# Handlebodies II

Let’s think back to our example to model our $\lambda$-handle (where $\lambda$ is not a max or min). Well, it was a “saddle point”. So it consisted of a both a downward arc and upward arc. If you got close enough, it would probably look like $D^1\times D^1$.

Well, generally this will fit with our scheme. An n-handle looked like $D^n$ … or better yet $D^n\times 0$, and a 0-handle looked like $0\times D^n$, so maybe it is the case that a $\lambda$-handle looks like $D^\lambda\times D^{n-\lambda}$. Let’s call $D^\lambda\times 0$ the core of the handle, and $D^{n-\lambda}$ the co-core.

By doing the same trick of writing out what our function looks like at a critical point of index $\lambda$ in some small enough neighborhood using the Morse lemma, we could actually prove this, but we’re actually more interested now in how to figure out what happens with $M_t$ as $t$ crosses this point.

By that I mean, it is time to figure out what exactly it is to “attach a $\lambda$-handle” to the manifold.

Suppose as in the last post that $c_i$ is a critical value of index $\lambda$. Then I propose that $M_{c_i+\varepsilon}$ is diffeomorphic to $M_{c_i-\varepsilon}\cup D^\lambda\times D^{m-\lambda}$ (sorry again, recall my manifold is actually m-dimensional with n critical values).

I wish I had a good way of making pictures to get some of the intuition behind this across. I’ll try in words. A 1-handle for a 3-manifold, will be $D^1\times D^2$, i.e. a solid cylinder. So we can think of this as literally a handle that we will bend the cylinder into, and attach those two ends to the existing manifold. This illustration is quite useful in bringing up a concern we should have. Attaching in this manner is going to create “corners” and we want a smooth manifold, so we need to make sure to smooth it out. But we won’t worry about that now, and we’ll just call the smoothed out $M_{c_i-\varepsilon}\cup D^\lambda\times D^{m-\lambda}$, say $M'$.

Let’s use our gradient-like vector field again. Let’s choose $\varepsilon$ small enough so that we are in a coordinate chart centered at $p_i$ such that $f=-x_1^2-\cdots - x_\lambda^2 + x_{\lambda +1}^2+\cdots + x_m^2$ is in standard Morse lemma form.

Let’s see what happens on the core $D^\lambda\times 0$. At the center, it takes the critical value $c_i$ and it decreases everywhere from there (as we move from 0, only the first $\lambda$ coordinates change). This decreasing goes all the way to the boundary where it is $c_i-\varepsilon$. Thus it is the upside down bowl (of dimension $\lambda$). Likewise, the co-core goes from the critical value and increases (as in the right side up bowl) to the boundary of a $m-\lambda$ disk at a value $c_i+\delta$ (where $0<\delta<\varepsilon$).

Let's carefully figure out the attaching procedure now. If we think of our 3-manifold for intuition, we want to attach $D^\lambda\times D^{m-\lambda}$ to $M_{c_i-\varepsilon}$ by pasting $\partial D^\lambda\times D^{m-\lambda}$ along $\partial M_{c_i-\varepsilon}$.

So I haven't talked about attaching procedures in this blog, but basically we want a map $\phi: \partial D^\lambda\times D^{m-\lambda}\to \partial M_{c_i-\varepsilon}$ and then forming the quotient space of the disjoint union under the relation of identifying $p\in \partial D^\lambda\times D^{m-\lambda}$ with $\phi (p)$. Sometimes this is called an adjunction space.

So really $\phi$ is a smooth embedding of a thickened sphere $S^{\lambda - 1}$, since $\partial D^\lambda=S^{\lambda-1}$. And the dimensions in which it was thickened is $m-\lambda$. Think about the "handle" in the 3-dimensional 1-handle case. We gave the two endpoints of line segment (two points = $S^0$) a 2-dimensional thickening by a disk.

Now it is the same old trick to get the diffeo. The gradient-like vector field, $X$, flows from $\partial M'$ to $\partial M_{c_i+\varepsilon}$, so just multiply $X$ by a smooth function that will make $M'$ match $M_{c_i+\varepsilon}$ after some time. This is our diffoemorphism and we are done.