arXiv research

L-space knots lack essential Conway spheres, proven with Floer theory.

New method characterizes thin links via Conway spheres and tangle decompositions.

We prove that any Bonahon-Siebenmann family of Conway spheres for a hyperbolic link is associated to an ideal point of the character variety of the link.

We give a closed formula for the multivariable Conway potential function of any graph link in a homology sphere. As corollaries, we answer three questions by Walter Neumann about graph links.

Extends Benard-Conway invariant to all two-component links.

Given an oriented link in the 3-sphere, the Euler characteristic of its link Floer homology is known to coincide with its multivariate Alexander polynomial, an invariant only defined up to a sign and powers of the variables. In this paper, we get rid of this ambiguity by proving that this Euler characteristic is equal …

Suppose a link K in a 3-manifold M is in bridge position with respect to two different bridge surfaces P and Q, both of which are c-weakly incompressible in the complement of K. Then either P and Q can be properly isotoped to intersect in a nonempty collection of curves that are essential (including non-meridional) on …

For a knot K in S^3, let T(K) be the characteristic toric sub-orbifold of the orbifold (S^3,K) as defined by Bonahon and Siebenmann. If K has unknotting number one, we show that an unknotting arc for K can always be found which is disjoint from T(K), unless either K is an EM-knot (of Eudave-Munoz) or (S^3,K) contains a…

Given a hyperbolic knot, we prove that the Reidemeister torsion of any lift of the holonomy to SL(2,C) is invariant under mutation along a Conway sphere.

Standard position for surfaces extended to weakly generalized alternating links.

Genus 2 mutation is the process of cutting a 3-manifold along an embedded closed genus 2 surface, twisting by the hyper-elliptic involution, and gluing back. This paper compares genus 2 mutation with the better-known Conway mutation in the context of knots in the 3-sphere. Despite the fact that any Conway mutation can …

Przytycki and Sokolov proved that a three-manifold admits a semi-free action of the finite cyclic group of order $p$ with a circle as the set of fixed points if and only if $M$ is obtained from the three-sphere by surgery along a strongly $p-$periodic link $L$. Moreover, if the quotient three-manifold is an integral ho…

Knot Floer homology is an invariant for knots in the three-sphere for which the Euler characteristic is the Alexander-Conway polynomial of the knot. The aim of this paper is to study this homology for a class of satellite knots, so as to see how a certain relation between the Alexander-Conway polynomials of the satelli…

We show that essential punctured spheres in the complement of links with distance three bridge spheres have bounded complexity. We define the operation of tangle product, a generalization of both connected sum and Conway product. Finally, we use the bounded complexity of essential punctured spheres to show that the bri…

We extend several classical invariants of links in the 3-sphere to links in so-called quasi-cylinders. These invariants include the linking number, the Seifert form, the Alexander module, the Alexander-Conway polynomial and the Murasugi-Tristram-Levine signatures.

In this paper, we prove that the Reidemeister torsion twisted by the adjoint representation, which is considered as a 1-form, on the SU(2)-character variety of a knot exterior is invariant under mutation along a Conway sphere.

In~\cite{Kim} the author generalized the Conway algebra and constructed the invariant valued in the generalized Conway algebra defined by applying two skein relations to crossings, which is called a generalized Conway type invariant. The generalized Conway type invariant is a generalization of Homflypt polynomial. In t…

A simplified proof of the Alexander-Conway polynomial exists.

We consider an algebra of (classical or virtual) tangles over an ordered circuit operad and introduce Conway-type invariants of tangles which respect this algebraic structure. The resulting invariants contain both the coefficients of the Conway polynomial and the Milnor's mu-invariants of string links as partial cases.…

The paper characterizes Conway-Coxeter friezes using rational links.

In the present paper, we build a bridge between Conway-Coxeter friezes and rational tangles through the Kauffman bracket polynomials. One can compute a Kauffman bracket polynomials attached to rational links by using Conway-Coxeter friezes. As an application one can give a complete invariant on Conway-Coxeter friezes o…

We give a closed formula for the Conway function of a splice in terms of the Conway function of its splice components. As corollaries, we refine and generalize results of Seifert, Torres, and Sumners-Woods.

The Conway knot can't be smoothly tied to any other knot an infinite number of times.

We give a geometric construction of the multivariable Conway potential function for colored links. In the case of a single color, it is Kauffman's definition of the Conway polynomial in terms of a Seifert matrix.

