arXiv research

The paper defines new knot genera and finds bounds for stabilization distances.

In this paper, we develop a lower bound for the double slice genus of a knot using Casson-Gordon invariants. As an application, we show that the double slice genus can be arbitrarily larger than twice the slice genus. As an analogue to the double slice genus, we also define the superslice genus of a knot, and give both…

New bounds on knot complexity defined via band number and surface diagrams.

Study on Whitehead doubles and their sliceness properties.

The paper extends knot theory to 4-manifolds, defining new genera and obstructions.

In the present paper we extend the definition of slice-torus invariant to links. We prove a few properties of the newly-defined slice-torus link invariants: the behaviour under crossing change, a slice genus bound, an obstruction to strong sliceness, and a combinatorial bound. Furthermore, we provide an application to …

The slicing number of a knot, $u_s(K)$, is the minimum number of crossing changes required to convert $K$ to a slice knot. This invariant is bounded above by the unknotting number and below by the slice genus $g_s(K)$. We show that for many knots, previous bounds on unknotting number obtained by Ozsvath and Szabo and b…

Cha and Kim proved that if a knot K is not algebraically slice, then no iterated Bing double of K is concordant to the unlink. We prove that if K has nontrivial signature $σ$, then the n-iterated Bing double of K is not concordant to any boundary link with boundary surfaces of genus less than $2^{n-1}σ$. The same resul…

A knot in the three-sphere is doubly slice if it is the cross-section of an unknotted two-sphere in the four-sphere. For low-crossing knots, the most complete work to date gives a classification of doubly slice knots through 9 crossings. We extend that work through 12 crossings, resolving all but four cases among the 2…

The paper characterizes Z-slice genus using algebraic unknotting and linking forms.

The paper defines new invariants for surfaces in 4-ball and proves bounds on stabilization and double point distances.

We introduce the notion of ascent sliceness of virtual knots. A representative of a virtual knot is an embedding $S^1 \hookrightarrow Σ_{g} \times I$, for $Σ_g$ a closed connected oriented surface of genus $g$; the virtual knot represented is slice if there exists a pair consisting of a disc $D$ and an oriented…

In the 60's Levine proved that if $R$ is a slice knot, then on any genus $g$ Seifert surface for $R$ there is a $g$ component link $J$, called a derivative of $R$, on which the Seifert form vanishes. Many subsequent obstructions to $R$ being slice are given in terms of slice obstructions of $J$. Many of these obstructi…

Characterizes unknotted curves on Seifert surfaces of twist knots.

We show that if K is any knot whose Ozsvath-Szabo concordance invariant tau(K) is positive, the all-positive Whitehead double of any iterated Bing double of K is topologically but not smoothly slice. We also show that the all-positive Whitehead double of any iterated Bing double of the Hopf link (e.g., the all-positive…

Bing doubling is an operation which produces a 2-component boundary link B(K) from a knot K. If K is slice, then B(K) is easily seen to be boundary slice. In this paper, we investigate whether the converse holds. Our main result is that if B(K) is boundary slice, then K is algebraically slice. We also show that the Ras…

The paper shows some Montesinos links can't be doubly sliced strongly.

The paper proves a conjecture about satellite knots and their slice genus.

The paper generalizes the $T$-genus to characterize slice knots and slice genus.

New lower bound for doubly slice genus using knot signatures.

We give a new geometric obstruction to the iterated Bing double of a knot being a slice link: for n>1 the (n+1)-st iterated Bing double of a knot is rationally slice if and only if the n-th iterated Bing double of the knot is rationally slice. The main technique of the proof is a covering link construction simplifying …

Lower bounds on rational slice genus using Heegaard Floer invariants.

Characterizes values of slice-torus invariants related to knot genus.

New invariants improve Heegaard Floer slice genus and clasp number bounds.

New examples show algebraically slice knots with specific genus bounds.

In this paper, we compute the slice genus for many low-crossing virtual knots. For instance, we show that 1295 out of 92800 virtual knots with 6 or fewer crossings are slice, and that all but 248 of the rest are not slice. Key to these results are computations of Turaev's graded genus, which we show extends to give an …

If the Bing double of a knot K is slice, then K is algebraically slice. In addition, Heegaard--Floer concordance invariants developed by Ozsvath-Szabo and by Manolescu-Owens vanish on K.

The paper uses twisting operations to bound knot genus.

New invariants from framed instanton homology for knot concordance.

We develop a theory of chain complex double-cobordism for chain complexes equipped with Poincaré duality. The resulting double-cobordism groups are a refinement of Ranicki's torsion algebraic $L$-groups for localisations of a commutative ring with involution. The refinement is analogous to the difference between metabo…

Local knots can't bound smaller surfaces in rational homology 3-spheres.

New obstructions for knots in high dimensions prevent double sliceness.

Study shows $(2,1)$-cable of figure-eight knot can't be smoothly sliced.

New bounds on slice genus from knot invariants.

We introduce a new link invariant called the algebraic genus, which gives an upper bound for the topological slice genus of links. In fact, the algebraic genus is an upper bound for another version of the slice genus proposed here: the minimal genus of a surface in the four-ball whose complement has infinite cyclic fun…

We introduce a technique for showing classical knots and links are not slice. As one application we show that the iterated Bing doubles of many algebraically slice knots are not topologically slice. Some of the proofs do not use the existence of the Cheeger-Gromov bound, a deep analytical tool used by Cochran-Teichner.…

The paper explores slice disks and their properties using satellite operations and knot Floer homology.

We show that perturbing the definition of sl(n) Khovanov-Rozansky link homology gives a lower bound on the slice genus of a knot. As a corollary this yields another proof of Milnor's conjecture on the slice genus of torus knots.

Study on knots, genera, and algebraic concordance groups.

We define Casson-Gordon sigma-invariants for links and give a lower bound of the slice genus of a link in terms of these invariants. We study as an example a family of two component links of genus h and show that their slice genus is h, whereas the Murasugi-Tristram inequality does not obstruct this link from bounding …

Identifies doubly slice genera for 2909 prime knots with up to 12 crossings.

This paper contains the results of efforts to determine values of the smooth and the topological slice genus of 11- and 12-crossing knots. Upper bounds for these genera were produced by using a computer to search for genus one concordances between knots. For the topological slice genus further upper bounds were produce…

Obstructs Legendrian knots from being slices of concordances using doubly slice genus.

An important difference between high dimensional smooth manifolds and smooth 4-manifolds that in a 4-manifold it is not always possible to represent every middle dimensional homology class with a smoothly embedded sphere. This is true even among the simplest 4-manifolds: $X_0(K)$ obtained by attaching an $0$-framed 2-h…

New invariants refine link homology, showing large genus differences.

Ozsvath and Szabo have defined a knot concordance invariant tau that bounds the 4-ball genus of a knot. Here we discuss shortcuts to its computation. We include examples of Alexander polynomial one knots for which the invariant is nontrivial, including all iterated untwisted positive doubles of knots with nonnegative T…

Study knot Floer homology to create concordance invariants and slice genus bounds.

The difference between slice and doubly-slice knots is reflected in algebra by the difference between metabolic and hyperbolic Blanchfield linking forms. We exploit this algebraic distinction to refine the classical Witt group of linking forms by defining a `double Witt group' of linking forms. We calculate the double …