Floer homology and fractional Dehn twists

Abstract

We establish a relationship between Heegaard Floer homology and the fractional Dehn twist coefficient of surface automorphisms. Specifically, we show that the rank of the Heegaard Floer homology of a 3-manifold bounds the absolute value of the fractional Dehn twist coefficient of the monodromy of any of its open book decompositions with connected binding. We prove this by showing that the rank of Floer homology gives bounds for the number of boundary parallel right or left Dehn twists necessary to add to a surface automorphism to guarantee that the associated contact manifold is tight or overtwisted, respectively. By examining branched double covers, we also show that the rank of the Khovanov homology of a link bounds the fractional Dehn twist coefficient of its odd-stranded braid representatives.