
3
. If w =
2N
3
,
then (x, y, z) =
_
2N
3
, 1,
N
3
1
_
. This is a contradiction since y > z. If w =
N
3
, then
(x, y, z) =
_
N
3
+ 1,
N
3
,
N
3
1
_
. We set n =
N
3
. Then (x, y, z) = (n + 1, n, n 1). If
n 0 (mod 3), then gcd(3n, n 1) = 1, which is a contradiction since (q, r) = (3, 1).
Otherwise, such (x, y, z) satises the equality of (3.4).
(2) Case (q, r) = (1, 1).
Then N gcd(N, w) 1 1 = 2z 2. We have N gcd(N, w) = 2z <
2N
3
. This implies that
gcd(N, w) =
N
2
. Thus, (x, y, z) =
_
N
2
,
N
4
,
N
4
_
, which does not occur since y > z.
This completes the proof of Proposition 3.6.
By Proposition 3.6, we immediately obtain:
Corollary 3.8. Let a = x+y+z be an integral homology class in int(C

). Suppose that x y
and gcd(x, y, z) = 1. Then the genus of a minimal representative F
a
of a is 0 if and only if (x, y, z)
satises either
(1) z = 0 and gcd(x, y) = 1,
(2) (x, y, z) = (n + 1, n, n 1) for n , 0 (mod 3) and n 2, or
(3) (x, y, z) = (2n + 1, n + 1, n) for n 1.
We denote the monodromy for a by
a
: F
a
F
a
.
Proposition 3.9.
19
(1) Let a = x+y be an integral homology class in int(C

) such that gcd(x, y) = 1. Then a ber

F
a
is an (x + y + 2)-punctured sphere. There exists a partition P = P
1

P
2

P
3
of the set
of punctures with P
1
= x +y, P
2
= 1, P
3
= 1. The monodromy
a
permutes a point of P
i
cyclically for each i.
(2) Let a = (n + 1) + n + (n 1) be an integral homology class in int(C

) such that n , 0
(mod 3). Then a ber F
a
is an (n + 4)-punctured sphere. There exists a partition P =
P
1

P
2

P
3
of the set of punctures with P
1
= n, P
2
= 3, P
3
= 1. The monodromy
a
permutes a point of P
i
cyclically for each i.
(3) Let a = (2n + 1) + (n + 1) +n be an integral homology class in int(C

(Z)). Then a ber

F
a
is a (2n + 4)-punctured sphere. There exists a partition P = P
1

P
2

P
3
of the set of
punctures with P
1
= 2n + 1, P
2
= 2, P
3
= 1. The monodromy
a
permutes a point of P
i
cyclically for each i.
Proposition 3.9 implies that the isotopy class
a
= [
a
] can be described by the braid on the disk
since
a
xes a puncture P
3
.
Proof. We show the claim (3). Other cases are similar. We see that
(F
(2n+1,n+1,n)
) = gcd(2n + 1, 2n + 1) + gcd(n + 1, 3n + 1) + gcd(n, 3n + 2)
= (2n + 1) + gcd(n + 1, 2) + gcd(n, 2).
Since gcd(n + 1, 2), gcd(n, 2) = 2, 1, the number of the boundary components of F
(2n+1,n+1,n)
equals 2n+4. Because (2n+1) boundary components of F
(2n+1,n+1,n)
lie on N(K

), the monodromy

a
must permute them cyclically. Similarly,
a
must permute the 2 boundary components cyclically
and x the other 1 boundary component. This completes the proof.
Theorem 3.10.
(1) lim
n,m
T(n +m) = 2 log(2 +

3) if lim
n,m
n
m
= 1.
(2) lim
n
T((n + 1) +n + (n 1)) = .
(3) lim
n
T((2n + 1) + (n + 1) +n) = .
Proof. (1) We see that
lim
n,m
T(n +m) = lim
n,m
T
_
n
n +m
+
m
n +m
_
= T
_
+
2
_
= T( +) = 2ent( +).
By Theorem 3.2, ent( +) = log(2 +

3).
(2) We see that
lim
n
T
_
(n + 1) +n + (n 1)
n
_
= T( + +) = ent( + +) =
since + + is in .
(3) The proof is similar to the one for the claim (2).
Let H
n
be the set of homology classes a = x + y + z (x y) in int(C

(Z)) such that

their minimal representatives are n-punctured spheres. By Corollary 3.8, one can determine the
homology classes of H
n
. In the next section, we will prove:
20
Proposition 3.11. The homology class which reaches the minimal dilatation among H
n
is as
follows.
(1) k + (k 1) in case n = 2k + 1 for k 2.
(2) 3 + 2 + in case n = 6 and (2k + 1) + (2k 1) in case n = 4k + 2 for k 2.
(3a) + in case n = 4 and (4k + 3) + (4k 1) in case n = 8k + 4 for k 1.
(3b) 5 + 3 + 2 in case n = 8 and (4k + 5) + (4k + 1) in case n = 8k + 8 for k 1.
3.4 Proof of Proposition 3.11
This section is devoted to prove Proposition 3.11.
Lemma 3.12. For m, n > 0 such that m > n, we have the followings.
(1) T((m+ 1) +m + (m1)) > T((n + 1) +n + (n 1)).
(2) T((2m+ 1) + (m+ 1) +m) > T((2n + 1) + (n + 1) +n).
Proof. Let us consider homology classes x + y + z with (x, y, z) = (
n+1
n+2
,
n
n+2
,
n1
n+2
) for each
n > 0. These are in the open face and pass through the line x =
1
3
t + 1, y =
2
3
t + 1, z = t + 1.
Note that
T
_
(n + 1) +n + (n 1)
_
= (n + 2)ent((n + 1) +n + (n 1))
= ent
__
n + 1
n + 2
_
+
_
n
n + 2
_
+
_
n 1
n + 2
_

_
and it goes to as n goes to by Proposition 3.10(2). We have
1
3ent(2 + + 0)

1
2.887
>
1
4ent(3 + 2 +)

1
2.931
.
Since
1
ent()
: int(C

(Q)) R is a strictly concave function, we have for all m > n 3,

1
4ent(3 + 2 +)
>
1
(n + 2)ent((n + 1) +n + (n 1))
>
1
(m+ 2)ent((m+ 1) +m + (m1))
.
This implies the proof of (1). The proof of (2) is similar.
We set:

1
= x +y [ x +y = 1, x > 0, y > 0 int() (see Figure 7(center)).
C

1
= x +y [ x > 0, y > 0 (see Figure 7(right)).
C

1
(Z) = a [ a C

1
is an integral class.
21
C

1
(Q) = a [ a C

1
is a rational class.
Lemma 3.13.
(1) For x, y N such that gcd(x, y) = 1, the monodromy for x + y is conjugate to the one for
y +x.
(2) For x, y > 0, we have ent(x +y) = ent(y +x).
Proof. The existence of a rotation f : (S
3
, (
3
) (S
3
, (
3
) with respect to the line L of Figure 5(2)
implies that the monodromy for x + y is conjugate to the one for y x. Obviously, the
monodromy for yx equals the one for y+x. In particular, ent(x+y) = ent(y+x).
Since ent() : int(C

(Z)) R admits a unique continuous extension to ent() : int(C

) R, the
claim (1) implies the claim (2).
Fixing a natural number n, we set

n
= x +y [ x > 0, y > 0, x +y = n C

1
.
By Lemma 3.1(1), the Thurston norm of a
n
equals n.
Lemma 3.14. ent
_
n+n
2
_
= minent(a) [ a
n
for each n N.
Proof. We x n N. Recall that the restriction of
1
ent()
on
n
is strictly concave. Note
that ent(a) as a n or n. Thus ent()[

n
:
n
R has the unique minimum. By
Lemma 3.13(2),
n+n
2
attains the minimum.
We set

n
(N) = x +y
n
[ x, y N, gcd(x, y) = 1
Lemma 3.15. For each integer m 3, the minimum minent(a) [ a
m1
(N) is realized by:
(1) (k 1) +k and k + (k 1) in case m = 2k.
(2) (2k 1) + (2k + 1) and (2k + 1) + (2k 1) in case m = 4k + 1.
(3a) + in case m = 3, and (4k 1)+(4k +3) and (4k +3)+(4k 1) in case m = 8k +3
for k 1.
(3b) (4k + 1) + (4k + 5) and (4k + 5) + (4k + 1) in case m = 8k + 7.
Proof. The concavity of
1
ent()
[

n
:
n
R and Lemma 3.14 tell us that if two homology classes
x +y and x

+y

satisfying [x y[ < [x

[ are in
n
, then
ent(x +y) < ent(x

+y

). (3.6)
This implies that the minimal entropy among homology classes in
m1
(N) is realized by (k
1) + k or k + (k 1) if m = 2k. (See Figure 13.) The proof for other cases can be shown in
a similar way.
Lemma 3.16. For k

> k > 0, we have the followings.

