2-sided

In mathematics, specifically in topology of manifolds, a compact codimension-one submanifold of a manifold is said to be 2-sided in when there is an embedding

with for each and

.

In other words, if its normal bundle is trivial.[1]

This means, for example that a curve in a surface is 2-sided if it has a tubular neighborhood which is a cartesian product of the curve times an interval.

A submanifold which is not 2-sided is called 1-sided.

  1. ^ Hatcher, Allen (2000). Notes on basic 3-manifold topology (PDF). p. 10.