The Conway potential function (CPF) for colored links is a convenient version of the multi-variable Alexander-Conway polynomial. We give a skein characterization of CPF, much simpler than the one by Murakami. In particular, Conway's `smoothing of crossings' is not in the axioms. The proof uses a reduction scheme in a t…

We review the construction of Heegaard Floer homology for closed three-manifolds and also for knots and links in the three-sphere. We also discuss three applications of this invariant to knot theory: studying the Thurston norm of a link complement, the slice genus of a knot, and the unknotting number of a knot. We emph…

We obtain bounds on hyperbolic volume for periodic links and Conway sums of alternating tangles. For links that are Conway sums we also bound the hyperbolic volume in terms of the coefficients of the Jones polynomial.

Khovanov homology invariant under Conway mutation.

Lisa Piccirillo solved the mystery of the Conway knot's sliceness.

In this chapter (Chapter III) we introduce the concept of Conway algebras (the notion related to entropic magmas) and describe invariants of links yielded by (partial) Conway algebras (including the Homflypt polynomial and signatures). We present, in detail, a proof (following the original Przytycki-Traczyk 1984 proof)…

We consider the cosmetic surgery problem for two-bridge knots in the 3-sphere. It is seen that all the two-bridge knots at most 9 crossings other than $9_{27} = S(49,19)=C[2,2,-2,2,2,-2]$ admits no purely cosmetic surgery pairs. Then we show that any two-bridge knot of the Conway form $[2x,2,-2x,2x,2,-2x]$ with $x \ge …

The Links--Gould polynomial detects causality in spacetimes.

Families of alternating knots (links) and tangles are studied using as building block the conway defined as the twisting of two strands. The regular representation of knots assumes the projection has the minimal number of overpassings, and the minimal number of conways. The continued fraction associated to rational kno…

Paper defines half-Conway polynomial and computes it for knots up to 12 crossings.

Two knot families meet cosmetic surgery conjecture.

Simplified proof for a theorem about graphs.

Study proves nontrivial knots can't undergo cosmetic surgeries.

In 1983, Conway and Gordon proved that for every spatial complete graph on six vertices, the sum of the linking numbers over all of the constituent two-component links is odd, and that for every spatial complete graph on seven vertices, the sum of the Arf invariants over all of the Hamiltonian knots is odd. In 2009, th…

We give a counterexample to the Kawauchi conjecture on the Conway polynomial of achiral knots which asserts that the Conway polynomial $C(z)$ of an achiral knot satisfies the splitting property $C(z)=F(z)F(-z)$ for a polynomial $F(z)$ with integer coefficients. We show that the Bonahon-Siebenmann decomposition of an ac…

New theorem shows every integer can be represented by knot summation.

We describe the Polyak-Viro arrow diagram formulas for the coefficients of the Conway polynomial. As a consequence, we obtain the Conway polynomial as a state sum over some subsets of the crossings of the knot diagram. It turns out to be a simplification of a special case of Jaeger's state model for the HOMFLY polynomi…

A string link S can be closed in a canonical way to produce an ordinary closed link L. We also consider a twisted closing which produces a knot K. We give a formula for the Conway polynomial of L as a product of the Conway polynomial of K times a power series whose coefficients are given as explicit functions of the Mi…

The purpose of this paper is to present a certain combinatorial method of constructing invariants of isotopy classes of oriented tame links. This arises as a generalization of the known polynomial invariants of Conway and Jones. These invariants have one striking common feature. If L+, L- and L0 are diagrams of oriente…

John Conway created pairs of domains that sound the same for a special kind of music.

Empirical evidence suggests link polynomials can detect causality in spacetimes.

Formula found for a specific knot's A-polynomial.

We exhibit relations between van Kampen-Flores, Conway-Gordon-Sachs and Radon theorems, by presenting direct proofs of some implications between them. The key idea is an interesting relation between the van Kampen and the Conway-Gordon-Sachs numbers for restrictions of a map of $(d+2)$-simplex to $\mathbb R^d$ to the $…

We show two results about the Conway potential function which is known as the normalized multivariable Alexander polynomial. We first show that the Conway potential function introduced by Kauffman in "Formal Knot Theory" is indeed a link invariant. Next we show that Kauffman's potential function equals Hartley's potent…