(1) T(k + (k +c)) > T(k

+ (k

+c)).
(2) ent(k + (k +c)) > ent(k

+ (k

+c)).
22
Figure 13: rst quadrant of plane. (homologies in (1) (resp. (2), (3a, 3b)) of Prop. 3.28 lie on
the lines
(1)
(resp.
(2)
and
(3ab)
)).
Proof. For any k, we have
T
_
k + (k +c)
2k +c
_
= ent
_
k + (k +c)
2k +c
_
= (2k +c)ent(k + (k +c)).
If 0 < k < k

, then
c
2k+c
>
c
2k

+c
. By (3.6), we see that
ent
_
k + (k +c)
2k +c
_
> ent
_
k

+ (k

+c)
2k

+c
_
.
This implies the claim (1). Therefore,
ent
_
k + (k +c)
2k +c
_
= (2k +c)ent(k + (k +c))
> ent
_
k

+ (k

+c)
2k

+c
_
= (2k

+c)ent(k

+ (k

+c))
> (2k +c)ent(k

+ (k

+c)).
Thus, ent(k + (k +c)) > ent(k

+ (k

+c)). This completes the proof.

Proof of Proposition 3.11. (1) We consider the case n = 2k+1. For k = 2, we see that H
5
= 2+.
If k ,= 2 and 2k 0 (mod 3), H
2k+1
is the set of homology classes of type (1) of Corollary 3.8, that
is
H
2k+1
= x +y [ x +y
2k1
(N), x y.
In this case, k+(k1) reaches the minimal dilatation among H
2k+1
by Lemma 3.15(1). Otherwise
(i.e, 2k , 0 (mod 3)), H
2k+1
is the union of homology classes of type (1) and (2) of Corollary 3.8:
H
2k+1
= (2k 2) + (2k 3) + (2k 4) x +y [ x +y
2k1
(N), x y.
One needs to compare the dilatation for (2k2)+(2k3)+(2k4) with the one for k+(k1).
In case k = 4,
(4 + 3) 1.46557 < (6 + 5 + 4) 1.72208.
23
By Lemmas 3.16 and 3.12, for k > 4, we have
(2k 1)ent(k + (k 1))
7ent(4 + 3)
< 7ent(6 + 5 + 4)
< (2k 1)ent((2k 2) + (2k 3) + (2k 4)).
Thus, ent(k + (k 1)) < ent((2k 2) + (2k 3) + (2k 4)). This completes the proof in
case n = 2k + 1.
(2) Let us consider the case n = 4k + 2. For k = 1, we see that H
6
= 3 + , 3 + 2 + . We
have
(3 + 2 +) 2.08102 < (3 +) 2.29663.
For k = 2, we see that H
10
= 7 + 4 + 3, 5 + 3, 7 +. We have inequalities
(5 + 3) 1.41345 < (7 + 4 + 3) 1.55603, and (5 + 3) < (7 +)
by Lemma 3.15(2). For k = 3, we see that H
14
= 11+6 +5, 7+5, 11+, 11+10 +9.
We have (7 + 5) < (11 +) by Lemma 3.15(2) and
(7 + 5) 1.25141 < (11 + 6 + 5) 1.39241 < (11 + 10 + 9) 1.62913.
By using the same arguments as in the case n = 2k + 1, we have for all k > 3,
(4k)ent((2k + 1) + (2k 1)) < 12ent(7 + 5),
12ent(11 + 6 + 5) < (4k)ent((4k 1) + 2k + (2k 1)),
12ent(11 + 10 + 9) < (4k)ent((4k 1) + (4k 2) + (4k 3)).
Thus, for all k 2, the homology class (2k +1)+(2k 1), which realizes the minimal dilatation
among
4k
(N), reaches the minimal dilatation among H
4k+2
.
(3b) Let us consider the case n = 8k +8. For k = 0, we see that H
8
= 5 +3 +2, 5 +, 5 +
4 + 3, and
(5 + 3 + 2) 1.72208 < (5 + 4 + 3) 1.78164 < (5 +) 2.08102.
For k 1, one can show that (4k + 5) + (4k + 1) reaches the minimal dilatation among H
8k+4
.
(3a) The proof for the other case n = 8k + 4 is shown in a similar way.
3.5 Monodromy
Recall that T
m,p
is the m-braid such that
T
m,p
= (
2
1

3

m1
)
p

2
m1
.
For example, T
6,2
= (
2
1

5
)
2

2
5
=
2
1

2
1

1
5
. Since
=
m
= (
2
1

3

m1
)
m1
= (
1

2

m1
)
m
B
m
is the full twist, we have:
Lemma 3.17. If p p

(mod m1), then there exists an integer k such that T

m,p
= T
m,p

k
.
24
Figure 14: (left) braid T
6,2
. (right) braid T
5,2
.
By Lemma 3.17, we have (T
m,p
) = (T
m,p
) /(D
m
) in this case.
Let us consider the braid T
m,p
when gcd(m 1, p) ,= 1. For example, T
5,2
is a reducible braid,
since a disjoint union of two simple closed curves in the 5-punctured disk D
5
is invariant under the
mapping class (T
5,2
), see Figure 14(right). It is not hard to see the following.
Lemma 3.18. If gcd(m1, p) ,= 1, then T
m,p
is a reducible braid.
Theorem 3.19. Suppose that a homology class a = x + y C

1
(Z) satises gcd(x, y) = 1.
Then the isotopy class
a
of the monodromy
a
: F
a
F
a
can be described by the braid T
x+y+1,p
for some p = p(x, y).
The rest of section is devoted to show Theorem 3.19 and how to compute p = p(x, y).
3.5.1 Fiber surface
Let (E
1
, E
2
) be a pair of embedded surfaces in the exterior E(L) of a link L in S
3
as in Figure 15.
(In particular, E
1
is a punctured disk.) Depending on the orientation of E
1
and E
2
, the surface
E
1
+E
2
is either the one as in Figure 15(3) or the one as in Figure 15(4).
Lemma 3.20. Suppose that E
1
+E
2
is a surface of the type as in Figure 15(3). Cut E
1
in E(L),
and let E

and E

be the resulting punctured disks after cutting E

1
. Reglue E

and E

after twisting
the neighborhood of E

by 360 N degrees in the clockwise direction for some natural number N.

