A link L in S3 is universal if every closed, orientable 3-manifold is a covering of S3 branched over L. Thurston [1] proved that universal links exist and he asked if there is a universal knot, and also if the Whitehead link and the Figure-eight knot are universal. In [2], [3] we answered the first question by constructing a universal knot. The purpose of this paper is to prove that the Whitehead link and the Borromean rings, among others, are universal. The question about the Figure-eight knot remains open, but we show that the ribbon knot 946 is universal.
@article{urn:eudml:doc:44352,
title = {The Whitehead link, the Borromean rings and the knot 946 are universal.},
journal = {Collectanea Mathematica},
volume = {34},
year = {1983},
pages = {19-28},
zbl = {0554.57004},
mrnumber = {MR0747855},
language = {en},
url = {http://dml.mathdoc.fr/item/urn:eudml:doc:44352}
}
Hilden, Hugh M.; Lozano, María Teresa; Montesinos, José María. The Whitehead link, the Borromean rings and the knot 946 are universal.. Collectanea Mathematica, Tome 34 (1983) pp. 19-28. http://gdmltest.u-ga.fr/item/urn:eudml:doc:44352/