A basic problem in the study of 3-manifolds is to determine when geometric objects are of 'minimal complexity'. We are interested in this question in the setting of sutured manifolds, where minimal complexity is called `tautness'.

One method for certifying that a sutured manifold is taut is to show that it is homologically simple - a so-called 'rational homology product'. Most sutured manifolds do not have this form, but do always take the more general form of a 'twisted homology product', which incorporates a representation of the fundamental group. The question then becomes, how complicated of a representation is needed to realize a given sutured manifold as such?

We explore some classes of relatively simple sutured manifolds, and see one class is always a rational homology product, but that the next natural class contains examples which require twisting. We also find examples that require twisting by a representation which cannot be "too simple". Speaker(s): Margaret Nichols (UChicago)