Then we obtain a new link, say L

whose exterior E(L

) is homeomorphic to the original link

exterior E(L). Let (E

1
, E

2
) be a pair of embedded surfaces in E(L

) induced from (E
1
, E
2
) in
E(L) (see Figure 15(2)). Let x and y be a natural numbers such that y = xN + r for some
0 r < x. Then there exists an orientation preserving homeomorphism f : E(L) E(L

) such
that f(yE
1
+xE
2
) = rE

1
+xE

2
and f(yE
1
) = yE

1
. In particular, for (x, y, r) = (1, N, 0), we have
f(NE
1
+E
2
) = E

2
.
In case where E
1
+ E
2
is a surface of the type as in Figure 15(4), a similar claim in Lemma 3.20
holds by replacing clockwise direction with counterclockwise direction.
Proof. By the denition of L

, there exists a natural homeomorphism f

: (S
3
, L) (S
3
, L

). It is
straightforward to see that the induced homeomorphism f : E(L) E(L

) sends NE
1
+E
2
to E

2
.
More generally, one can see that f(yE
1
+xE
2
) = rE

1
+xE

2
and f(yE
1
) = yE

1
.
Fix m and p, and consider the braid T
m,p
. Now, we shall dene two embedded surfaces

F
m,p
and
F
m,p
in E(T
m,p
) (See Figure 16). The surface F
m,p
is the m-punctured disk in E(T
m,p
) which is
bounded by the braid axis of T
m,p
. Clearly, F
m,p
is a ber in E(T
m,p
) with monodromy T
m,p
. The
25
Figure 15: (1) surface E
1
and E
2
in E(L). (2) surface E

1
and E

2
in E(L

) (in case where the

number N equals 2 in Lemma 3.20). (3, 4) two types of E
1
+E
2
.
Figure 16: surface F
m,p
and

F
m,p
in E(T
m,p
).
26
surface

F
m,p
is the (p + 1)-punctured disk in E(T
m,p
) which is bounded by K
m,p
, where K
m,p
is
the knot obtained by the closing the 1st strand of T
m,p
.
Given a pair (k, ) N N, the following method (T) enables us to visualize another ber
F
m(k,),p(k,)
in E(T
m,p
) with the monodromy T
m(k,),p(k,)
.
(T) Applying Lemma 3.20 for the link T
m,p
, a pair (F
m,p
,

F
m,p
) and N = k, we obtain a pair of
embedded surfaces
(F
m,k(m1)+p
,

F
m,k(m1)+p
) = (F
m,p
, kF
m,p
+

F
m,p
)
in E(T
m,k(m1)+p
), since
k
= (
2
1

3

m1
)
k(m1)
. Apply Lemma 3.20 once more for the link
T
m,k(m1)+p
, a pair (

F
m,k(m1)+p
, F
m,k(m1)+p
) and N = , we obtain a pair of embedded surfaces
(

F
m(k,),p(k,)
, F
m(k,),p(k,)
) = (

F
m,k(m1)+p
,

F
m,k(m1)+p
+F
m,k(m1)+p
)
in E(T
m(k,),p(k,)
), where T
m(k,),p(k,)
= T
(k(m1)+p)+m,k(m1)+p
. We have a ber F
m(k,),p(k,)
of
E(T
m,p
) with the monodromy T
m(k,),p(k,)
which can be easily visualized. The homology class of
F
m(k,),p(k,)
equals [(kF
m,p
+

F
m,p
) +F
m,p
]. For the case where T
m,p
= T
5,1
and (k, ) = (1, 2), we
have T
m(k,),p(k,)
= T
15,5
, see Figure 19(2,3,4).
Remark 3.21. Let x and y be natural numbers such that 0 < x < y. Suppose that
y = xk +r
1
(0 < r
1
< x, x, r
1
N),
x = r
1
+r
2
(0 < r
2
< r
1
, , r
2
N).
By applying Lemma 3.20 twice, we have a homeomorphism f : E(T
m,p
) E(T
m(k,),p(k,)
) such
that f(x

F
m,p
+yF
m,p
) = r
2

F
m(k,),p(k,)
+r
1
F
m(k,),p(k,)
. In particular
_
x

F
m,p
+yF
m,p
_
=
_
r
2

F
m(k,),p(k,)
+r
1
F
m(k,),p(k,)
_
.
Let q = (q
1
, q
2
, , q
j
) be a sequence of natural numbers. The number j is called the length
of q, and it is denoted by [q[. For q = (k
1
,
1
, , k
j
,
j
) with length [q[ = 2j even, let q(i) be a
subsequence (k
1
,
1
, , k
i
,
i
) for i j. For q = (
0
, k
1
,
1
, , k
j
,
j
) with length [q[ = 2j +1 odd,
let q(i) be a subsequence (
0
, k
1
,
1
, , k
i
,
i
) for i j.
We will dene a ber F
m(q),p(q)
in E((
3
) with monodromy T
m(q),p(q)
associated to a sequenceq
such that [F
m(q),p(q)
] C

1
. To do so, we dene a ber F
m(i),p(i)
in E((
3
) (associated to q) with
monodromy T
m(i),p(i)
inductively as follows. Figure 18(1) is another diagram of the 3 chain link (
3
.
Surfaces E

(resp. E

) drawn in Figure 17 is a representative of the homology class (resp. ).

We rst consider a sequence q = (k
1
,
1
, , k
j
,
j
) with even length. Then two cases can occur.
Case 1-even: q = (k
1
,
1
).
We apply Lemma 3.20 twice. First, for L = (
3
, a pair (E

, E

) and N = k
1
, apply Lemma 3.20.
Let (E

, k
1
E

+E

) be a pair of embedded surface induced from (E

, E

) in a new link L

exterior
E(L

). Second, apply Lemma 3.20 for L

, a pair (k
1
E

+E

, E

) and N =
1
. Then we have a pair
of embedded surfaces (k
1
E

+ E

,
1
(k
1
E

+ E

) + E

) in a new link L

exterior E(L

). We see
that the link L

is a braided link of T
m(q),p(q)
= T
(k
1
+1)
1
+2,k
1
+1
. Hence
(

F
m(q),p(q)
, F
m(q),p(q)
) = (k
1
E

+E

,
1
(k
1
E

+E

) +E

).
Therefore F
m(q),p(q)
is a ber in E((
3
) with monodromy T
m(q),p(q)
, and we have
_
F
m(q),p(q)

=
1
+ (
1
k
1
+ 1) C

1
(Z).
27
Figure 17: surface E

and E

in E((
3
).
For example in case q = (1, 1), the braid T
m(q),p(q)
equals T
4,2
, see Figure 18.
Case 2-even: q = (k
1
,
1
, , k
j
,
j
) with length 2j > 2.
For i = 1, we have dened a ber F
m(1),p(1)
in E((
3
) E(T
m(1),p(1)
) with monodromy T
m(1),p(1)
as
in case 1-even. Suppose that we have a ber F
m(i),p(i)
in E((
3
) E(T
m(i),p(i)
) with monodromy
T
m(i),p(i)
. Apply (T) for T
m(i),p(i)
, a pair (k
i+1
,
i+1
). Then we have a pair of embedded surfaces
(

F
m(i+1),p(i+1)
, F
m(i+1),p(i+1)
) = (

F
m(i)(k
i+1
,
i+1
),p(i)(k
i+1
,
i+1
)
, F
m(i)(k
i+1
,
i+1
),p(i)(k
i+1
,
i+1
)
)
such that F
m(i+1),p(i+1)
is a ber of E((
3
) with monodromy
T
m(i+1),p(i+1)
= T
m(i)(k
i+1
,
i+1
),p(i)(k
i+1
,
i+1
)
.
By induction, it is shown that
_
F
m(i+1),p(i+1)

1
(Z).
Next, let us consider a sequence q = (
0
, k
1
,
1
, , k
j
,
j
) with odd length.
Case 1-odd: q = (
0
).
Applying Lemma 3.20 for (
3
, a pair (E

, E

) and N =
0
, we obtain a pair of embedded surfaces
(E

,
0
E

+ E

) in a new link L

exterior E(L

). We see that the link L

is a braided link of
T
m(q),p(q)
= T

0
+2,1
. Hence
(

F
m(q),p(q)
, F
m(q),p(q)
) = (E

,
0
E

+E

).
Therefore F
m(q),p(q)
is a ber in E((
3
) with monodromy T
m(q),p(q)
, and we have
_
F
m(q),p(q)

=
0
+ C

1
(Z).
Case 2-odd: q = (
0
, k
1
,
1
, , k
j
,
j
) with length 2j + 1 > 1.
For i = 0, we have dened a ber F
m(0),p(0)
in E((
3
) E(T
m(0),p(0)
) with monodromy T
m(0),p(0)
as in case 1-odd. For i 1, in the same manner as case 2-even, a ber F
m(i),p(i)
in E((
3
) with
monodromy T
m(i),p(i)
= T
m(q(i)),p(q(i))
is given inductively, and we see that
_
F
m(i),p(i)

