arXiv research

For every bridge number, critical spheres exist for links.

Paper constructs first critical bridge spheres for nontrivial links.

New minimal surfaces in round 3-sphere by doubling equatorial 2-sphere.

The paper provides examples of keen weakly reducible bridge spheres for links in b-bridge position.

We show that there exists an infinite family of knots, each of which has, for each integer k>=0, a destabilized (2k+5)-bridge sphere. We also show that, for each integer n>=4, there exists a knot with a destabilized 3-bridge sphere and a destabilized n-bridge sphere.

Any 2-bridge knot in the 3-sphere has a bridge sphere from which any other bridge surface can be obtained by stabilization, meridional stabilization, perturbation and proper isotopy.

Study of 3-manifolds in 5-sphere using bridge decompositions.

The author, in her previous paper, constructed an infinite family of 3-bridge links each of which admits infinitely many 3-bridge spheres up to isotopy. In this paper, we prove that if a prime, unsplittable link $L$ in $S^3$ admits infinitely many 3-bridge spheres up to isotopy then $L$ belongs to the family.

In this paper, we characterize all links in the 3-sphere with bridge number at least three that have a bridge sphere of distance two. We show that a link L has a bridge sphere of distance at most two then it falls into at least one of three categories: (1) The exterior of L contains an essential meridional sphere. (2) …

The purpose of this note is to announce complete answers to the following questions. (1) For an essential simple loop on a 2-bridge sphere in a 2-bridge link complement, when is it null-homotopic in the link complement? (2) For two distinct essential simple loops on a 2-bridge sphere in a 2-bridge link complement, when…

We calculate the bridge distance for $m$-bridge knots/links in the $3$-sphere with sufficiently complicated $2m$-plat projections. In particular we show that if the underlying braid of the plat has $n - 1$ rows of twists and all its exponents have absolute value greater than or equal to three then the distance of the b…

We give a complete characterization of those essential simple loops on 2-bridge spheres of 2-bridge links which are null-homotopic in the link complements. By using this result, we describe all upper-meridian-pair-preserving epimorphisms between 2-bridge link groups.

In this paper and its prequel, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for two essential simple loops on a 2-bridge sphere in an even Heckoid orbifold for a 2-bridge link to be homotopic in the orbifold. We also give a necessary and sufficient condition for an essential simple loop on a 2-bridge sphere in an even …

In this paper and its sequel, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for two essential simple loops on a 2-bridge sphere in an even Heckoid orbifold for a 2-bridge link to be homotopic in the orbifold. We also give a necessary and sufficient condition for an essential simple loop on a 2-bridge sphere in an even H…

Reduction of knots in bridge position results in a lower bridge number if certain conditions are met.

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…

Study Goeritz groups of link decompositions, focusing on their asymptotic behavior.

We show that if $K$ is a knot in $S^3$ and $Σ$ is a bridge sphere for $K$ with high distance and $2n$ punctures, the number of perturbations of $K$ required to interchange the two balls bounded by $Σ$ via an isotopy is $n$. We also construct a knot with two different bridge spheres with $2n$ and $2n-1$ bridges respecti…

We show that an $(n+1)$-bridge sphere for the unknot is a topologically minimal surface of index at most $n$.

In this paper and its two sequels, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for two essential simple loops on a 2-bridge sphere in a 2-bridge link complement to be homotopic in the link complement. This paper treats the case when the 2-bridge link is a $(2,p)$-torus link, where more cases of homotopy arise, and its…

Researchers found infinite links with specific bridge positions.

We introduce bridge trisections of knotted surfaces in the four-sphere. This description is inspired by the work of Gay and Kirby on trisections of four-manifolds and extends the classical concept of bridge splittings of links in the three-sphere to four dimensions. We prove that every knotted surface in the four-spher…

This is the second of a series of papers which give a necessary and sufficient condition for two essential simple loops on a 2-bridge sphere in a 2-bridge link complement to be homotopic in the link complement. The first paper of the series treated the case of the 2-bridge torus links. In this paper, we treat the case …

Characterizes knots with L-space surgeries in 3-sphere and lens spaces.

Study on cosmetic surgeries for two-bridge knots using $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$ Casson invariant.

Link's sphere number equals its bridge number.

