The Heegaard distances cover all nonnegative integers

Abstract

In this paper, we prove that (1) For any integers $n\geq 1$ and $g\geq 2$, there is a closed 3-manifold $M_{g}^{n}$ which admits a distance $n$ Heegaard splitting of genus $g$ except that the pair of $(g, n)$ is $(2, 1)$. Furthermore, $M_{g}^{n}$ can be chosen to be hyperbolic except that the pair of $(g, n)$ is $(3, 1)$. (2) For any integers $g\geq 2$ and $n\geq 4$, there are infinitely many non-homeomorphic closed 3-manifolds admitting distance $n$ Heegaard splittings of genus $g$.