1
(Z).
For the case where q = (3, 1, 2), see Figure 19.
28
Figure 18: Case 1-even: q = (1, 1). ber F
4,2
with monodromy T
4,2
.
Figure 19: construction of ber associated to q = (3, 1, 2). (1) (
3
. (2) T
5,1
. (3) T
5,5
. (4) T
15,5
.
29
3.5.2 Continued fraction
We review some results on continued fractions. Let us consider a continued fraction
w
1
+
1
w
2
+
1
w
3
+
1
w
j1
+
1
w
j
for w
i
N. For simplicity, we denote such continued fraction by
w
1
+
1
w
2
+
1
w
3
+ +
1
w
j1
+
1
w
j
. (3.7)
The number j in (3.7) is called the length of the continued fraction of the form (3.7).
We dene [w
1
, w
2
, , w
j
] N inductively as follows.
[w
1
] = w
1
.
[w
1
, w
2
] = w
1
w
2
+ 1.
[w
1
, w
2
, , w
i
] = [w
1
, w
2
, , w
i1
] w
i
+ [w
1
, w
2
, , w
i2
] .
The next lemma is elementary and well-known.
Lemma 3.22.
(1) w
1
+
1
w
2
+
1
w
3
++
1
w
j1
+
1
w
j
=
[w
1
,w
2
, ,w
j
]
[w
2
,w
3
, ,w
j
]
.
(2) [w
1
, w
2
, , w
j
] = [w
j
, w
j1
, , w
1
].
Denition 3.23. Let u and v be natural numbers such that gcd(u, v) = 1. We dene two nite
sequences of integers r = (r
0
, r
1
, , r
j+1
) and q = (q
1
, q
2
, , q
j
) according to the Euclidean
algorithm. We set r
0
= maxu, v and r
1
= minu, v. Write r
0
= r
1
q
1
+r
2
(0 r
2
< r
1
).
If r
2
= 0, then r
1
must be 1 since gcd(u, v) = 1. In this case, we set r = (r
0
, r
1
= 1, r
2
= 0)
and q = (q
1
).
Suppose that r
2
,= 0. Let us dene q
2
, q
3
, and r
3
, r
4
, such that r
2
> r
3
> r
4
>
inductively as follows. Let q
i
be the quotient when r
i1
is divided by r
i
, and let r
i+1
be its
remainder. By the monotonicity r
0
> r
1
> > r
i
> r
i+1
> 0, there exists j N
such that r
j+1
= 0. Then r
j
must be 1. We set r = (r
0
, r
1
, , r
j
= 1, r
j+1
= 0) and
q = (q
0
, , q
j
).
The fraction
r
0
r
1
can be expressed by the following two kinds of continued fraction by using the
sequence q = (q
1
, q
2
, , q
j
).
r
0
r
1
= q
1
+
1
q
2
+
1
q
3
+ +
1
q
j1
+
1
q
j
= q
1
+
1
q
2
+
1
q
3
+ +
1
q
j1
+
1
(q
j
1) +
1
1
(3.8)
with length j and length j + 1 respectively. We can choose the one with odd (resp. even) length
among two continued fractions expressing
r
0
r
1
.
30
Proof of Theorem 3.19. Let x and y be natural numbers satisfying gcd(x, y) = 1. If x > y (resp.
x < y), we choose the continued fraction
maxx, y
minx, y
= w
1
+
1
w
2
+
1
w
3
+ +
1
w
j1
+
1
w
j
(3.9)
with odd length (resp. even length). Now, we dene a nite sequence s = (s
0
, s
1
, , s
j+1
) which
is dened by
s
0
= maxx, y,
s
1
= minx, y,
s
i+1
= s
i1
s
i
w
i
for i 1.
Notice that s
j
= 1 and s
j+1
= 0. (If the continued fraction in (3.9) is the rst type in (3.8), then
the nite sequence s equals r of Denition 3.23.)
Suppose that x < y. Note that the continued fraction of (3.9) has even length by denition. Let
us write q = (w
1
, w
2
, , w
j
) = (k
1
,
1
, , kj
2
, j
2
). A ber F
m(q),p(q)
in E((
3
) with monodromy
T
m(q),p(q)
associated to q is a representative of x +y. In fact by Remark 3.21,
x +y
= [xE

+yE

] (= [s
1
E

+s
0
E

])
=
_
s
3

F
m(1),p(1)
+s
2
F
(m(1),p(1))
_
.
.
.
=
_
s
2i+1

F
m(i),p(i)
+s
2i
F
(m(i),p(i))
_
.
.
.
=
_
s
j+1

F
m(
j
2
),p(
j
2
)
+s
j
F
m(
j
2
),p(
j
2
)
_
(=
_
0

F
m(
j
2
),p(
j
2
)
+ 1F
m(
j
2
),p(
j
2
)
_
)
=
_
F
m(q),p(q)

.
Since a representative F
m(q),p(q)
of x+y is an (x+y+2)-punctured sphere, m(q) equals x+y+1.
The argument for the case x > y is similar as above.
3.5.3 Computation of p = p(x, y) in Theorem 3.19
In this section we give a recipe to compute the number p of T
x+y+1,p
in Theorem 3.19. First, we
give an example to see how the number p comes from a pair (x, y).
Example 3.24. We explain the braid T
15,5
is a monodromy for 11 + 3 and why the number
p = 5 is derived from two nite sequences q = (q
1
, q
2
, q
3
) = (3, 1, 2) and r = (r
0
, r
1
, r
2
, r
3
, r
4
) =
(11, 3, 2, 1, 0) of Denition 3.23 associated to two numbers 3 and 11. By the proof of Theorem 3.19,
we see that
[11E

+ 3E

] =
_
2

F
5,1
+ 3F
5,1
_
=
_
2

F
5,5
+ 1F
5,5
_
=
_
0

F
15,5
+ 1F
15,5
_
.
A simple description of these equalities is as follows.
(r
0
, r
1
) (r
2
, r
1
) (r
2
, r
3
) (r
4
, r
3
)
| | | |
(11, 3)
q
1
=3
(2, 3)
q
2
=1
(2, 1)
q
3
=2
(0, 1)
(3.10)
31
On the other hand, by Figure 19 (or by using the argument in Case 2-odd in Section 3.5.1), we see
that T
15,5
is a monodromy for 11 + 3. Recall that K
m,p
is the knot obtained by the closing the
1st strand of T
m,p
. Let K

m,p
be the knot obtained by the closing the rest of strands, i.e, K

m,p
equals
the closed braid of T
m,p
removing K
m,p
. For the braid T
m,p
, we have a pair of numbers
(p, m1) = (i(

F
m,p
, K

m,p
), i(F
m,p
, K

m,p
)),
where i( , ) is the intersection number. In the process to nd the monodromy associated to q =
(3, 1, 2), a nite sequence of pairs of such intersection numbers obtained from T
5,1
, T
5,5
and T
15,5
is described as follows.
(1, 1)
q
1
=3
(1, 4)
q
2
=1
(5, 4)
q
3
=2
(5, 14)
(3.11)
We extend the sequences of (3.10) and (3.11) to the left. Then we have
(r
0
, r
0
+r
1
) (r
0
, r
1
) (r
2
, r
1
) (r
2
, r
3
) (r
4
, r
3
)
| | | | |
(11, 14)
q
0
=1
(11, 3)
q
1
=3
(2, 3)
q
2
=1
(2, 1)
q
3
=2
(0, 1)
(0, 1)
q
0
=1
(1, 1)
q
1
=3
(1, 4)
q
2
=1
(5, 4)
q
3
=2
(5, 14)
These show that
14
11
= 1 +
1
3 +
1
1 +
1
2
=
[1, 3, 1, 2]
[3, 1, 2]
=
[q
0
, q
1
, q
2
, q
3
]
[q
1
, q
2
, a
3
]
,
14
5
= 2 +
1
1 +
1
3 +
1
1
=
[2, 1, 3, 1]
[1, 3, 1]
=
[q
3
, q
2
, q
1
, q
0
]
[q
2
, q
1
, q
0
]
.
Thus, the number p = 5 equals [q
2
, q
1
, q
0
].
Proposition 3.25. Let T
x+y+1,p(x,y)
be the braid in Theorem 3.19 which represents the monodromy
for x +y C

