arXiv research

New examples of Cappell-Shaneson knot pairs with same Alexander polynomial found.

Study compares two knot pairings and their equivalence.

We show that there exist infinitely many pairs of distinct knots in the 3-sphere such that each pair can yield homeomorphic lens spaces by the same Dehn surgery. Moreover, each knot of the pair can be chosen to be a torus knot, a satellite knot or a hyperbolic knot, except that both cannot be satellite knots simultaneo…

We study cobordisms and cobordisms rel boundary of PL locally-flat disk knots $D^{n-2}\into D^n$. Cobordisms of disk knots that do not fix the boundary sphere knots are easily classified by the cobordism properties of these boundaries, and any two even-dimensional disk knots with isotopic boundary knots are cobordant r…

In this paper, we describe the relation between the study of closed connected surfaces embedded in $S^3$ and the theory of handlebody-knots. By Fox's theorem, a pair of handlebody-knots is associated to a closed connected surface embedded in $S^3$ in the sense that their exterior components are pairwise homeomorphic. W…

We show that any parabolic generating pair of a genus-one hyperbolic 2-bridge knot group is equivalent to the upper or lower meridian pair. As an application, we obtain a complete classification of the epimorphisms from 2-bridge knot groups to genus-one hyperbolic 2-bridge knot groups.

New Bailey pairs derived for tetrahedron index, linking knot invariants.

New algebraic structures for topological pairs.

We determine the pairs of torus knots that have a genus one cobordism between them, with one notable exception. This is done by combining obstructions using $ν^+$ from the Heegaard Floer knot complex and explicit constructions of cobordisms. As an application, we determine the pairs of torus knots related by a single c…

New example shows figure eight knot not smoothly concordant but homology cobordant.

We introduce a new way to tabulate knots by representing knot diagrams using a pair of planar trees. This pair of trees have their edges labeled by integers, they have no valence 2 vertices, and they have the same number of valence 1 vertices. The number of valence 1 vertices of the trees is called the girth of the kno…

Explicit matrix presentations of Blanchfield pairings and twisted pairings for torus knots.

New algebraic method for knot Floer homology computation.

We calculate Blanchfield pairings of 3-manifolds. In particular, we give a formula for the Blanchfield pairing of a fibred 3-manifold and we give a new proof that the Blanchfield pairing of a knot can be expressed in terms of a Seifert matrix.

The Gordian distance between two knots measures how many crossing changes are needed to transform one knot into the other. It is known that there are always infinitely many non-equivalent knots `between' a pair of knots of Gordian distance two. In this paper we prove an extreme generalisation of this fact: there are kn…

The classical knot groups are the fundamental groups of the complements of smooth or piecewise-linear (PL) locally-flat knots. For PL knots that are not locally-flat, there is a pair of interesting groups to study: the fundamental group of the knot complement and that of the complement of the ``boundary knot'' that occ…

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

Lower bounds on Gordian distance using Blanchfield pairings.

Knots 4_1 and 5_1 can be paired to show unknotting number is not additive.

We give a formula for the duality structure of the 3-manifold obtained by doing zero-framed surgery along a knot in the 3-sphere, starting from a diagram of the knot. We then use this to give a combinatorial algorithm for computing the twisted Blanchfield pairing of such 3-manifolds. With the twisting defined by Casson…

Disproves conjectures about shared surgeries for distinct knots.

The paper studies twisted signature invariants of fibered knots and 3-manifolds.

The paper proves a theorem about shared Dehn surgeries between knots.

Survey of invariants for knotted 2-spheres in 4-space.

A quandle is an algebra whose axioms are motivated from knot theory. A linear extension of a quandle can be described by using a pair of maps called an Alexander pair. In this paper, we show that a linear extension of a multiple conjugation quandle can be described by using a pair of maps called an MCQ Alexander pair, …

We study Nielsen equivalence classes of generating pairs of Kleinian groups and HNN-extensions. We establish the following facts: - Hyperbolic 2-bridge knot groups have infinitely many Nielsen classes of generating pairs. - For any natural number N there is a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold whose fundamental group has N d…

New surgeries on knots preserve contact structures.

