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Given a compact oriented aspherical $3$--manifold $M$ with torus boundary $\partial M\simeq T^2$ (e.g. a knot complement), the condition that the images in $\pi_1 M$ of basis $x,y\in \pi_1 T^2$ under the inclusion generate the boundary of a compact oriented $3$-manifold with fundamental group $\pi_1 M$ (the $3$-manifold $M$ itself, to be precise) is algebraically encoded by the vanishing of their Pontryagin product $\langle x,y\rangle\in H_2 (\pi_1 M)$, which you can think of as the fundamental class of the torus under the inclusion. Recall that the Pontryagin product sends two commuting elements of a group to an element of $H_2$ of the group.

Question: Given a compact oriented aspherical $3$--manifold $M$ with boundary a closed surface $\partial M \simeq \Sigma$ of genus $g\geq 2$, how can I express the statement that $\Sigma$ bounds a $3$--manifold (the $3$-manifold $M$) on the level of fundamental groups? What condition must images under the inclusion of a basis for $\pi_1 \Sigma$ satisfy? How can I express the fundamental class of $\Sigma$ in terms of elements of $\pi_1$, if I know what $\Sigma$ is topologically?

I'm trying to identify some homomorphs of the fundamental group of a knotted theta, with peripheral data, and the answer to this question would, I presume, be something all such homomorphs would have to satisfy.

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# What is a higher genus analogue of the Pontryagin product?

Given a compact oriented aspherical $3$--manifold $M$ with torus boundary $\partial M\simeq T^2$ (e.g. a knot complement), the condition that the images in $\pi_1 M$ of basis $x,y\in \pi_1 T^2$ under the inclusion generate the boundary of a compact oriented $3$-manifold with fundamental group $\pi_1 M$ (the $3$-manifold $M$ itself, to be precise) is algebraically encoded by the vanishing of their Pontryagin product $\langle x,y\rangle\in H_2 (\pi_1 M)$.

Question: Given a compact oriented aspherical $3$--manifold $M$ with boundary a closed surface $\partial M \simeq \Sigma$ of genus $g\geq 2$, how can I express the statement that $\Sigma$ bounds a $3$--manifold (the $3$-manifold $M$) on the level of fundamental groups? What condition must images under the inclusion of a basis for $\pi_1 \Sigma$ satisfy?

I'm trying to identify some homomorphs of the fundamental group of a knotted theta, with peripheral data, and the answer to this question would, I presume, be something all such homomorphs would have to satisfy.