1
(Z).
(1) Let
max{x,y}
min{x,y}
= w
1
+
1
w
2
+
1
w
3
++
1
w
j1
+
1
w
j
be the continued fraction in (3.9). Then
p = p(x, y) = [w
j1
, w
j2
, , w
1
, w
0
= 1] = [w
0
= 1, w
1
, , w
j1
].
(2) p = p(x, y) satises p(maxx, y) (1)
j
(mod x +y).
Proof. (1) We have
x +y
maxx, y
= w
0
+
1
w
1
+
1
w
2
+ +
1
w
j1
+
1
w
j
,
where w
0
= 1. It is not hard to show the claim (1) by using the argument of Example 3.24.
(2) By induction, one can show that
_
w
0
1
1 0
__
w
1
1
1 0
_

_
w
j
1
1 0
_
=
_
[w
0
, w
1
, , w
j
] [w
0
, w
1
, , w
j1
]
[w
1
, w
2
, , w
j
] [w
1
, w
2
, , w
j1
]
_
. (3.12)
Since the determinant of each matrix
_
w
i
1
1 0
_
is 1,
(1)
j+1
[w
0
, w
1
, , w
j1
] [w
1
, w
2
, , w
j
] (mod [w
0
, w
1
, , w
j
]).
Note that x+y = [w
0
, w
1
, , w
j
], p = [w
j1
, w
j2
, , w
0
] = [w
0
, w
1
, , w
j1
], and maxx, y =
[w
1
, w
2
, , w
j
]. Thus, (1)
j
p(maxx, y) (mod x +y).
32
Theorem 3.26. Let p 1 and m 3 be integers such that gcd(p, m 1) = 1. Then there exist
x, y N with x +y = m1 such that T
m,p
gives a monodromy for x +y C

1
(Z).
Proof. Let : N N be the Euler function. The number of braids T
m,p
satisfying 1 p m1
and gcd(p, m 1) = 1 equals (m 1). On the other hand, the number of homology classes
x+y
m1
(N) satisfying gcd(x, y) = 1 equals (m1). Let x+y and x

+y

are distinct
elements in
m1
(N). It is enough to show that p(x, y) ,= p(x

, y

) since 1 p(x, y), p(x

, y

) m1.
Suppose that (x, y) ,= (y

, x

). Then the concavity of ent()[

m1
:
m1
R and Lemma 3.13
imply that ent(x + y) ,= ent(x

+ y

), and hence T
m,p(x,y)
,= T
m,p(x

,y

)
which implies that
p(x, y) ,= p(x

, y

).
Suppose that (x, y) = (y

, x

). By Proposition 3.25(2), we see that

p(x, y)(maxx, y) +p(y, x)(maxx, y) = (p(x, y) +p(y, x))(maxx, y) 0 (mod x+y). (3.13)
Since gcd(maxx, y, x +y) = 1, we have p(x, y) +p(y, x) 0 (mod x +y). Thus, p(x, y) , p(y, x)
(mod x +y). This completes the proof.
Theorem 3.26 immediately gives:
Corollary 3.27. Let p 1 and m 3 be integers such that gcd(p, m1) = 1. Then S
3
T
m,p
is
homeomorphic to S
3
(
3
.
Proposition 3.28. Let m 3 be integers. The followings are homology classes realizing minent(a) [ a

m1
(N) and their monodromies.
(1) If m = 2k, then (k 1) +k and k +(k 1) realize the minimum and their monodromies
are given by T
2k,2
(or T
2k,2k3
).
(2) If m = 4k +1, then (2k 1)+(2k +1) and (2k +1)+(2k 1) realize the minimum and
their monodromies are given by T
4k+1,2k+1
(or T
4k+1,2k1
).
(3a) If m = 3, then + realize the minimum and its monodromy is given by T
3,1
. If m = 8k +3
(k 1), then (4k 1)+(4k +3) and (4k +3)+(4k 1) realize the minimum and their
monodromies are given by T
8k+3,2k+1
(or T
8k+3,6k+1
).
(3b) If m = 8k + 7, then (4k + 1) + (4k + 5) and (4k + 5) + (4k + 1) realize the minimum
and their monodromies are given by T
8k+7,6k+5
(or T
8k+7,2k+1
).
Proof. We show the claim in case m = 2k. Other cases can be shown in a similar way. By
Lemma 3.15, the homology classes a = (k 1)+k and a

= k+(k 1) realize the minimum.

Let us consider the monodromies T
m,p(k1,k)
and T
m,p(k,k1)
. Let (x, y) = (k 1, k). Since x < y,
the continued fraction which is chosen in (3.9) is
y
x
= w
1
+
1
w
2
, where w
1
= 1 and w
2
= k 1. By
Proposition 3.25(1), p(k 1, k) = [w
1
, w
0
] = [1, 1] = 2. By (3.13),
p(k 1, k) +p(k, k 1) 0 (mod 2k 1).
Hence p(k, k 1) = 2k 3. By Lemma 3.13(1), T
2k,2
or T
2k,2k3
gives the monodromy for a and
a

.
33
3.6 Proof of Theorem 1.1
In Propositions 3.11 and 3.28, we have proved Theorem 1.1 except n = 6, 8. To complete the proof
of Theorem 1.1, we shall give monodromies for two homology classes 3+2 + and 5+3 +2
in Proposition 3.31.
Lemma 3.29.
(1) The 5-braided link
1

2
2

4
and the 4-braided link T
4,2
are isotopic to the (2, 4, 6)-pretzel
link.
(2) The braided link b for the 7-braid b as in Theorem 1.1(3b-i) is isotopic to the 5-braided link

2
2

1
5
.
Proof. (1) This is an easy exercise and we leave the proof for the readers. (Note: T
4,2
is conjugate
to the 4-braid
2
1

2
1
, and it might be easier to see the latter braided link is isotopic to the
(2, 4, 6)-pretzel link.)
(2) Let be an n-braid. By deforming the axis of , the braided link can be represented by the
closed braid

of

B
n+2
, where

1
n+1

2
n

2
n1

2
1

2
1

2
2

2
n
(
1
,
2
1, 1), see
Figure 20. By using this method,
1

2
2

1
5
is represented by the closed 7-braid

a

, where
a

=
1
6
(
1

2
2

1
5
)
1
5

1
4

1
3

1
2

1
1

1
1

1
2

1
3

1
4

1
5
.
On the other hand, the braided link b (Figure 21(left)) can be represented by a closed 6-braid as
in Figure 21(center) whose link type equals a closed 7-braid as in Figure 21(right). Namely, b is
isotopic to the closure of the 7-braid b

:
b

= 6 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 5
4
4 3 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 5,
where i stands for
1
i
. We see that a

is conjugate to b

, since the super summit set for a

is
equal to the one for b

. (The super summit set is a complete conjugacy invariant, see [4].) In

fact, the super summit set consists of 4 elements
1
7
1234321543654321,
1
7
1213432543654321,

1
7
1232145432654321 and
1
7
1232143254654321, where i stands for
i
. (One can use the com-
puter program Braiding by Gonzalez-Meneses for a computation of the super summit set [8].)
Thus, the link types of b and
1

2
2

1
5
are the same. This completes the proof.
Figure 20: (left) braided link . (right) closed braid representing .
Lemma 3.29 together with Corollary 3.27 implies:
Corollary 3.30.
34
Figure 21: (left) braided link b. (center) closed 6-braid representing b. (right) closed 7-braid

b

representing b.
(1) S
3

1

2
2

4
is homeomorphic to S
3
(
3
.
(2) S
3
b is homeomorphic to S
3
(
3
.
Proposition 3.31.
(1) (
1