Given a knot, we ask how its Khovanov and Khovanov-Rozansky homologies change under the operation of introducing twists in a pair of strands. We obtain long exact sequences in homology and further algebraic structure which is then used to derive topological and computational results. Two of our applications include giv…

Paper distinguishes 2-knots with circle actions using fundamental groups.

Let $n$ be an integer$\geqq0$. Let $S^{n+2}_1$ (respectively, $S^{n+2}_2$) be the $(n+2)$-sphere embedded in the $(n+4)$-sphere $S^{n+4}$. Let $S^{n+2}_1$ and $S^{n+2}_2$ intersect transversely. Suppose that the smooth submanifold, $S^{n+2}_1 \cap S^{n+2}_2$ in $S^{n+2}_i$ is PL homeomophic to the $n$-sphere. Then $S^{…

We present a notion of mutation of hyperbolic polyhedra, analogous to mutation in knot theory, and then present a general question about commensurability of mutant pairs of polyhedra. We motivate that question with several concrete examples of mutant pairs for which commensurability is unknown. The polyhedra we conside…

New knots share same Upsilon invariant despite different Alexander polynomials.

It is well-known that any pair of closed orientable 3-manifolds are related by a finite sequence of Dehn surgeries on knots. Furthermore Kawauchi showed that such knots can be taken to be hyperbolic. In this article, we consider the minimal length of such sequences connecting a pair of 3-manifolds, in particular, a pai…

New invariant distinguishes all knots up to 10 crossings.

The paper finds virtual knots with specific unknotting indices.

New invariants prove exotic slice disks for knots.

We define two new families of invariants for (3-manifold, graph) pairs which detect the unknot and are additive under connected sum of pairs and (-1/2)-additive under trivalent vertex sum of pairs. The first of these families is closely related to both bridge number and tunnel number. The second of these families is a …

We prove a decomposition formula for twisted Blanchfield pairings of 3-manifolds. As an application we show that the twisted Blanchfield pairing of a 3-manifold obtained from a 3-manifold Y with a representation $φ: Z[π_1(Y)] \to R$, infected by a knot J along a curve $η$ with $φ(η) \neq 1$, splits orthogonally as the …

We establish a relationship between the knot symmetries and the automorphisms of the knot quandle. We identify the homeomorphisms of the pair $(S^{3},K)$ that induce the (anti)automorphisms of the fundamental quandle $Q(K)$. We show that every quandle (anti)automorphism of $Q(K)$ is induced by a homeomorphism of the pa…

Paper describes how to extend multiple conjugation quandles using maps.

We exhibit pairs of transverse knots with the same self-linking number that are not transversely isotopic, using the recently defined knot Floer homology invariant for transverse knots and some algebraic refinements of it.

In this article, we prove that a tunnel number two knot induces a critical Heegaard splitting in its exterior if there are two weak reducing pairs such that each weak reducing pair contains the cocore disk of each tunnel. Moreover, we prove that a connected sum of two 2-bridge knots or more generally that of two $(1,1)…

Study shows knots with similar Blanchfield forms can be homotopy ribbon concordant.

We show that every knot type admits a pair of diagrams that cannot be made identical without using Reidemeister Omega_2-moves. We also show that our proof is compatible with known results for the other move types, in the sense that every knot type admits a pair of diagrams that cannot be made identical without using al…

Let M be a closed oriented 3-manifold with first Betti number one. Its equivariant linking pairing may be seen as a two-dimensional cohomology class in an appropriate infinite cyclic covering of the space of ordered pairs of distinct points of M. We show how to define the equivariant cube Q(K) of this Blanchfield pairi…

Study finds new knot distances and chirally cosmetic bands using grid diagrams.

Pairs of genus 2 mutant knots can have different Homfly polynomials, for example some 3-string satellites of Conway mutant pairs. We give examples which have different Kauffman 3-variable polynomials, answering a question raised by Dunfield et al in their study of genus 2 mutants. While pairs of genus 2 mutant knots ha…

A pretzel knot $K$ is called $odd$ if all its twist parameters are odd, and $mutant$ $ribbon$ if it is mutant to a simple ribbon knot. We prove that the family of odd, 5-stranded pretzel knots satisfies a weaker version of the Slice-Ribbon Conjecture: All slice, odd, 5-stranded pretzel knots are $mutant$ $ribbon$. We d…