arXiv research

New link detection results using closures of 3-braids.

Ozsváth and Szabó conjectured that knot Floer homology detects fibred links. We will verify this conjecture for closed 3-braids, by classifying fibred closed 3-braids. In particular, given a nontrivial closed 3-braid, either it is fibred, or it differs from a fibred link by a half twist. The proof uses Gabai's method o…

Study cobordism distances between 3-braid links and trefoil knots.

Determines surgeries on chain links bounding rational homology balls using lattice-theoretic methods.

We show that 3-braid links with given (non-zero) Alexander or Jones polynomial are finitely many, and can be effectively determined. We classify among closed 3-braids strongly quasipositive and fibered ones, and show that 3-braid links have a unique incompressible Seifert surface. We also classify the positive braid wo…

Using the band representation of the 3-strand braid group, it is shown that the genus of 3-braid links can be read off their skein polynomial. Some applications are given, in particular a simple proof of Morton's conjectured inequality and a condition to decide that some polynomials, like the one of 9_{49}, are not adm…

Study positive 3-braids to compute Khovanov homology.

A knot (or link) diagram is said to be everywhere equivalent if all the diagrams obtained by switching one crossing represent the same knot (or link). We classify such diagrams of a closed 3-braid.

The paper finds Artin presentations for the trivial group and identifies hyperbolic 3-braids.

Study links' arc index and Turaev genus, proving conjectures.

We classify 3-braids up to (2,2)-move equivalence and in particular we show how to adjust the Harikae-Nakanishi-Uchida conjecture so it holds for closed 3-braids. As important steps to classify 3-braids up to (2,2)-move equivalence we prove the conjecture for 2-algebraic links and classify (2,2)-equivalence classes for…

We are interested in knowing what type of manifolds are obtained by doing Dehn surgery on closed pure 3-braids in the 3-sphere. In particular, we want to determine when we get the 3-sphere by surgery on such a link. We consider links which are small closed pure 3-braids; these are the closure of 3-braids of the form $(…

Classifies 3-braids from choreographic motions on Lissajous curves, linking them to mapping classes and geodesics.

Khovanov homology is a bigraded Z-module that categorifies the Jones polynomial. The support of Khovanov homology lies on a finite number of slope two lines with respect to the bigrading. The Khovanov width is essentially the largest horizontal distance between two such lines. We show that it is possible to generate in…

We examine the conjecture, due to Champanerkar, Kofman, and Purcell that $\text{vol}(K) < 2 π\log \det (K)$ for alternating hyperbolic links, where $\text{vol}(K) = \text{vol}(S^3\backslash K)$ is the hyperbolic volume and $\det(K)$ is the determinant of $K$. We prove that the conjecture holds for 2-bridge links, alter…

The paper classifies links based on signature and crossing number properties.

The study shows knots from 3-braids cannot be concordant to a specific Legendrian unknot.

We prove that for a fixed braid index there are only finitely many possible shapes of the annular Rasmussen $d_t$ invariant of braid closures. Applying the same perspective to the knot Floer invariant $Υ_K(t)$, we show that for a fixed concordance genus of $K$ there are only finitely many possibilities for $Υ_K(t)$. Fo…

In the integral Khovanov homology of links, the presence of odd torsion is rare. Homologically thin links, that is links whose Khovanov homology is supported on two adjacent diagonals, are known to only contain $\mathbb{Z}_2$ torsion. In this paper, we prove a local version of this result. If the Khovanov homology of a…

Knots and links which are closed 3-braids are a very special class. Like 2-bridge knots and links, they are simple enough to admit a complete classification. At the same time they are rich enough to serve as a source of examples on which, with luck, a researcher may be able to test various conjectures. The goal of this…

Study on Fox's trapezoidal conjecture for specific alternating links.

We investigate the problem of characterising the family of strongly quasipositive links which have definite symmetrised Seifert forms and apply our results to the problem of determining when such a link can have an L-space cyclic branched cover. In particular, we show that if $δ_n = σ_1 σ_2 \ldots σ_{n-1}$ is the dual …

Classifies 3-braid knots with maximal 4-genus using McCoy's method.

Study on knot classification using 3-braid closures and ribbon surfaces.

The paper calculates a knot invariant for 3-braid knots.

Study Agol cycles for pseudo-Anosov 3-braids.

We study 3-braid knots of finite smooth concordance order. A corollary of our main result is that a chiral 3-braid knot of finite concordance order is ribbon.

Formula found for knot determinant in 3-braid weaving.

Paper computes a specific term of knot homology for 3-braids.

Using an involved study of the Jones polynomial, we determine, as our main result, the crossing numbers of (prime) amphicheiral knots. As further applications, we show that several classes of links, including semiadequate links and Whitehead doubles of semiadequate knots, have non-trivial Jones polynomial. We also prov…

We classify closed 3-braids which are L-space knots.

Investigates polynomial time algorithms for computing Khovanov homology of braids.

Study Agol cycles in pseudo-Anosov 3-braids.

The contents of this 6-page paper have been subsumed into the 13-page paper, "A note on closed 3-braids", arXiv:0802.1072 [math.GT]. This paper is correct, but contains less information than the new one. The topological classification of knots that are closed braids is shown to lead to a classification theorem for tran…

The study shows involutory quandles of certain links are not left-orderable.

We give an upper bound for the dealternating number of a closed 3-braid. As applications, we determine the dealternating numbers, the alternation numbers and the Turaev genera of some closed positive 3-braids. We also show that there exist infinitely many positive knots with any dealternating number (or any alternation…

A crossing in a knot is nugatory if changing the crossing does not change the knot type. Using an invariant of certain types of closed 3-braid diagrams, we show that if a closed 3-braid contains a nugatory crossing then its braid index is one or two. This proves a special case of a conjecture on nugatory crossings due …

Discrete Morse theory simplifies Khovanov homology calculations.

Researchers study chirality in a specific type of torus-covering link.

3-braid knots can't have purely cosmetic surgeries.

In a recent paper, McMullen showed an inequality between the Thurston norm and the Alexander norm of a 3-manifold. This generalizes the well-known fact that twice the genus of a knot is bounded from below by the degree of the Alexander polynomial. We extend the Bennequin inequality for links to an inequality for all po…

Proves Khovanov homology conjecture for 3-stranded braids.

Classifies torus bundles bounding 4-manifolds with rational homology.

Study links weaving knots with polynomial coefficients and lattice numbers.

Direct proof of hyperbolicity for a family of knots.

We start a systematic analysis of links up to 5-move equivalence. Our motivation is to develop tools which later can be used to study skein modules based on the skein relation being deformation of a 5-move (in an analogous way as the Kauffman skein module is a deformation of a 2-move, i.e. a crossing change). Our main …

New knot invariant from 3-braids and 6-valent graphs.

A closed braid naturally gives rise to a transverse link in the standard contact 3-space. We study the effect of the dynamical properties of the braid monodromy, such as right-veering, on the contact-topological properties of the transverse link and its transverse invariants in knot Floer and Khovanov homologies. In pa…