2
2

4
) is conjugate to the monodromy for 3 + 2 +.
(2) (b) is conjugate to the monodromy for 5 + 3 + 2.
Proof. (1) We see that H
6
= 3 + 2 + , 3 + , see the proof of Proposition 3.11. By Propo-
sition 3.9, the monodromy for 3 + permutes 4 punctures cyclically and xes two 1 punctures.
On the other hand, the monodromy for 3+2 + permutes 3 punctures cyclically, and the map-
ping class (
1

2
2

4
) permutes 3 punctures cyclically. By Corollary 3.30(1), we conclude that
(
1

2
2

4
) is conjugate to the monodromy for 3 + 2 +.
(2) We see that H
8
= 5+, 5+3+2, 5+4+3. The mapping class (b) permutes 5 punc-
tures cyclically, 2 punctures cyclically and xes the other 1 puncture. Among H
8
, 5+3+2 is the
only class whose monodromy permutes 2 punctures cyclically. By Corollary 3.30(2), we conclude
that (b) must be conjugate to the monodromy for 5 + 3 + 2.
4 Further discussion
4.1 Pseudo-Anosovs with small entropy
4.1.1 Punctured sphere
Forgetting the 1st strand of the m-braid T
m,p
, one obtains the (m 1)-braid, say T

m,p
. For
example, T

6,2
= (
1

4
)
2

2
4
. Notice that T

m,p
may not be pseudo-Anosov, even though T
m,p
is pseudo-Anosov. In the case where T

m,p
is pseudo-Anosov, it is easy to see that the inequality
ent(T

m,p
) ent(T
m,p
) holds. A question is when the equality holds. The following lemma, which
is obvious by the denition of pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms, is an answer.
Lemma 4.1. Let
m,p
be a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism which represents the mapping class
(T
m,p
) /(D
m
). Corresponding to the 1st strand of the braid T
m,p
, there exists a puncture of
the disk, say a
m,p
, which is xed by
m,p
. Suppose that invariant foliations T
s
(or T
u
) associated
to
m,p
has no 1-pronged singularity at a
m,p
. Then T

m,p
is a pseudo-Anosov braid such that
ent(T

m,p
) = ent(T
m,p
).
The family of braids T

m,p
contains the braids with smallest entropy. In fact,
35
T

4,1
=
1

1
2
B
3
is the 3-braid with the smallest entropy, see Matsuoka [19].
T

5,1
=
1

1
3
B
4
is the 4-braid with the smallest entropy, see Ko-Los-Song [15].
T

6,2

1

2
B
5
is the 5-braid with the smallest entropy, see Ham-Song [10].
Here for the braids b and b

with the same strands, b b

means that b is conjugate to b

. It is an
open problem to determine the braids of B
n
with the smallest entropy for n 6.
All the braids in Proposition 3.28 have been studied from the view point of their entropies.
Hironaka-Kin studies a family of braids

(k)
=
1

2

2k2

2

2k4
B
2k1
(k 3)
with odd strands [11]. It is easy to see that
(k)
T

2k,2
(cf. Proposition 3.28(1)). Each braid
(k)
has the smallest known entropy. Venzke nds a family of braids with small entropy [28]. Let us
introduce his family of braids
n
. Set L
n
=
n1

n2

1
B
n
. He denes the braid
n
B
n
as follows.

n
= L
2
n

1
1

1
2
if n = 2k 1 (k 3),

n
= L
2k+1
n

1
1

1
2
if n = 4k (k 2),

n
= L
2k+1
n

1
1

1
2
if n = 8k + 2 (k 1),

n
= L
6k+5
n

1
1

1
2
if n = 8k + 6 (k 1),

6
=
5

4
.
It is not hard to see that
2k1
T

2k,2
,
4k
T

4k+1,2k+1
,
8k+2
T

8k+3,2k+1
,
8k+6
T

8k+7,6k+5
,
and
6
T
6,2
(cf. Proposition 3.28(2)(3a)(3b)). By using Lemma 4.1, one can show that
ent(
2k1
) = ent(T
2k,2
),
ent(
4k
) = ent(T
4k+1,2k+1
),
ent(
8k+2
) = ent(T
8k+3,2k+1
),
ent(
8k+6
) = ent(T
8k+7,6k+5
).
It is surprising that each braid with the smallest known entropy of n 6 strands can be derived
from the braid T
n+1,p
for some p with the smallest entropy among a family of braids T
n+1,p
,
where p

is any integer such that 1 p

m1 and gcd(p

, m1) = 1.
Let T
(m)
B
m
be one of the two braids which realizes the minimum in Proposition 3.28. For
example, T
(2k)
= T
2k,2
or T
2k,2k3
. Let T

(m)
B
m1
be the braid obtained from T
(m)
by forgetting
the 1st strand of T
(m)
. One can apply Lemma 4.1 to show that (T
(m)
) = (T

(m)
). By Theorem 3.2
and Proposition 3.28, we have the followings.
Corollary 4.2.
(1) (T

(2k)
) equals the largest real root of P(t
k1
, t
k
, t
0
) = t
2k1
2(t
k1
+t
k
) + 1.
(2) (T

(4k+1)
) equals the largest real root of P(t
2k1
, t
2k+1
, t
0
) = t
4k
2(t
2k1
+t
2k+1
) + 1.
(3a) (T

(8k+3)
) equals the largest real root of P(t
4k1
, t
4k+1
, t
0
) = t
8k+2
2(t
4k1
+t
4k+3
) + 1.
(3b) (T

(8k+7)
) equals the largest real root of P(t
4k+1
, t
4k+5
, t
0
) = t
8k+6
2(t
4k+1
+t
4k+5
) + 1.
36
We now discuss the monotonicity of the entropy of braids T
(m)
. The following proposition is a
corollary of Lemma 3.16 and Proposition 3.28.
Proposition 4.3.
(1) ent(T
(2k)
) > ent(T
(2(k+1))
).
(2) ent(T
(4k+1)
) > ent(T
(4(k+1)+1)
).
(3a) ent(T
(8k+3)
) > ent(T
(8(k+1)+3)
).
(3b) ent(T
(8k+7)
) > ent(T
(8(k+1)+7)
).
Next, we consider an inequality between ent(T
(m)
) and ent(T
(m+1)
).
Lemma 4.4. We have ent(T
(2k1)
) > ent(T
(2k)
).
Proof. One can prove the claim by using the argument in the proof of Lemma 3.16.
In contrast to Lemma 4.4, it is not true that ent(T
(2k)
) > ent(T
(2k+1)
) for all k. For example,
ent(T
(6)
) < ent(T
(7)
),
ent(T
(10)
) < ent(T
(11)
).
Our computer experiment shows that it seems that ent(T
(2k)
) > ent(T
(2k+1)
) for all k but k ,= 3, 5.
See the computation of ent(T
(m)
) below.
Lemma 4.4 tells us that we have an inequality ent(T

(2k)
) < ent(T
(2k1)
) for two (2k 1)-braids.
The above example shows that we have inequalities ent(T
(6)
) < ent(T

(7)
) for two 6-braids and
ent(T
(10)
) < ent(T

(11)
) for two 10-braids.
m ent(T
(m)
) m ent(T
(m)
) m ent(T
(m)
) m ent(T
(m)
)
3 1.31696 4 0.962424 5 0.831443 6 0.543535
7 0.732858 8 0.382245 9 0.346031 10 0.295442
11 0.302271 12 0.240965 13 0.224273 14 0.203526
15 0.200958 16 0.176191 17 0.166609 18 0.155345
19 0.152136 20 0.13892 21 0.132708 22 0.125641
23 0.122845 24 0.114683 25 0.11033 26 0.105485
We turn to the asymptotic behavior of the entropy of T
(m)
. In [11, Proposition 3.36], it is shown
that for m = 2k,
lim
m
[(
0,m
)[ent(T

(m)
)(= lim
m
(m2)ent(T
(m)
)) = 2 log(2 +

3).
Hence lim
m
(m 1)ent(T
(m)
) = 2 log(2 +

3) since ent(T
(m)
) tends to 0. We give alternative
proof for this claim from the view point of the geometry of the magic manifold.
Corollary 4.5. We have
lim
m
[(
0,m+1
)[ent(T
(m)
) = lim
m
(m1)ent(T
(m)
) = 2 log(2 +