In this paper, we give an isotopy classification of 3-bridge spheres of 3-bridge arborescent links, which are not Montesinos links. To this end, we prove a certain refinement of a theorem of J.S. Birman and H.M. Hilden on the relation between bridge presentations of links and Heegaard splittings of 3-manifolds. In the …

Suppose M is a closed irreducible orientable 3-manifold, K is a knot in M, P and Q are bridge surfaces for K and K is not removable with respect to Q. We show that either Q is equivalent to P or $d(K,P) \leq 2-χ(Q-K)$. If K is not a two bridge knot, then the result holds even if K is removable with respect to Q. As a c…

The paper explores meridional ranks of knotted surfaces and welded knots, proving equalities and relationships.

This is the last of a series of papers which give a necessary and sufficient condition for two essential simple loops on a 2-bridge sphere in a 2-bridge link complement to be homotopic in the link complement. The first paper of the series treated the case of the 2-bridge torus links, and the second paper treated the ca…

New invariants for knotted surfaces derived from link homology.

New examples show high tree-width in knot diagrams.

We show that any non-minimal bridge decomposition of a torus knot is stabilized and that $n$-bridge decompositions of a torus knot are unique for any integer $n$. This implies that a knot in a bridge position is a torus knot if and only if there exists a torus containing the knot such that it intersects the bridge sphe…

In this paper, we give a complete classification of exceptional Dehn surgeries on a component of a hyperbolic two-bridge link in the 3-sphere.

Article generalizes open book construction for 5D contact pairs.

We investigate great circle links in the three-sphere, the class of links where each component is a great circle. Using the geometry of their complements, we classify such links up to five components. For any two-bridge knot complement, there is a finite cover that is the complement of a link of great circles in $S^3$.…

Following Riley's work, for each 2-bridge link $K(r)$ of slope $r\in\QQ$ and an integer or a half-integer $n$ greater than 1, we introduce the {\it Heckoid orbifold $\orbs(r;n)$} and the {\it Heckoid group $\Hecke(r;n)=π_1(\orbs(r;n))$ of index $n$ for $K(r)$}. When $n$ is an integer, $\orbs(r;n)$ is called an {\it eve…

First, we extend Otal's result for the trivial knot to trivial spatial graphs, namely, we show that for any bridge tangle decomposing sphere $S^2$ for a trivial spatial graph $Γ$, there exists a 2-sphere $F$ such that $F$ contains $Γ$ and $F$ intersects $S^2$ in a single loop. Next, we introduce two invariants for spat…

We give a variation of McShane's identity, which describes the cusp shape of a hyperbolic 2-bridge link in terms of the complex translation lengths of simple loops on the bridge sphere. We also explicitly determine the set of end invariants of $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$-characters of the once-punctured torus corresponding to t…

We exhibit an algorithm to determine the bridge number of a hyperbolic knot in the 3-sphere. The proof uses adaptations of almost normal surface theory for compact surfaces with boundary in ideally triangulated knot exteriors.

We give upper bounds of the Matveev complexities of two-bridge link complements by constructing their spines explicitly. In particular, we determine the complexities for an infinite sequence of two-bridge links corresponding to the continued fractions of the form [2,1,...,1,2]. We also give upper bounds for the 3-manif…

Visual construction of maps linking to two-bridge links.

It is a consequence of theorems of Gordon-Reid [Tangle decompositions of tunnel number one knots and links, J. Knot Theory and its Ramifications, 4 (1995) 389-409] and Thompson [Thin position and bridge number for knots in the 3-sphere, Topology, 36 (1997) 505-507] that a tunnel number one knot, if put in thin position…

In this paper, we define the rectangle condition on the bridge sphere for a $n$-bridge decomposition of a knot whose definition is analogous to the definition of the rectangle condition for Heegaard splittings of $3$-manifolds. We show that the satisfaction of the rectangle condition for a $n$-bridge decomposition can …

Study topological Iwasawa invariants for 3-sphere links, proving density results.

Minimal surface doublings have specific index and nullity values.

We analyze the orbifolds that can be obtained as quotients of hyperbolic 3-manifolds admitting a Heegaard splitting of genus two by their orientation preserving isometry groups. The genus two hyperbolic 3-manifolds are exactly the hyperbolic 2-fold branched coverings of 3-bridge links. If the 3-bridge link is a knot, w…

Study on CR curves in 3-sphere, focusing on critical curves integration and existence.