3).
Proof. Recall that T
(m)
is a monodromy for some homology class whose minimal representative is
an (m+ 1)-punctured sphere
0,m+1
. By Theorem 3.10(1) and Proposition 3.28, we have
lim
m
[2 (m+ 1)[ent(T
(m)
) = 2 log(2 +

3).
37
Remark 4.6. Venzke shows that each mapping torus T(
n
) except n = 6 is obtained from M
magic
by a Dehn surgery along a single cusp. He also computes the surgery coecient, see [28].
Remark 4.7. Using train track maps, Hironaka-Kin computes the polynomial whose largest real
root equals the dilatation of
(k)
, see [11]. Venzke also computes such polynomial for braids
n
by
using the same technique, see [28].
Finally, we propose the following conjecture.
Conjecture 4.8. The braid T
(m)
or the braid T

(m+1)
realize the minimal entropy among all braids
of B
m
.
4.1.2 Closed surface of genus g
In the rest of this section, we prove Theorem 1.3. By Lemma 3.1 and Theorem 3.2, it is easy to
see the following lemma.
Lemma 4.9. For each g N, let a = (g + 1) + (g + 1) + be an integral homology class in
int(C

).
(1) A minimal representative F
a
is a 3-punctured surface of genus g.
(2) The dilatation (a) is the largest real root of
f
(g+1,g+1,1)
= t
2g+1
2t
g+1
2t
g
+ 1.
(3) lim
g
T(a) = lim
g
(2g + 1)ent((g + 1) + (g + 1) +) = 2 log(2 +

3).
One veries the claim (3) in the above lemma by using lim
g
T(a) = T( +).
Let

a
:
g,0

g,0
be a homeomorphism on the closed surface of genus g obtained from the
monodromy
a
:
g,3

g,3
(for the homology class a) by forgetting all 3 punctures. Recall that
in case the mapping class

a
= [

a
] is pseudo-Anosov, the dilatation of

a
is less than or equal to
the one for the mapping class
a
= [
a
]. For the proof of Theorem 1.3, it is enough to show:
Lemma 4.10. The mapping class

a
is pseudo-Anosov.
Proof. Recall that K

, K

and K

are components of the 3 chain link (

3
. Let us consider a surface
F
(g+1,g+1,1)
= (g +1)F

+(g +1)F

+F

which is a representative of a = (g +1) +(g +1) +.

We see that the boundary component of F
(g+1,g+1,1)
which lies on the regular neighborhood N(K

)
has the boundary slope
(g+1)
g
. The boundary slopes for the other two boundary components of
F
(g+1,g+1,1)
which lie on N(K

) or N(K

) are
(g+1)
g
and 2g. (Notice that the boundary slopes
do not depend on the choice of a representative of the homology class.)
A result in [17] tells us that the Dehn lling M
magic
(g) = M
magic
(
(g+1)
g
,
(g+1)
g
, 2g) along
slopes
(g+1)
g
,
(g+1)
g
and 2g is a hyperbolic manifold. Hence

a
is pseudo-Anosov since its
mapping torus T(

a
) is homeomorphic to M
magic
(g). This completes the proof.
4.2 Asymptotic behavior of entropy function
We consider asymptotic behaviors of the entropy function for a family of homology classes in
Proposition 3.6.
Theorem 4.11. Let x +y be a homology class in C

1
.
38
(1) lim
x,y
ent(x +y) = 0.
(2) lim
y
ent(x +y) =
log 2
x
.
Of course, lim
x
ent(x +y) =
log 2
y
by symmetry.
Proof. (1) We may suppose that x y.
By [16, Theorem 3.5], we have an inequality
ent(a +b) minent(a), ent(b)
for a, b int(C

). Hence for all > 0 so that x > 0 and for all > 0,
ent(x + (x +)) minent((x ) +x), ent( +).
Notice that ent( + ) goes to as goes to 0. If one takes > 0 suciently small, then one
may assume that
ent(x + (x +)) ent((x ) +x).
Since ent() is continuous, we have ent(x + (x +)) ent(x +x). Thus,
lim
x
ent(x + (x +)) lim
x
ent(x +x) = lim
x
1
x
ent( +) = 0.
Since > 0 is arbitrary, the proof is completed.
(2) By Theorem 3.2, the dilatation of x +y + 0 C

1
(Z) is the largest real root of
P(t
x
, t
y
, t
0
) = P(t
x
, t
y
, 1) = t
y
R
x
(t) + (R
x
)

(t),
where R
x
(t) = t
x
2. By Lemma 2.1, the largest real root of P(t
x
, t
y
, 1) converges to 2
1/x
, which
is the unique real root of R
x
(t), as y . This claim can be extended to homology classes of
C

1
(Q), that is the dilatation of x+y C

1
(Q) converges to 2
1/x
as y . Since the entropy
function on C

1
(Q) can be extended to C

1
uniquely, the proof is completed.
Proposition 4.12. The entropy of the homology classes (n + 1) + n + (n 1) int(C

)
converges to the logarithm of the golden mean
1+

5
2
as n goes to .
Proof. We have
P(t
n+1
, t
n
, t
n1
) = t
n1
_
t
n
(t
2
t 1) + (t
2
t 1)

_
.
If (n + 1) +n + (n 1) is an integral homology class, then its dilatation
n
is the largest real
root of t
n
(t
2
t 1) + (t
2
t 1)

. The polynomial t
2
t 1 has the real root
1+

5
2
> 1. By
Lemma 2.1,
n
converges to
1+

5
2
as n goes to . Since ent() is continuous on int(C

), the proof
is completed.
4.3 Relation between horseshoe braid and braid T
m,p
The horseshoe map was discovered by S. Smale around 1960. For the study of the dynamical
systems, this map is signicant since it is a simple factor possessing the chaotic dynamics. In this
section, we relate monodromies for homology classes in C

1
(Z) to the horseshoe map.
39
The horseshoe map H : D D is a dieomorphism of the disk D such that the action of H on
the rectangle R and two half disks S
0
, S
1
is given as in Figure 22. More precisely, the restriction
H[
R
i
for i 0, 1 is an ane map such that H contracts R
i
vertically and stretches horizontally,
and H[
S
0
S
1
: S
0
S
1
S
0
S
1
is a contraction map. The set =

jZ
H
j
(R) is invariant under
H. Notice that the map H[

: can be described by using the symbolic dynamics as follows.

We set o = 0, 1
Z
, that is the set of all two sided innite sequences s = ( s
1
s
0
[s
1
) of 0
and 1, where we put the symbol [ between the 0th element and the 1st element. We introduce the
metric on o as follows.
d(s, t) =

iZ
[s
i
t
i
[
2
|i|
,
where s = ( s
1
s
0
[s
1
s
2
) and t = ( t
1
t
0
[t
1
t
2
).
Theorem 4.13 (Smale). Let s : o o be the shift map, i.e, s is a homeomorphism which is
dened by
s( s
0
[s
1
s
2
) = ( s
0
s
1
[s
2
).
The restriction H[

: is conjugate to the shift map s : o o. The conjugacy / : o is

given by
/(x) = ( /
1
(x)/
0
(x)[/
1
(x) ), where
/
j
(x) =
_
1 if H
j
(x) R
1
,
0 if H
j
(x) R
0
.
If x is a periodic point with the least period k, then /(x) is a periodic sequence. The word
/
0
(x)/
1
(x) /
k1
(x) is called the code for x. Such word (modulo cyclic permutation) is said to
be the code for the periodic orbit O
H
(x) = x, H(x), , H
k1
(x).
Remark 4.14.
(1) Theorem 4.13 asserts that there exists a one to one correspondence between the set of periodic
points for H[

and the set of periodic sequences in o.

(2) By using Theorem 4.13, one can show that the set of periodic points of H[

is dense on .
Figure 22: (1) R, S
0
and S
1
. (2) horseshoe map H. (a

is the image of a under H, for example.)

Let Q be a set of n points consisting of periodic orbits of H[

. We take an isotopy H
t

tI=[0,1]
such that H
0
= identity map on D and H
1
= H. Then
b(Q; H
t

tI
) =
_
tI
H
t
(Q) t D I
40
is an n-braid. This depends on the choice of the isotopy, but it is determined uniquely up to a
power of the full twist braid = (
1

n1
)
n
. Consider the suspension ow on the mapping
torus by using a natural isotopy H
t
, see Figure 23(left). For this isotopy, we denote the braid
b(Q; H
t

tI
) by b
Q
. By the denition of H, one can collapse the image of the vertical lines of
R
0
and R
1
under the isotopy to build the horseshoe template T as in Figure 23(center). (For the
template theory, see [7].) In this case the template is equipped with the semiow induced by the
suspension ow. It is easy to see that there exists a one to one correspondence between the set
of periodic orbits of H[

and the set of periodic orbits of the semiow on T . Each braid b

Q
can
be embedded in T so that the closed braid of b
Q
becomes a nite union of periodic orbits of the
semiow on T . Simply, we write b
Q
for the image of b
Q
T when there exists no confusion.
Now, we dene horseshoe mapping classes and horseshoe braids. Let A
n
be a set of n points
which lie on the horizontal line through the origin in the round disk D. We set an n-punctured disk
D
n
= DA
n
. We say that /(D
n
) is a horseshoe mapping class if there exists a set of n points
Q consisting of periodic orbits of H[

and there exists an orientation preserving homeomorphism

g : D Q D
n
such that is conjugate to the mapping class [g H[
D\Q
g
1
] /(D
n
). A
braid B
n
is a horseshoe braid if the mapping class () /(D
n
) represented by is a
horseshoe mapping class. In other words, is a horseshoe braid if there exists an integer k and
there exists a set of n points consisting a nite union of periodic orbits of H[

, denoted by Q, such
that
k
is conjugate to the braid b
Q
in B
n
. In this case, there exists a braid B
n
such that

k
can be embedded in T . However the converse is not true. For example, the 4-braid of
Figure 23(right) is not a horseshoe braid since there exists exactly one periodic orbit with the least
period 2 for H[

whose code is 01. By Remark 4.14(1), one can show that a braid embedded in
T (ignoring the semiow) is a horseshoe braid if and only if no strings of the braid are parallel.
(See Figure 23(right).)
Figure 23: (left) suspension of horseshoe map. (center) horseshoe template T . (right) non-horseshoe
4-braid embedded in T . (In this case, two strings of the braid are parallel.)
Proposition 4.15. Suppose that gcd(p, m1) = 1. If 1 < p
m1
2
, then T
m,p
B
m
is a horseshoe
braid.
Obviously, if the braid b is written by b = cb

, then b is conjugate to b

c. This easy claim is used

for the proof of Proposition 4.15 several times. Before we show the proposition, we rst see that
T
12,4
is a horseshoe braid by using Figure 24.
Example 4.16. The rst braid of Figure 24 is a representative of T
12,4
. We slide the last crossing
in the small circle to the top, see the second braid. Then it is conjugate to the third braid of
41
Figure 24. We repeat to slide to the last crossing in the small circle of the third braid to the top.
We see that it is conjugate to the fourth braid. The crossings in the large circle of the fourth braid
can slide to the top, and then we see that the fourth braid is conjugate to the fth braid which is
isotopic to the sixth braid. Finally, it is easy to see that the sixth braid is conjugate to the seventh
braid which can be embedded in T . (In fact, the braid
1

4
is a conjugacy.) Since no strings
of the latter braid are parallel, one concludes that T
12,4
is a horseshoe braid.
Figure 24: conjugate braid of T
12,4
. (1) T
12,4
. (7) braid embedded in T .
Proof of Proposition 4.15. We consider a representative of T
m,p
as in the rst braid of Figure 25.
(See also Figure 14.) By using the slide technique in Example 4.16 several times, we see that T
m,p
is conjugate to the second braid or the third of Figure 25. (For example, T
12,4
is conjugate to the
second type and T
12,5
is conjugate to the third type.)
First, we show that the second braid is a horseshoe braid by using Figure 26. This braid is
conjugate to the rst braid of Figure 26 which is equal to the second braid of Figure 26. (See the
fth and sixth braid of Figure 24.) The second braid of Figure 26 is conjugate to the third braid
in Figure 26 which can be embedded in the horseshoe template T .
Second, we show the third braid of Figure 25 is a horseshoe braid by using Figure 27. This braid
is conjugate to the rst braid of Figure 27. (For example, T
12,5
is conjugate to the third braid of
Figure 27.) It is easy to see that the rst braid of Figure 27 is conjugate to the second braid of
Figure 27 which can be embedded in the horseshoe template T .
4.4 Alternative proof of Theorem 4.11(2)
In this section, we give alternative proof of Theorem 4.11(2). By Proposition 3.25, we see that the
braid T
m,1
represents the monodromy of (m2)+ C

1
(Z). For the proof of Theorem 4.11(2),
it is enough to show that
lim
m(N)
ent((m2) +) = log 2. (4.1)
42
Figure 25: (1) T
m,p
. (T
m,p
is conjugate to either the braid drawn in (2) or the braid drawn in (3).)
Figure 26: conjugate braid of T
m,p
.
Figure 27: (1,2) conjugate braid of T
m,p
. (3) conjugate braid of T
12,5
.
43
The reason is as follows. The equality (4.1) implies that lim
x
ent(x+) = log 2 by the continuity
of ent(). Therefore
ent(x +y) =
1
y
ent(
x
y
+)
log 2
y
as x .
Now, we show the equality (4.1). Let
(m
1
,m
2
, ,m
k+1
)
be a family of braids depicted in Figure 28
for each integer k 1 and each integer m
i
1. These braids are all pseudo-Anosov, and the
dilatation of
(m
1
, ,m
k+1
)
is the largest real root of the Salem-Boyd polynomial
t
m
k+1
R
(m
1
, ,m
k
)
(t) + (1)
k+1
R
(m
1
, ,m
k
)

(t),
where R
(m
1
, ,m
i
)
(t) is given inductively as follows:
R
(m
1
)
(t) = t
m
1
+1
(t 1) 2t,
R
(m
1
, ,m
i
)
(t) = t
m
i
(t 1)R
(m
1
, ,m
i1
)
(t) + (1)
i
2tR
(m
1
, ,m
i1
)

(t) for 2 i k,
see [14, Theorem 1.2]. In particular, the dilatation of
(1,m3)
=
1
1

2

3

m2
B
m1
is the
largest root of
t
m2
R
(1)
(t) + (R
(1)
)

(t), (4.2)
where R
(1)
(t) = t(t +1)(t 2). By Lemma 2.1, the dilatation of
(1,m3)
converges to 2 as m .
The polynomial (4.2) comes from the graph map shown in Figure 29(center). In fact, this graph
map is the induced graph map for the mapping class
(1,m3)
B
m1
. The polynomial (4.2) is
the characteristic polynomial of the transition matrix for the graph map. The smoothing of the
graph gives rise to the train track associated to
(1,m3)
(Figure 29(right)). Since the train track
contains an (m2)-gon, a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism

(1,m3)
which represents the mapping
class
(1,m3)
has an (m 2)-pronged singular point, say p, in the interior of the punctured disk.
By puncturing the point p, one obtains a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism

(1,m3)
. It is easy to
see that the mapping class [

(1,m3)
] is given by

(1,m3)
=
1
1

2

3

m2

2
m1
B
m
with the same dilatation as
(1,m3)
. Since

(1,m3)
is conjugate to the braid T
m,1
, the dilatation
(T
m,1
) converges to 2 as m goes to . This completes the proof.
Figure 28: (left)
(m
1
,m
2
, ,m
k+1
)
. (center)
(1,4)
. (right)

(1,m3)
.
44
Figure 29: (left) transition of peripheral edge. (center) graph map. (right) train track.
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Eiko Kin and Mitsuhiko Takasawa
Department of Mathematical and
Computing Sciences
46
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Tokyo, Japan
kin@is.titech.ac.jp
takasawa@is.titech.ac.jp
47